The myths and mysteries behind one of science’s biggest mistakes
This box wrapped in aluminum foil works miracles. Inside, hydrogen, nickel, and a secret ingredient nestle together. Heat these substances, and something amazing happens. The box produces a lot of extra heat. And that heat can easily be turned into electricity. It’s a power plant small enough, cheap enough, and safe enough to sit on the dining room table.
The world’s energy woes are over.
Or are they?
Italian inventor Andrea Rossi has been promising exactly such a box for years. He calls it the Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat for short. He has yet to prove that it can produce useful energy. Still, something strange seems to be going on inside the E-Cat and similar devices. The mystery began with a bang (literally) many years ago.
An Unexpected Explosion
When Stanley Pons arrived at his lab one morning in 1989, something was wrong. He’d left a small glass device called an electrolytic cell running overnight. The device had exploded. Pons, a chemist at the University of Utah, and his collaborator, Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton in England, thought they knew what had happened. They had been testing a potential new method for fusing atoms together. They hoped it might lead to a new and exciting source of energy. They called it cold fusion.
Fusion is a nuclear reaction, meaning that it alters an atom’s nucleus. The nucleus sits in the center of an atom. The number of protons and neutrons there define what type of atom it is—hydrogen, or oxygen, or gold, for example. But sometimes, a nuclear reaction knocks protons or neutrons out of a nucleus (called fission) or jams new ones in (called fusion). Both reactions change one type of atom into another.
Denne historien er fra July/August 2018-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Denne historien er fra July/August 2018-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.