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IceCube detector uses entire Earth to measure interactions of neutrinos

Enlarge / The IceCube facility sits at the South Pole above an array of photodetectors, drawn into the image above. (credit: IceCube Collaboration, U. Wisconsin, NSF ) Neutrinos are one of the most plentiful particles out there, as trillions pass through you every second. But they’re incredibly hard to work with. They’re uncharged, so we can’t control their path or accelerate them. They’re also nearly massless and barely interact with other matter, so they’re hard to detect. All of this means that a lot of the predictions our physics theories make about neutrinos are hard to test. The IceCube detector , located at the South Pole, has now confirmed a part of the Standard Model of physics, which describes the properties of fundamental particles and their interactions. According to the Standard Model, neutrinos should become more likely to interact with other particles as their energy goes up. To test this, the IceCube team used neutrinos thousands of times more energetic than our best particle accelerators can make and used the entire planet as a target. Polar cube IceCube consists of hundreds of detectors buried in the ice under the South Pole. These detectors pick up particles that move through the ice. In some cases, IceCube sees a spray of particles and photons when something slams into one of the atoms in the ice. In other cases, particles simply nudge the atoms, liberating a few photons. There’s no neutrino source pointed at IceCube, though. Instead, it relies on natural sources of neutrinos. Some of these are produced far away in space, and travel great distances to Earth. Others are produced as cosmic rays slam into the atmosphere. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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IceCube detector uses entire Earth to measure interactions of neutrinos

What Are the Practical Differences Between Different Tire/Rim Sizes?

I learned to drive on a five-speed Datsun 280ZX that had 195/70 R14 tires. (If you don’t understand what those numbers mean, read this breakdown of tire codes .) Yes, 14-inch wheels sporting tires with high sidewalls. This was normal in the ’80s, but nowadays the rage is to have beefier rims with low-profile tires, a trend that I suspect was advanced by car renderings. Every automotive renderer seems to draw rims that threaten to bottom out inside the wheel wells, with only the faintest sliver of black to indicate there’s any rubber on them. Nowadays you’d be hard-pressed to find 14″ wheels on any car claiming to offer sporty performance. Volkswagen’s GTI, as one example, comes standard with 15″ wheels, but I’m guessing most buyers ponying up for a GTI over the Golf upgrade to the 16″, 17″ or 18″ wheel options. Which wheel size is faster? Which size is preferred if you live in rainy Oregon versus dry Arizona? Which size offers more comfort, makes more noise, or handles better? To find out, Tyre Reviews tried out three different rim and tire sizes—225/45 R17, 225/40 R18, and 225/35 R19—on Goodyear’s test track in the south of France. Some of the results are surprising. By the bye, how brilliant are Goodyear’s executives for decreeing that their test track be located in the south of France?

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What Are the Practical Differences Between Different Tire/Rim Sizes?

Tesla is building world’s largest backup battery in Australia

After blackouts left 1.7 million residents without electricity, Elon Musk famously guaranteed that Tesla could supply 100 megawatts of battery storage in 100 days. The company has announced it will do just that, supplying a Powerpack battery storage system that can run over 30, 000 homes. The 100-megawatt project “will be the highest power battery system in the world by a factor of three, ” tweeted CEO Elon Musk. It will back up the 315 megawatt Hornsdale Wind Farm, charging during low energy usage and providing electricity for peak hours. Though the company seemed destined to get the job, the South Australian government picked it after a “competitive bidding process, ” Tesla said. It added that the size of the system will be enough to cover the 30, 000 or so homes in the region that were affected by blackouts. Tesla’s Powerpack battery storage system (AOL/Roberto Baldwin) Those power outages set off a political conflagration that culminated in a very testy press conference with South Australia’s Premier and the Federal Environment Minister. Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled a $1.5 billion plan to expand the power grid to run an additional 500, 000 homes, including backup battery storage. That was when Tesla Energy head Lyndon Rive stepped in and made his “100 megawatts in 100 days” pledge, and (his cousin) Musk upping the ante by promising the system would be free if they didn’t achieve the goal. Musk confirmed that he’d keep the promise, telling Australia’s ABC News that “if South Australia is willing to take a big risk, then so are we.” The 100 day pledge reportedly begins once the grid interconnection agreement is inked, and Musk estimates that it will cost him “probably $50 million or more” if the installation isn’t completed in time. This will be the highest power battery system in the world by a factor of 3. Australia rocks!! https://t.co/c1DD7xtC90 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2017 Via: Elon Musk (Twitter) Source: Tesla

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Tesla is building world’s largest backup battery in Australia

After 40 years, scientists discover first-ever white dwarf pulsar

After decades of speculation, students at Warwick University have now found the first ever white dwarf pulsar. Since 1967’s discovery of the first pulsar (a rotating star that emits electromagnetic radiation), scientists have only been able to find evidence of larger neutron stars as pulsars. For those of you who aren’t astronomers, a neutron star is the last stage a celestial body goes through after a supernova before collapsing into a black hole . While scientists had yet to find any proof, many argued that the smaller dying white dwarf star could also become a pulsar. Now 40 years later, that theory has become fact. The discovery was made by Tom Marsh and Boris Gansicke from Warwick University’s Astrophysics Group alongside David Buckley from the South African Astronomical Observatory. The trio managed to spot a white dwarf pulsar 380 light years from Earth, located in the constellation of Scorpius. AR scorpii is the name they gave to the binary star that confirmed the aging hypothesis. This historic binary star is made up of both a white dwarf around the size of Earth (but around 200, 000 times denser) and a ‘nearby’ red star. With a distance only three times greater than that of the Earth and the Moon between them, the two celestial bodies are practically neighbors in galactic terms. Thanks to this relatively close proximity, the white dwarf pulsar bombards its poor red dwarf neighbor with all manner of electrical energy and particles during its two-minute rotational period. You can find more details about their historic findings here . Via: CNET Source: Nature

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After 40 years, scientists discover first-ever white dwarf pulsar

New York approves a 90 MW wind farm off the coast of Long Island

The Long Island coastline. (credit: Stanley Zimney ) On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state had approved a 90 MW offshore wind farm to be installed off the coast of Long Island. That would make what will be called the South Fork Wind Farm the biggest offshore wind farm in the US. The announcement comes just a month after Block Island, a facility off the coast of Rhode Island , became the first ever commercial offshore wind farm in the US to transmit electricity in late 2016. Deepwater Wind, the company that installed the turbines off Block Island, will also be supplying the turbines for South Fork. In a press release, the New York governor’s office wrote that the turbines will be placed 30 miles southeast of Montauk and “out of sight from Long Island’s beaches.” The press release added that South Fork will provide electricity for 50,000 Long Island homes. Two weeks ago, Governor Cuomo announced that New York would commit to installing 2.4 GW of offshore wind by 2030. That comes just as the state announced that Indian Point, a 2 GW nuclear energy facility just north of New York City, would close by 2021 . The state of New York celebrated the closure of Indian Point, claiming that the plant was unsafe and too close to a major metropolitan area. But critics of the move said it would be difficult for New York to replace all of that greenhouse-gas-free energy with renewable energy. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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New York approves a 90 MW wind farm off the coast of Long Island

China is Building Fake Islands to Bolster Its Claim to Disputed Waters

Pity the poor mapmaker assigned to the South China Sea. The hotly disputed waters in the Pacific are torn between competing claims from all the countries that surround it. China, especially, has been aggressive and sly. It’s now dumping sand onto small reefs and shoals, building whole new islands to bolster its territorial claims . Read more…

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China is Building Fake Islands to Bolster Its Claim to Disputed Waters