Paul Sutton

science

Digital pH Tester

I recently ordered a digital pH meter to go with some of the Chemistry resources at the STEM event and at home.

This is a nice little unit, using 2x LR44 (AG13) cell batteries, I did a quick test on some tap water and some vinegar and got expected results. Seems tap water is slightly on the acidic side, so i may have to do proper experimentation with this.

Easy to set, just add batteries, take off protective cover and place in the liquid that you want to test.

One comment that the instructions are in Chinese, which isn't really helpful, but the unit is easy to use, with some common sense and problem-solving skills.

Measurements are from pH 0 to pH 14, with increments of 0.01 so it should be possible to measure very small changes or gradual changes that may take place during reactions for example.

I will be using this at a future STEM group meeting in the meantime, there is an experiment I want to undertake anyway and this will be ideal.

Tags

#Science,#Chemistry,#pH,#Tester.


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Bogus science

Bad science is now becoming a real concern for the science community, This Fediverse post gives an idea of the issues involved.

To make things worse, we now have AI producing total nonsensical science.

Very worrying as science needs to be trusted, and the peer review process needs to be robust to maintain that trust.

Links

Tags

#Science,#Trust,#PeerReview


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Stsci lectures Feb 2024 update

I have been catching up on these lectures as they are fascinating. The LISA talk was also good as it gave a lot of background information as to the science behind this. Exciting times to come, even though it may be a decade before the mission is launched in to space.

So far I have watched:-

Links

Tags

#STSCI,#JWST,#LIGO,#LISA,#Space,#Astronomy,#Research,#Science,#Physics,#Astrophysics


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LISA – the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

This is another upcoming project, which will see a huge space based laser antenna created to help in the search for gravitational waves.

You can read more about this here it may be possible to invite someone to the STEM group to talk more about the science behind this.

I think the LIGO project is similar to this. There is certainly a lot of interest in Gravitational waves at the moment.

Tags

#Science,#Physics,#GravitationalWaves,#Observatory,#Antenna


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Japan SLIM Mission

This week saw Japan become only the 5th country to land on the moon. This has been achieved using their SLIM mission, Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM).

At the time of writing this, the mission status is that they landed on the moon, but there are issues with the solar panels preventing power to the lander. However, landing on the moon is very difficult. So this success proved the technology worked.

More information will be available in due course, in the meantime there is a link to the mission website below.

Links

Tags

#Science,#Moon,#Japan,#SLIM,#Mission


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Code Club Electronics 14

I want to build something for the science kit to make it easier to stir liquids. I have found a project for a DC motor controlled by a potentiometer. that also uses an Arduino microcontroller. This should be easy enough to build and attach a stirrer to. This can be soldered up, battery attached, power switch may also be needed.

Should then be easier to stir liquids for science experiments.

Tags

#Arduino,#Electronics,#Science,#Chemical,#Stirrer,#DC,#Motor, #Control


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2023 Nobel Prize : Chemistry

The 2023 Nobel Priize for Chemistry was awarded for Quantum Dots. The info graphic is below. While not an academic source of information, there is an article on WikiPedia about this.

Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals are semiconductor particles a few nanometres [1]. So there is some real potential here to make smaller circuits etc I guess. I have also linked to arXiv that has several papers on this topic [2].

2023 chemistry Nobel Prize

References

  1. Quantum Dots on WikiPedia
  2. Papers on arXiv

Tags

#Science,#Nobel,#QuamtumDots


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ESA – Innovative X-ray lobster-eye mission set to launch 2024

Einstein Mission Image embedded from website below

The next generation of X-ray probe will launch in January 2024. This mission will help us discover more x-ray sources and much more.

Tags

#ESA,#Space,#Science,#Mission,#Einstein,#X-ray,#Probe


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Understanding the Atmospheric Effects of Spacecraft Re-entry

This was posted to the Fediverse. The original post from COSPAR, The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR): can be found here

This is an upcoming workshop looking at the environmental impact of spacecraft reentry in to the Earths Atmosphere.

This workshop will address the impact of spacecraft re-entry on the atmosphere. The aim is to bring together atmospheric chemists and physicists, material experts, the space industry, and international space research related organizations to highlight the gaps in our understanding of the modelling and how we can improve testing to obtain relevant data and suggest appropriate mitigation and regulatory measures. 

This sounds like a fascinating area of research and discussion, as any exploration of space needs to take into account any environmental impacts.

Understanding the Atmospheric Effects of Spacecraft Re-entry (10-11 January 2024): Overview · Indico at ESA / ESTEC

Workshop information

It will be interesting to learn about the findings and conclusions from this, as it will open up further discussion on the topic(s) raised.

Links

Tags

#Space,#Conference,#SpaceCraft,,#Reentry,#Atmosphere,#Science


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