Topic: World's smallest incandescent (nano)lamp with carbon nanotube filament

[hmed2390]

World's smallest incandescent (nano)lamp with carbon nanotube filament
 
(PhysOrg.com) -- In an effort to explore the boundary between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics -- two fundamental yet seemingly incompatible theories of physics -- a team from the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy has created the world's smallest incandescent lamp.

The team, which is led by Chris Regan, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, and includes Yuwei Fan, Scott Singer and Ray Bergstrom, has published the results of their research May 5 in the online edition of the journal Physical Review Letters.

Thermodynamics, the crown jewel of 19th-century physics, concerns systems with many particles. Quantum mechanics, developed in the 20th century, works best when applied to just a few. The UCLA team is using their tiny lamp to study physicist Max Planck's black-body radiation law, which was derived in 1900 using principles now understood to be native to both theories.

The incandescent lamp utilizes a filament made from a single carbon nanotube that is only 100 atoms wide. To the unaided eye, the filament is completely invisible when the lamp is off, but it appears as tiny point of light when the lamp is turned on. Even with the best optical microscope, it is only just possible to resolve the nanotube's non-zero length. To image the filament's true structure the team uses an electron microscope capable of atomic resolution.

With less than 20 million atoms, the nanotube filament is both large enough to apply the statistical assumptions of thermodynamics and small enough to be considered as a molecular ? that is, quantum mechanical ? system.

"Because both the topic (black-body radiation) and the size scale (nano) are on the boundary between the two theories, we think this is a very promising system to explore," Regan said. "The carbon nanotube that is used as the lamp filament is ideal for their purposes because of its smallness and extraordinary temperature stability."

Carbon nanotubes were only discovered in 1991, but using carbon in a light bulb is not a new idea. Thomas Edison's original light bulbs used carbon filaments. The UCLA research team's light bulb is very similar to Edison's, except that their filament is 100,000 times narrower and 10,000 times shorter, for a total volume only one one-hundred-trillionth that of Edison's.

Provided by University of California - Los Angeles



http://www.physorg.com/news160845710.html

[Skadi]

an effort to explore the boundary between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics -- two fundamental yet seemingly incompatible theories of physics

^ heh...that's like a nerdy shop-talk scientists' joke x___X

I don't get it. I mean I get it, but I don't get it. I get that it's cool that it's novel to think all old-school and think 'carbon'. And I get the stability and the size advantages. But I don't get its applications considering its size in comparison to what it produces. Do they mean they'd have to attach an electron microscope to each one to make it usable? : p  Or, does it mean that they'd use them in multiple groupings? Or, they don't know how they'd use it yet?

I mean..I get the picture example also..but..I still don't get it. I need a practical example.

[hmed2390]

In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure what they are trying to accomplish on a wider scale either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body

I tried reading this article on wikipedia, I'm guessing they're trying to make a greener way to supply energy, but more efficiently than the current means allows.

In physics, a black body is an idealized object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation that falls on it.

Theoretically, they should be able to absorb 100% of the sun energy it captures I'm assuming. I could be wrong.

[Skadi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body

I tried reading this article on wikipedia, I'm guessing they're trying to make a greener way to supply energy, but more efficiently than the current means allows.

^ well doink! the wiki info tells you all you need

hehe

[davidsolomon83]

an effort to explore the boundary between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics -- two fundamental yet seemingly incompatible theories of physics

^ heh...that's like a nerdy shop-talk scientists' joke x___X

.........hmm,  , well, I don't agree, its more like physics talk than star-trek nerdy geekish talk, I had this LUV for quantum mechanics and classical thermodynamics, seeing that these two can actually be combined is like seeing a steam engine working with a fusion reactor, o_0 , uhm  , its RALLY RALLY interesting. 

=================================================

as to what we can benefit from this, as they say, the possibilities are limitless, like, quantum computers, better faster ways of detecting viruses and DNA, medicine on a microscopic level, nanobots and BLAH BLAH BLAH. The easiest way of saying it would be, man would advance further on the nano scale, and what can one do with that fine level of control is maaaaaany things     

[Skadi]

The easiest way of saying it would be, man would advance further on the nano scale, and what can one do with that fine level of control is maaaaaany things     

You mean nano stuff in general? or..specifically the lightie-up stuff?

The article was vague enough that I was just frustrated trying to see what they were stressing as important. Was it that they went all old school with carbon? or, the fact that the two science branches were crossing over? or, was the stress on the find itself?..and if so, what would it's applications be. Branches of science cross over all the time, so that lead in seemed awkward.. And, the picture seemed to explain things..but it was misleading also. To me it just looked like they were going to manufacture lots of teeny little souvenir flames

The whole thing just read oddly

[hmed2390]

You mean nano stuff in general? or..specifically the lightie-up stuff?
To me it just looked like they were going to manufacture lots of teeny little souvenir flames

 
Skadi, providing humor since the dawn of time. 

^ well doink! the wiki info tells you all you need

hehe

yeah cuz after seeing that equation, i totally get it now. 

[davidsolomon83]

Skadi, providing humor since the dawn of time. 

^ Sacrilege against all womankind    (I had nothing to do with it, its the banana boy's fault) 

and yet again, time after time, dave proves himself as the bad lame joke teller at the worst possible time        

[hmed2390]

^heh. Time is such a pervert. 

[Skadi]

*snorts* This thread is going from bad to worse. It was just a math geek thread.. Now it's just random nonsense geekitude

[hmed2390]

Chaos, from brilliant to magnificent.
Oh wait, this isn't chaos......

[dweez]

But it is your own garden hmed...don't forget to weed it (I hope you catch my illustration here )

[hmed2390]

But it is your own garden hmed...don't forget to weed it (I hope you catch my illustration here )

  and a good illustration at that.