Quotations
Thought for us
Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable.
But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.
H L Mencken
DNA Damage by Signaling
DNA damage by Signaling. Recently, QED induced radiation and the oxidative stress paradigm have been questioned by DNA damage thought by University of Bristol researchers to be caused by signaling damaged DNA across multi-layers of BeWo cells.
The signaling is similar to that for the standby effect depicted in the above figure. The pink cells were irradtiated with alpha particles and the blue cells were not. Damage of the pink cells is evidenced by the fragments. But the blue cells also become damaged. In traditionlal biology, the damage of blue cells is thought caused by signaling the damage from the pink cells.However, QED induced radiation from the pink cell fragments also could have fragmented the blue cells. More study is required to determine if the long thought signaling is in fact QED radiation.
In the Bristol research, the fragments were NPs of 30nm diameter CoCr while the barrier cells were grown on a 0.4 micron pore polyester filter supported on a Transwell insert, the insert positioned about 1 mm above the human fibroblast cells. The reduction in DNA damage by the CoCr NPs found upon adding drugs to the BeWo cells was claimed caused by the suppression of cell-to-cell communication in the junctions between cells. However, this is unlikely. The drugs included: apyrase an enzyme hydrolyzing ATP; allopurinol that inhibits xanthine oxidase; and connexin and pannexin channel blockers, all of which are UV absorptive evidenced by the fact they are detected in liquid chromatography by UV spectroscopy. What this means is the drugs are absorbing the QED induced radiation from the NPs, thereby reducing the corrosion of the CoCr NPs into Co and Cr ions and subsequent DNA damage from Co ions. See ScienceBlog and ASME Nanoengineering for Medicine and BIology Conference, NEMB 2010 Paper and Presentation
Cepheids by Cosmic Dust
The Cepheid period-luminosity relation that stars with long periods are brighter than those with short periods including measurements of the distance to the star based on the Baade-Wesselink method are placed in question by cosmic dust. In the early 1900’s, the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheids was first reported by Henrietta Leavitt at the Harvard Observatory. Stars with longer periods were thought brighter than those with shorter-periods. Since the stars in the same distant clouds are about the same distance from the Earth, any difference in apparent magnitude was therefore thought related to a difference in absolute magnitude. Today, the Cepheid mechansim is thought caused by ionized helium. The problem is ionized helium is not opaque, at least not to red light. The Thumbnail above shows the dim part of the cycle to be clear and distinct with a faint red halo while the bright part is red-spotted and fuzzy. Neutral or ionized helium atoms should produce clear and distinct images for both dim and bright parts of the cycle. Only the lumpiness of the mass ejected from a Cepheid explosion would make the bright image spotted and fuzzy. In this regard, the Cepheids find similarity with the explosions of Supernova where the redshift of light emission is proportional to the mass ejected. See Science Blog and Press Release
Nanoscale Heat Transfer
Classically, heat is transferred by convection, radiation, and conduction. However, at the nanoscale classical heat transfer is restricted by quantum mechanics (QM) to vanishing specific heat. The QM restriction may be understood from the Einstein-Hopf relation for the harmonic oscillator that shows the heat capacity of an atom given by the average Planck energy at temperature is dispersed with wavelength. At room temperature, the full thermal kT energy of the oscillator rapidly vanishes below wavelengths of 50 microns, and therefore atoms in nanostructures lack heat capacity (specific heat) because the submicron NP size excludes all thermal wavelengths beyond a few microns. Electromagnetic (EM) energy absorbed by the nanostructure cannot be conserved by an increase in temperature.
Today, the heat transfer of nanostructures which are unambiguously not periodic continues to proceed on the erroneous assumption of macroscopic specific heat. See figure for heat flow in a CNT. In effect, the Dulong-Petit law of constant specific heat with temperature is implicitly extended from the macro to the nanoscale. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of nanostructures are proudly displayed on the belief they provide precise atomistic explanations of conduction heat transfer when in fact they are not valid because the simulations are performed assuming the atoms have full kT energy.
In this paper, heat transfer at the nanoscale explicitly assumes the material of the nanostructure has vanishing specific heat. Both the Debye model of specific heat based on phonon vibrations of atoms in a lattice and Einstein’s specific heat model of independent vibrations of the atoms as harmonic oscillators are only applicable to macroscopic structures having slow heat transfer processes that cannot respond in nanostructures at optical frequencies. The harmonic oscillator in Einstein’s atomic vibration model for specific heat is modified to represent photons consistent with Planck’s theory for blackbody radiation in an evacuated cavity, except the cavity is now a nanostructure of a solid medium having a finite refractive index. See Abstract and Paper
Boiling Heat Transfer
Boiling heat transfer (BHT) relies on liquid to vapor phase change in the continuous production of bubbles to dissipate heat from a surface. But as the heat flux to the surface is increased, the production of bubbles ceases and an insulating vapor film forms that causes the surface to overheat to its detriment, the heat flux at which this occurs called the critical heat flux (CHF). Recently, nanofluids of water having less than 1% volume fractions of nanoparticles (NPs) have been shown to provide significant CHF enhancement over water alone, although the coefficient of BHT paradoxically is about the same. For heating by a wire, the bubble sizes are far larger for water with alumina NPs than for pure water as shown in the above figure. Classical heat transfer cannot explain this paradox, thereby allowing this quantum mechanics (QM) explanation. Atoms in NPs have thermal kT energy in the FIR. But NPs are submicron and by their size exclude FIR radiation, and therefore lack the heat capacity to conserve the absorption of heat by an increase in temperature. In the boiling process, the NPs repeatedly contact the heated surface. Momentarily, the NP becomes part of a macroscopic surface that by QM is allowed to have kT energy. But as the NPs come off the surface they are distinct submicron particles having excess kT energy not allowed by QM. Lacking specific heat, conservation proceeds by the QED induced frequency up-conversion of the excess kT energy in the FIR to the EM confinement frequency of the NP, the latter leaking to the surrounding water at VUV levels and beyond. By QED theory, the CHF-BHT paradox occurs because the NPs by emitting VUV avoid local thermal equilibrium (LTE) with the bubbles formed at the heated surface. The VUV emission from NPs therefore enhances the CHF by dissipating the heat flux to the surface without increasing the BHT coefficient. See Paper and Press Release
Thermophones
Thermophones are thought to produce sound from vibrations by converting current at audio frequencies to rapid temperature changes. However, thermophones recently fabricated from nanoscale sheets of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) produce higher sound pressure levels (SPL) without vibration. Classical heat transfer cannot explain CNT thermophones, and instead quantum mechanics (QM) as embodied in the theory of QED induced EM radiation is proposed. QED stands for quantum electrodynamics and EM for electromagnetic. Atoms in CNT films having thickness < 0.2 microns are under EM confinement at levels beyond the ultraviolet (UV) that by QM have vanishing specific heat, and therefore Joule heat cannot be conserved by an increase in temperature. Conservation proceeds by the QED induced up-conversion of low frequency Joule heat to the UV confinement frequency of the film. Sound is produced from the pressure changes that accompany the absorption of UV emission by the surrounding air. See Paper and Press Release
Nanotrumpet Update
Recently, the journal Nature published an article entitled Nanotherm Trumpets that claimed sound was produced from temperature fluctuations in passing electrical current through an array of nanometer thick aluminum films.See Nature Article The claim is based on classical heat transfer theory that assumes films under Joule heating increase in temperature to heat the surrounding air and produce the pressure in propagating the sound. High thermal conductivity of the films is thought to allow the Joule heat to be lost to the substrate, and therefore not contribute to the large temperature fluctuations necessary to produce sound. To avoid loss of Joule heat, reductions in bulk thermal conductivity are viewed as an important feature of the Nanotrumpets. Required reductions in thin film thermal conductivity are supported by scattering of electrons in the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE).
QM trumps the classical heat transfer theory claims that Nanotrumpet sound is produced from temperature fluctuations in nanometer thick films. The validity of classical heat transfer theory in thin films having submicron thicknesses was the subject of an earlier critique of the BTE. See Thermophones Similarly, the Nanotrumpet claims are critiqued as unlikely. See Press Release and ScienceBlog
Solar Cells by Quantum Mechanics
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In 1901, Nikola Tesla described the photoelectric effect in US patent “Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy.” Charging and discharging conductors was accomplished by using a metal plate exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Applied to solar cells, a polished insulated metal plate will gain a positive charge as electrons are ejected from the UV content in sunlight. As the plate charges positively, electrons are continually drained to a capacitor. In his patent, Tesla noted that as the radiation falls on the insulated metal plate, the capacitor will charge indefinitely. One of the Tesla's many US and Foreign patents is shown above.
Today, solar cells are generally not based on Tesla’s photoelectric effect that ejects electrons out of a metal plate from UV light. Instead, the photovoltaic (PV) effect is used where lower intensity visible (VIS) light only moves electrons out of the valence band of semiconductors into higher-energy conduction bands, thereby producing electric current at a voltage related to the band-gap energy. But thin film PV cells are usually limited to the VIS part of the solar spectrum. Infrared (IR) light with a wavelength between 0.7 and 300 microns cannot be utilized in PV cells by moving electrons between the valence and conduction bands, and certainly not eject electrons from metals by Tesla’s photoelectric effect. Nevertheless, IR light comprises a large fraction of sunlight that is lost in the PV conversion process. But quantum mechanics in submicron thin metal films allows the tull solar spectrum to converted to electricity. See Press Release and Science Blog
Nanocars by Quantum Mechanics
Nanocars including molecular motors convert EM energy into mechanical motion. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of heat transfer in nanocars are used to correlate temperatures to motion, but are invalid because QM restricts the thermal kT energy of the atom at the nanoscale. The QM restriction on MD may be understood from the heat capacity of the atom given by the Einstein-Hopf relation for the harmonic oscillator. At ambient temperature, the heat capacity of the atom resides at wavelengths in the FIR beyond 50 microns. Nanocars by their size exclude all thermal radiation beyond about 1 micron, and therefore lack the heat capacity to support heat transfer. Hence, absorption of EM energy, say by a nanocar from a heated substrate cannot be conserved by an increase in temperature. Instead, conservation proceeds by the frequency up-conversion of absorbed FIR to the molecular EM confinement frequency of the nanocar that at near UV or higher levels charges the nanocar positive. In effect, nanostructures act as FIR to higher frequency up-conversion devices that are charged by the photoelectric effect, the charges producing electrostatic attraction and repulsive pair-wise forces between nanocars that cause the nanocar motions. Similar arguments allow QED radiation to explain the motions of molecular motors under Joule and electron beam heating. For a preliminary QED charging of nanocars by QM see Paper ,Press Release, Science Blog.
Death of the Big Bang Theory
The death of the Big Bang Theory predicted by Zwicky in 1930 and proclaimed by Marmet 20 years ago is supported today by QED induced redshift of galaxy light in cosmic dust thereby negating an expanding Universe based the Doppler shift. In 1990, Paul Marmet published an article in 21st Century, Science and Technology entitled “Big Bang Cosmology meets an astronomical death” that proclaimed the death of the Big Bang Theory. See http://www.newtonphysics.on.ca/bigbang/index.html Marmet argued that the abundance of light elements are produced during galaxy formation by nuclear reactions in the stars; the CMB radiation is simply Planck's blackbody radiation emitted by an unlimited Universe at a temperature of about 3 K; and the Hubble redshift was really a non-Doppler redshift from collisions of galaxy photons with molecular gases in the intergalactic medium (IGM) by the Photon-Atom Theory.
Photon-Atom Theory is a variant of the Tired Light Theory proposed by Zwicky immediately after Hubble reported redshift measurements in 1930. Zwicky contended that the redshift measured was caused by galaxy photons losing energy in colliding with cosmic dust particles (DPs) in the IGM. Zwicky’s contention that the interpretation of Hubble’s redshift as a Doppler shift was fatally flawed marked the beginning of cosmological death of the Big Bang Theory culminating in the proclamation by Marmet some 60 years later.
QED induced redshift supports the death of the Big Bang Theory initiated by Zwicky and proclaimed by Marmet. QED induced redshift is a consequence of constraints on the conservation of energy imposed by quantum mechanics (QM). QM precludes submicron DPs from having the specific heat capacity necessary to conserve absorbed galaxy photons by an increase in temperature. Instead, photons are created from the electromagnetic (EM) confinement of the absorbed galaxy photon within the solid DP. This may be understood from QM by the QED induced creation of photons of wavelength Lo by supplying EM energy to a QM box with walls separated by Lo/2. For a galaxy photon absorbed in a spherical DP of diameter D, the QED photons are created at a wavelength Lo = 2nD, where n is the index of refraction of the DP. In the IGM, the DPs are generally amorphous silicate having n = 1.45 and diameters D < 0.5 microns. For D = 0.25 microns, the QED created photon has Lo = 0.745 microns, and therefore an absorbed Ly-alpha photon having L = 0.1216 microns is redshift to Z = (Lo – L)/L ~ 5. If the QED redshift in DPs is interpreted by Doppler shift, the galaxy recession velocity is 95 % of the speed of light when in fact the Universe is not expanding at all. See http://www.nanoqed.org at “Dark Energy and Cosmic Dust” and “Reddening and Redshift,” 2009. QED redshift is shown to support Zwicky's prediction and Marmet's proclamation. See Press Release and ScienceBlog.
