Physics News from the Web
Items selected from the bulletins of the Institute of Physics (UK) and the American Institute of Physics.
a)Graphene supercapacitor breaks storage record
b)Not slippery when wet. the mystery of how flies can crawl upside down
c)Au revoir, kilogram!
d)How the other half lives. Physics PhDs on Wall St
a)Graphene supercapacitor breaks storage record
Researchers in the US have made a graphene-based supercapacitor that can store as much energy per unit mass as nickel metal hydride batteries – but unlike batteries, it can be charged or discharged in just minutes or even seconds. The new device has a specific energy density of 85.6 Wh/kg at room temperature and 136 Wh/kg at 80 °C. These are the highest ever values for "electric double layer" supercapacitors based on carbon nanomaterials.
b)Not slippery when wet. the mystery of how flies can crawl upside down
Ever wondered how a fly effortlessly lands and runs on your window without falling off? ... it is probably the sort of thing you thought about when you first started exploring the world around you as a child. However, as you might have noticed back then if you tried to get a better look, it is really hard to see those little insect feet in action without any form of magnification.
As the childlike curiosity of scientists never ends, it is somehow no big surprise that this apparently simple question – of how a fly sticks to a surface instead of just sliding off – was addressed in the 17thcentury by some of the pioneers of optical microscopy, including Robert Hooke. Better optical lenses suddenly allowed researchers to explore the world beyond the resolution of their eyes for the very first time.
c)Au revoir, kilogram!
Once a year, a century-old ritual unfolds at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) outside Paris. It takes place in the basement of the BIPM's main lab building, which houses a vault secured with three locks. Three antique keys, held by citizens of different countries, open these locks. At the annual meeting of the BIPM's governing board – the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) – the three key holders produce the keys, open the vault, unlock a safe inside the vault and inspect its principal contents: the platinum–iridium cylinder that defines the kilogram.
This year's ritual, on 13 October, was unusual. It was not just that BIPM director Andrew Wallard (UK) and CIPM president Ernst Göbel (Germany) are retiring, making this their last year as key holders. Nor was it that the third key holder, Claire Béchu of the French Archives, was an hour late, delayed by a strike that snarled French traffic for most of the week. The atmosphere was different because a major change is afoot: the cylinder may soon be removed and dethroned.
The article has a link to a longer article on 'our favourite units'.
d)How the other half lives. Physics PhDs on Wall St
The article is an extensive review of physics and Maths PhDs now working in finance in a book called 'The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It' The article also has links to longer articles on the connections between Physics and finance.