Teknologi sains

Teknologi dalam sains .


It was a breakthrough that took almost half a century of deep thought, more than 30 years of painstaking experimentation and a massive £2.6bn machine. Yesterday, scientists said they believed they had found the subatomic particle that confirms our understanding of how the universe works.

Discovering the so-called "Higgs boson" particle would be one of the greatest achievements in science, rivalling the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 and the Apollo Moon landings of the 1960s and 1970s. It can explain why some particles have mass, but why others, such as photons of light, do not.

Although the discovery is consistent with such a particle – first postulated half a century ago by the retired British physicist Peter Higgs – scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Geneva stopped short of saying this was definitely what they had found.

Yet such is the degree of exactitude to which they work, they were still able to calculate that the new particle is very near to the "five-sigma" level of significance – meaning that there is less than a one in a million chance that their results are a statistical fluke.

A Higgs boson particle is essential to the so-called Standard Model of physics – the generally accepted theory about how the Universe works. Finding it would effectively confirm the Standard Model, explaining the results of countless physics experiments and why other particles behave the way they do. Knowing definitively that it exists would show science is heading in the right direction and will allow researchers to concentrate their efforts accordingly – opening the door to new discoveries.

One Nobel prize-winning physicist famously called it the "God particle" because of its central role in theoretical physics – although Professor Higgs and his colleagues at Cern have come to despise the term and its religious undertones.

Higgs, 83 and long retired from the University of Edinburgh, was in the audience yesterday in Geneva to hear the results of the two largest experiments attached to the Large Hadron Collider, the circular underground machine that smashes sub-atomic particles together at enormous energy levels.

Both sets of experiments had neatly and independently confirmed the existence of a new sub-atomic particle with a mass of about 125.5 GeV (gigaelectron volts), which is about 133 times heavier than the protons at the heart of every atom.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/cern-announces-discovery-of-higgs-boson-god-particle-16181215.html#ixzz2HLbZULf0

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Cikgu Eaddy Berpindah

Seorang guru Fizik telah berpindah ke SMK Taman Mutiara Rini. Selamat bertugas di sekolah baru. Dari kami semua , Noridah, Lily dan Azimy

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Venus Transit

On June 5, 2012, planet Venus  moves across the face of the early morning sun. This astronomical oddity has played a very important role over the last few centuries in giving scientists a way to understand the size of the solar system. On December 6, 1882, the transit made the front pages of every national and international newspaper! Thousands of photographs were taken with improved calibrations. Only a few astronomers were trusted to carry out the complex calculations from the resulting data. In 1896, Simon Newcomb's value, a distance from Earth to Sun of 92,702,000 plus or minus 53,700 miles, was adopted by the international scientific community. Today most textbooks report the Astronomical Unit (or AU) as "93 million miles

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Salji

WELLINGTON 15 Ogos - Penduduk New Zealand hari ini dikejutkan dengan keadaan cuaca pelik iaitu angin kuat yang datang dari Antartik dan membawa salji lebat turun di negara itu dan mengakibatkan penutupan jalan raya, lapangan terbang serta sekolah.

South Island merupakan kawasan yang paling teruk dilanda ribut tersebut tetapi ibu negara, Wellington di North Island menerima salji yang turun paling banyak dalam tempoh 40 tahun.

Ahli kaji cuaca memberi amaran cuaca akan bertambah buruk selepas ini kerana mereka menjangkakan salji akan turun dengan lebatnya di kawasan pergunungan di sekeliling Auckland, 66 kilometer ke arah utara.

Pihak berkuasa memberi amaran kepada orang ramai terutama yang tinggal di kawasan yang paling teruk untuk tidak keluar dari rumah mereka.

Kebanyakan jalan utama di South Island tidak dapat dilalui dan polis menutup dua lebuh raya utama yang menghubungkan Auckland dan Wellington.

Lapangan terbang di Christchurch, Queenstown dan Dunedin ditutup, menyebabkan 150 orang penumpang yang terkandas untuk tinggal semalaman di dalam lapangan terbang tersebut.

Cuaca pelik itu disifatkan sebagai ribut yang hanya berlaku sekali seumur hidup sahaja dan lebih banyak salji dijangka akan turun selepas ini sehingga hujung minggu ini.

Utusan Malaysia..

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Y. Bhg. Datuk/ Dato’/ Prof./ Prof. Madya/ Dr./Tuan/Puan,


JEMPUTAN KE MAJLIS SYARAHAN PLANETARIUM MENGENAI CUACA ANGKASA YANG BERTAJUK ‘THE BENEFITS AND PERILS OF LIVING IN THE SPACE AGE’ OLEH DR MARK MOLDWIN DARI UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, USA

Dengan segala hormatnya saya merujuk kepada perkara di atas.

2. Untuk makluman, Agensi Angkasa Negara (ANGKASA) sebagai koordinator bagi program cuaca angkasa di Malaysia sedang giat menjalankan aktiviti penyelidikan/pendidikan dan kesedaran umum dalam bidang cuaca angkasa melalui kerjasama tempatan dan antarabangsa khususnya melalui International Space Weather Inisiative (ISWI).


3. Sehubungan dengan itu, ANGKASA akan menganjurkan satu syarahan umum untuk berkongsi dengan masyarakat mengenai kepentingan cuaca angkasa dan impaknya kepada kehidupan. Sehubungan dengan itu, ANGKASA telah menjemput seorang pakar cuaca angkasa iaitu Dr. Mark Moldwin dari University of Michigan, USA untuk menyampaikan satu syarahan umum yang bertajuk ”The Benefits and Perils of Living in the Space Age”. Sehubungan dengan itu, ANGKASA dengan berbesar hati menjemput Y.Bhg. Datuk/Dato’/Prof./Dr./Tuan/Puan untuk bersama-sama hadir ke sesi syarahan yang akan diadakan seperti butiran di bawah :-


Tarikh : 19 Julai 2011

Masa : 0945

Tempat : Teatret,

Planetarium Negara, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur

(berhampiran dengan Masjid Negara dan Taman Burung)


Untuk maklumat lanjut mengenai syarahan ini, Y.Bhg Dato’/Prof./Dr./Tuan/Puan boleh menghubungi pegawai yang bertanggungjawab seperti di bawah:


Nama : Farahana Kamarudin, Zulia Kurnia Dewi Nurlisman

Email : farahana@angkasa.gov.my; zulia@angkasa.gov.my

Tel : 03-8888 8668 / 019-2126866 / 017-2866743


4. ANGKASA juga mengambil kesempatan ini untuk memohon jasa baik Y.Bhg Datuk/Dato’/Prof./Dr./Tuan/Puan untuk memanjangkan jemputan ini kepada warga organisasi masing-masing. Sokongan dan kesudian Y.Bhg Dato’/Prof./Dr./Tuan/Puan dalam menjayakan majlis ilmu ini amatlah dihargai.


Sekian, terima kasih.

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Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel John Lasker 12.15.06 NASA's planned moon base announced last week could pave the way for deeper space exploration to Mars, but one of the biggest beneficiaries may be the terrestrial energy industry. Nestled among the agency's 200-point mission goals is a proposal to mine the moon for fuel used in fusion reactors -- futuristic power plants that have been demonstrated in proof-of-concept but are likely decades away from commercial deployment. Helium-3 is considered a safe, environmentally friendly fuel candidate for these generators, and while it is scarce on Earth it is plentiful on the moon. As a result, scientists have begun to consider the practicality of mining lunar Helium-3 as a replacement for fossil fuels. "After four-and-half-billion years, there should be large amounts of helium-3 on the moon," said Gerald Kulcinski, a professor who leads the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Last year NASA administrator Mike Griffin named Kulcinski to lead a number of committees reporting to NASA's influential NASA Advisory Council, its preeminent civilian leadership arm. The Council is chaired by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt, a leading proponent of mining the moon for helium 3. Schmitt, who holds the distance record for driving a NASA rover on the moon (22 miles through the Taurus-Littrow valley), is also a former U.S. senator (R-New Mexico). The Council was restructured last year with a new mission: implementing President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration," which targets Mars as its ultimate destination. Other prominent members of the Council include ex-astronaut Neil Armstrong. Schmitt and Kulcinski are longtime friends and academic partners, and are known as helium-3 fusion's biggest promoters. At the Fusion Technology Institute, Kulcinski's team has produced small-scale helium-3 fusion reactions in the basketball-sized fusion device. The reactor produced one milliwatt of power on a continuous basis. While still theoretical, nuclear fusion is touted as a safer, more sustainable way to generate nuclear energy: Fusion plants produce much less radioactive waste, especially if powered by helium-3. But experts say commercial-sized fusion reactors are at least 50 years away. The isotope is extremely rare on Earth but abundant on the moon. Some experts estimate there a millions of tons in lunar soil -- and that a single Space-Shuttle load would power the entire United States for a year. NASA plans to have a permanent moon base by 2024, but America is not the only nation with plans for a moon base. China, India, the European Space Agency, and at least one Russian corporation, Energia, have visions of building manned lunar bases post-2020. Mining the moon for helium-3 has been discussed widely in space circles and international space conferences. Both China and Russia have stated their nations' interest in helium-3. "We will provide the most reliable report on helium-3 to mankind," Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist of China's lunar program, told a Chinese newspaper. "Whoever first conquers the moon will benef

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RADIATION

Is all radiation harmful?

No. There are two types of radiation: non-ionizing and ionizing. Non-ionizing radiation includes infrared radiation, radio waves, cellphone radiation and the radiation we use to cook food in a microwave. Such radiation does not break chemical bonds. If it is very intense, it can heat up tissues; otherwise, it does not have significant effects. It is not believed to cause cancer. Ionizing radiation is much more dangerous because it does break chemical bonds and thus does cause cancer. Examples of this kind of radiation include X-rays, gamma rays and the alpha or beta particles emitted by radioactive elements as they decay.

What happens when someone is exposed to ionizing radiation?

That depends on how long you are exposed. The initial symptoms are identical to those suffered by a person undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. The first signs include nausea and fatigue, then vomiting. After that comes hair loss and diarrhea. For radiotherapy for tumors, the exposure generally stops after that point and the symptoms are controlled. But with heavier exposure, the next stage is generally destruction of the intestinal lining and worse diarrhea and dehydration, then central nervous system damage. After that comes loss of consciousness and, inevitably, death.

How does radiation released from nuclear plants compare with a nuclear bomb?

A nuclear explosion produces two types of radiation that has lethal effects. The blast itself produces X-rays and gamma rays that irradiate anyone near the site, usually with a lethal or near-lethal dose of radiation. Most of the 166,000 Japanese who died at Hiroshima in the first four months after the atomic bombing suffered from this type of radiation, which killed them directly or aggravated other injuries suffered in the blast. It also produces clouds of radioactive ash that includes cesium-137, iodine-131, radioactive strontium and a host of other long-lived byproducts of the explosion — known collectively as fallout. This material can collect on skin and clothing, where it can emit radiation that pierces the skin. More important, it can accumulate in food, milk, water and other products that are ingested. It is not clear how many Hiroshima residents died of cancer from this source, but some estimates put it at more than 100,000. Fukushima is not emitting gamma or X-irradiation. Most of the radioactivity is in the form of radiocesium and radioiodine, which are byproducts of the fission of uranium in the fuel rods. What makes cesium-137 and iodine-131 dangerous? Iodine-131 is absorbed preferentially in the thyroid gland, where it can cause tumors. It has a half-life of eight days and is most dangerous to children because it damages rapidly dividing cells. The problem can be substantially ameliorated by taking tablets of ordinary iodine, which bind to the thyroid and prevent the radioactive iodine from binding. Cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, is more serious. It is a salt that acts like potassium and goes everywhere in the body. It is absorbed into soft tissues, causing sarcomas. It contaminates food, water and milk and gets into the body when those things are ingested. Contamination with cesium-137 is one of the main reasons large areas of land had to be abandoned in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

How much exposure is enough to make someone sick?

The biological risk of exposure to radiation is measured in sieverts, or Sv. An exposure of 500,000 microsieverts, or µSv, can lead to nausea and fatigue within hours. A dose of 750,000 µSv causes hair loss within two or three weeks, and a dose of 1 million µSv will cause hemorrhage. Death usually occurs at a dose of 4 million µSv. In terms of long-term effects, experts estimate that if 10,000 people were each exposed to 10,000 µSv of ionizing radiation in small doses over a lifetime, about five or six more people in the group would die of cancer than would be expected without the radiation exposure. What were the health consequences of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island? In the case of Chernobyl, United Nations reports have estimated that fewer than 50 people had died of causes directly related to radiation exposure. Most were rescue workers who had received high radiation doses; 28 died within the first few months. As many as 4,000 people are expected to eventually die of radiation-related causes. A 2005 report said about 4,000 thyroid cancers were directly related to radiation exposure, mostly in people who were children or adolescents at the time of the disaster and drank milk highly contaminated with radioactive iodine. At least nine died. To track the health fallout of the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster, the Pennsylvania Department of Health kept a registry of more than 30,000 people who lived within five miles of the site at the time. Finding little evidence of significantly changed cancer rates, it discontinued the database in 1997.

So how much radiation have people in Japan been exposed to? How risky is it?

The levels of exposure are unclear. Radiation levels were reported to have jumped to about 400,000 µSv per hour inside the Fukushima plant after an explosion Tuesday, although the levels subsided rapidly. Sustained exposure to this level of radiation would be extremely hazardous. Levels outside the plant would have been substantially lower. Civilians who have been exposed to radiation have been treated by simply getting their clothes washed and being given showers because the exposure has been so minimal. Workers in the plant will receive the highest exposure, but they are outfitted with full protective gear, wear radiation badges and work for shifts of only an hour or two at a time. According to news reports, radiation levels in Tokyo have been 10 times normal, which is still very low

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