Post Three: Anjana, Tushita, and Chrissy

PORTKEYS

J.K. Rowling brings together many technologies in the Harry Potter series, one of which stood out to our group and piqued our interest- portkeys. Those in the wizarding world are able to teleport themselves to various locations by simply holding on to an object. This led us to question the technology of teleportation. Is teleportation possible? What are its limitations? Our group set out to find out!

In our last post, we touched upon the ethics of teleportation. If we transport ourselves, there is a moment when all of our information is stored in a very powerful computer, until that information is transmitted someplace new. The question raised is if the person transmitted is the same person, or a clone of the teleported person. The initial person was essentially broken down into information and then disappeared, so that person no longer exists. A new person is created out of the information that was stored. Is the new person the same person that was initially transported (Asmussen)?  Also, due to the long amount of time and data it would take to teleport a person, 2.6x1042 bits of data and 4.85x1015 years (Yglesias), some say that the person created is, in fact, a new person because the old one would be dead by the time he or she is teleported (Plafke). Therefore, we have simply allowed the person to teleport himself to a later time, similar to time travel. Physicist Michio Kaku has also raised ethical concern over teleportation. When a person is teleported, the person’s atoms are broken down and recreated in a new location.  In breaking down the molecules of the person, have we destroyed that person? Is teleportation causing death? (Kaku). Although we will never know the answers to these questions, these are issues that would emerge if teleportation became a reality.

Although is is not feasible to teleport humans anytime soon due to time, energy and data storage constraints, the transportation of smaller particles such as photons has been achieved already. This has been done through a process called entanglement. This process uses a pair of particles and “entangling” them so that they share the same information (Beck). One of them is then send to a destination away from the other particle through a cable while the information of the other particle was sent or teleported to the transported particle immediately (Beck). Then the original photon was destroyed so that the copied transported photon was left. This is a simple example of how teleportation works; by turning the substance or object into pure information, transporting it to the destination through a cable or through radio waves and then creating an exact copy while destroying the original.

Not only are there ethical concerns with teleportation, there are, of course, many constraints in the field of physics that become a barrier when trying to teleport an object. One, that has been mentioned, is the large amount of information required to teleport a person. The amount of data it would take would be equivalent to 30 times all of the data currently stored on Facebook (Carlsen). Also, the use of quantum physics in transporting photons is far from perfect, about 1% success. New approaches have increased this number to 40%, but the technology still remains unreliable (Buchler). Furthermore, in our last post, we mentioned that the movie The Fly reveals some possible glitches that could arise some teleportation. However, in real life, the computer would have to sift through more than just the fly and the human, it would have to sift through all of the bacteria and microorganisms that live on or in our body. That’s 9 trillion organisms (Carlsen). That’s a lot of organisms that one person could potentially get confused with if something were to go wrong. Adding to that, the amount of energy stored within our body is enough to blow up a continent with a hydrogen bomb, which makes it very risky to attempt to break apart the atoms of a person (Carlsen). Now that’s not something worth risking...

If the time that it would take a person to teleport does not drastically decrease, our initial thoughts on the benefits of teleportation would change.  In the first post, we discussed how teleportation could be utilized to make transportation more efficient and help first responders get to emergencies quicker.  When we thought about these benefits, we were thinking of teleportation from the Harry Potter perspective.  In Harry Potter, touching a portkey instantaneously transports a person to another place.  If we translate that idea to the real world, we are looking at a very complex process, not nearly as simple as using the spell portus and utilizing an object to transport us.  Since actual teleportation is not instantaneous, teleportation would also be a means of time travel until it the time was cut down, which may not be possible.  

While we know that teleportation is a real concept, as demonstrated by the use in transporting quantum information (Buchler), the feasibility of teleporting any living being seems quite low (Kaku).  Although Kaku is willing to share his many thoughts on the impossible becoming possible, he does mark some concepts as impossible due to completely defying laws of physics.  Mr. Kaku could very well be right, as he is a seasoned thinker, but he could also be overlooking concepts that would make the impossible, possible, as no physicist knows absolutely everything. Some theories and laws that scientists believed in were later unraveled and found to have flaws. In our lifetime, we will likely never see a successful teleportation of a human, but it will always be unknown whether it is possible or just needs more research to work.  We can not live long enough to find out about everything in the world. Human teleportation even seems outlandish due to the amount of time it would take and the possibility of risk.  While humans may not be involved in experimentation, no doubt animals will be the first live specimen we use to try to break this barrier.  Still, there are always people who find devotion to a cause or wonder, regardless of risk or ethics.  In that case, we still would never find out what happens if it really ends up taking 4.85X1015 years for that person to be reconfigured (Yglesias).

Our group came together very well when conducting research. We were able to collaborate on a Google document and share our research while typing individual paragraphs. We also communicated effectively in order to bring our individual thoughts together into one post. We began by simply discussing our own ideas on the practicality of teleportation for our first post. In doing this, came up with interesting thoughts about some potential problems behind teleportation, such as the lack of privacy. For the second post, we did thorough research on the science itself and came across some very interesting information and ethical concerns behind teleportation that had not occurred to us initially. Each of us did our own individual research and wrote individual paragraphs. We then collaborated online to share our research and bring our paragraphs together. Lastly, we elaborated more on our previous research for our third post with the goal of tying all of our ideas together. Through this collaborative effort, we were able to share our interesting finds and discover the feasibility of portkeys.

See! Even Sheldon Cooper agrees!

Works Cited

Asmussen, Joen. “The Ethics of Teleportation.” Noscope.  9 July 2008. N.p. Web. 19 October 2013.

Beck, G. (n.d.). Will we just teleport from place to place in the future? Retrieved October 18, 2013, 

from Science Museum:

Buchler, Ben. “Teleportation Just Got Easier- But Not For You, Unfortunately.” Phys.org. 21 August 

2013. Phys.org. Web. 18 October 2013.

Carlsen, Nathan. “6 Realities of Teleportation Star Trek Didn’t Warn Us About.” Cracked. 12 January 2012. Demand Media. Web. 19 October 2013.

Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Print.  

Plafke, James. “Human Teleportation Would Take So Long, It’d Be More Like a Death Ray.” Extreme Tech. 2 August 2013. Ziff Davis, Inc. Web. 18 October 2013.

“The Big Bang Theory- The Problem With Teleportation.” CBS. Youtube. 8 April 2008. Web Video Clip. 

18 October 2013.

Yglesias, Matthew. Bad News, These Physicists Say That Teleportation is Unworkable. 4 August 

2013. Web. 18 October 2013.

Zack, Kevin, and Christian: Iron Man Suit, 3rd Post

The technology that our group chose to research was the Tony Stark/Iron Man Suit.  After much consideration, extensive research and thorough group discussions, Kevin, Christian and I have come to the conclusion that the construction of the iron man suit is just not feasible.  Although there are several articles on the web saying that the U.S. army is making an iron man suit, or students at MIT have made an exoskeleton that is similar to the iron man suit, the technology that is used to create the real iron man suit is just too advanced/unrealistic.  

According to Wikipedia, Starks “standard armor suit consists of approximately two million grain-of-sand-sized discrete units, which are shaped to have as large a surface as possible to optimize their effectiveness... Each cell is constructed by using specialized bacteria — the bacteria consume minute amounts of specific metals, arrange themselves on pre-tagged areas on the "chip wafer", then die, leaving a very small amount of iron, or gold, or gallium-arsenide. This method allows great precision in determining the thickness of circuitry”.  Some aspects of the iron man suit are feasible, but the fact that it is made up of millions of small cells, which themselves are made up of bacteria which consume metal is enough to make me believe that the real iron man suit is simple impossible to build.

What we have done as a group:

The first post was by Christian, he did some standard research on the suit as well as its feasibility, then wrote up his opinion on the suit.  The second post was by Kevin, he did a little more research and looked in detail at some of the actual technology used by the suit.  The last post was by me, Zack.  Just like Christian and Kevin I did research regarding the technology of the suit as well as its feasibility.  I also looked at several articles about different organizations making iron-man-like suits and compared their ideas and concepts to those of the actual suit.

In conclusion, the iron man suit may seem like a very feasible concept, but its unrealistic technology makes it impossible to create.

Ethics: Although we deemed the iron man suit not feasible, if it were possible to be made, there would be two main ethical issues involved with it. The first and most obvious is that the individual wearing the suit would have too much power. They would have access to flight, and military power far greater than that of any other individual. Put into the wrong hands, the suit could wreak havoc through out the world. The only other ethical issue I could think of is that of the environment. Rocket ships that NASA has sent into space use incredible amounts of fuel which is burned. The gasses from those rockets contribute greatly to global warming and the greenhouse effect. The iron man suit is basically a small, controllable rocket. Therefore it would require the use of tons of fuel which, just like a rocket ship's, is burned and enters the atmosphere contributing to global warming.

Works Cited

Berg, Dann. "Real-Life 'Iron Man' Suit Comissioned by US Military." The Verge. The Verge, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

"Iron Man's Armor." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

Lallanilla, Marc. "'Iron Man' Suit Under Development by US Army." LiveScience.com. LiveScience, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

Ben Vitale, Max Emond, Nick Erickson (Energy Sword) III

Feasibility of an Energy Sword

by

Ben Vitale, Nick Erickson, and Max Emond

As a group we have come to the conclusion that it is possible for an energy sword to be developed in today's world.

Ben- With modern technology I feel that creating a weapon like this is very 

possible. Science has come a long way in the 21st century and an item like this is 100% chargeable and it has a very limited charge which would not be that difficult to create. "The actual blade is composed of two partially ionized 'blades' of free moving electron based gas held in a blade-like form by two small magnetic-field generators built into the handle of the weapon. This forms and contains the oval shaped, ionized blades for which the weapon is recognized. The battery's energy is reduced for each successful strike. Each strike from the sword will drain the battery by 10% of its maximum energy output. Once the battery power is fully depleted, the sword will deactivate unless recharged, which is impossible in the games."-halo.wiki.com. It basically has a metal structure and then plasma is produced to create its dangerous effect. I find this feasible in the world today.

Nick- I agree with Ben for the most part. Now this item can't be created in my basement but our military could design something that would be similar to the sword in the game. That quote makes it seem not very effective. I doubt people in the military would want to use something that only has 10 strikes but that does make it simpler to make. An endless energy sword would not be possible because you could not constantly generate that much plasma. The model being described is possible to create in my opinion.

Max- What you guys are saying seems realistic. Considering that replicas of these swords are bought on amazon people are certainly interested in them. If they were to be built then only certain people would have availability to them since they would probably qualify as an illegal weapon. This sword, like Nicky said, would be ineffective in battle also because of its weight. No soldier would want to carry a heavy, dangerous, and limited weapon with them in combat. Even though it would look cool running around with a science fiction sword created in Halo. I also agree that this item is feasible today.

Works Cited

"Energy Sword." Halo 3. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Type-1_Energy_Weapon/Sword

"Energy Sword." (Object). N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"Halo 3/Covenant/Reach Titanium Color Energy Sword." Amazon.com: : Sports & Outdoors. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Fusion - Ryan and Winston

As a type of general reaction, fusion is definitely a feasible technology, but a fusion machine that changes iron to gold is not nearly as likely to ever happen.  To convert iron into gold, the fusion reaction would have to combine two smaller atoms’ nuclei whereas fission, an already highly used technology, requires a single, larger atom’s nucleus to split up and produce smaller atoms as a byproduct.  As mentioned earlier, iron would have to increase its atomic mass and thus be more unstable if it were to undergo fusion.  Because of the increased instability, the possibility of having a controlled reaction to create gold is unlikely. Ironically, although fission would be the process that is more feasible to create gold, the chance that the gold would be radioactive is much higher.  

Fusion has been very successful when using smaller atoms, such as hydrogen, tritium (an isotope of hydrogen), and deuterium (another isotope of hydrogen), and is also a very clean energy source.  As far as practicality for the production of precious elements, fission still remains a more likely option.  In researching our topic, we decided to look into how fission can produce gold rather than fusion because the likelihood is so low as described in our earlier posts.  Who knows?  With so much knowledge not being spread throughout the Foundation’s society, Ponyets may have been using lead instead of iron.  Well actually, he seems pretty knowledgeable, but regardless, lead is the element that would be the most probable to produce gold through a fission reaction by breaking down an element into smaller atoms.  Lead is a very stable element with an atomic mass of 82, and gold also has a stable atomic mass of 79.  So, to get this reaction from lead to gold, a great amount of energy is required through a process called transmutation in which enough energy is focused on the lead atom to lose 3 protons, thus turning into gold. There have been accounts of people claiming to have achieved the process, and fission occurs daily at plants.  However, the fact that gold is not constantly being manufactured by people implies that these are false claims or that the process is too costly.  Either way, fission would most likely be the reaction relied upon to create gold in the future.

As our group mentioned briefly in earlier posts, fusion reactions literally require more energy than the sun naturally produces through its fusion reactions because a fusion of elements larger than hydrogen/helium, are only found in supernovae.  Supernovae are the most explosive and energetic forms of stellar collapses, and fusion rapidly occurs.  Because they have so much energy, all smaller atoms collide to form larger atoms, which means iron can be turned into gold.  Our group believes that our technology process of fusion will take off within the next few decades and provide most of the world’s energy.  On the other hand, we do not think the iron to gold process Ponyets describes will ever be possible, even with magnetic donuts that contain the fusion, because the amount of energy required is billions of times larger than all the energy on our planet.  Then again, if I could tell a Roman philosopher from two thousand years ago about inventions called computers, he would probably pass me off as insane.  Predictions such as ours are probably foolish because new technologies continuously surpass what people imagine as possible.

As a group, we read articles and collaborated ideas on what to write for each post. By feeding off of each other’s thoughts, we were able to create an overarching theme that held both of our opinions on fusion.  For each new post, we would get together and write our new post in a Google doc so that we could constantly think of new ideas as well as compare each other’s thoughts.

Works Cited

Atherton, Kelsey D. "Fusion Power Could Happen Sooner Than You Think." Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation, 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Francis, Matthew. "Will We Ever … Have Reliable Nuclear Fusion Power?" BBC.com. BBC, 26 July 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Helmenstine, Anne Marie. "Turning Lead into Gold." About.com Chemistry. About.com, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"Nuclear Fission vs Nuclear Fusion." Diffen. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Siegel, RP. "Fusion Power: Pros and Cons." Triple Pundit. Triple Pundit, 12 July 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Arc Reactor Post #3: Paul, Liam, Natasha

Reactor Potential

The arc reactor is a miniature “cold fusion” reactor with a core made of palladium. The materials needed are fairly rudimentary and can be scavenged readily, so the technology would theoretically be fairly easy to mass produce if it were available to the public. Additionally, the ITER project is currently underway and being funded by a variety of European and Asian countries as well as the United States.  The aim of this project is to develop a safe and functioning fusion plant to serve as a reliable and relatively clean source of energy.  However, the efficiency of these reactors is not yet up to par, as they can only produce up to seventy percent of the amount of energy needed to run the reactors.  The ITER reactor is expected to produce more than the amount of input energy once its development is complete, but it is still undergoing some development as of today. As well as the current attempts at a fusion reactor, in the 80s, scientists tried to create a cold fusion reactor with a palladium core, very similar to the one in Iron Man, except on a larger scale.

Tony Stark's arc reactor

What is fusion?

The process used in nuclear power plants today is called fission. This is the process of splitting nuclei, and has been used for decades. What scientists are having difficulty carrying out is fusion, the combining  of atomic nuclei. Fusion is the energy source of the sun and other stars and produces very little nuclear waste, unlike fission  which creates many radioactive byproducts. The electricity produced by fusion comes from an abundant fuel called deuterium that can be extracted from seawater. 

Concluding Thoughts

For a rather long time, fusion reactors have been a goal in science and clean energy. With the current deteriorating state of our world, energy that produces little to no waste is a very attractive prospect. The fictional arc reactor from the Iron Man movies is a surprisingly feasible technology in the real world, as it utilizes the fusion technology that we have been experimenting with for years. With a little more development, fusion reactors can be created make clean energy for the whole world.

Group Work

Our group worked well together. We were able to decide on a topic (the arc reactor) that interested us quickly. We collaborated on each blog post in a Google document, so that we each contributed part of each post in the project. We found great sources that were very informative yet easy to understand. Then, we found images that went along with our research and helped support what we had learned. All in all, it was a positive experience in which we learned a lot about both the science behind the arc reactor as well as how to best post to a blog.

Works Cited

Carlyle, Ryan. "What Is the Theory/Concept Behind the "Miniature Arc Reactor" Built By Tony Stark?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 June 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Choi, Charles Q. "‘Iron Man’ Is Fiction, but Tech behind Him Is Not." Nbcnews.com. MSN, 6 May 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"ITER - the Way to New Energy." ITER - the Way to New Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"ITER - the Way to New Energy." ITER - the Way to New Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

"New Hope for Controversial 'Cold Fusion' Power Source." LiveScience.com. N.p., 23 Mar. 2009. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Tate, Karl. "Graphic: The Technology of Iron Man 2." TechNewsDaily.com. TND, 5 May 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Steles Post #3 By Colleen Griffin, Susie Ellicks, Jen Duffy, Katie Endress

“‘This’ he said, ‘is a stele.’ He touched it to an inked mark just below his shoulder, a curious shape almost like a star. Two arms of the star jutted out from the rest of the mark, unconnected. ‘And this,’ he said, ‘is what happens when Shadowhunters are wounded.’

With the tip of the stele, he traced a line connecting the two arms of the star. When he lowered his hand, the mark was shining as if it had been etched with phosphorescent ink. As Clary watched, it sank into his skin, like a weighted object sinking into water. It left behind a ghostly reminder: a pale, thin scar, almost invisible. …

‘That was an iratze, a healing rune,’ Jace said. ‘Finishing the rune with the stele activates it.’ He shoved the slim wand into his belt and shrugged his jacket back on.” (93-94)

In the Mortal Instruments the characters use steles to gain powers. Steles are used to draw runes onto people’s skin using a special tool. The runes are similar to tattoos but they give the character a special power with each different design giving the character a different power. Some of the powers include painless instant healing, speed, and clairvoyant sight among others. The stele is designed based on the users preference and can appear in many different styles. They can have more than rune at a time, but they are temporary which means that the power that the rune gives them is also temporary.

Our group decided that although the powers produced by the runes are not feasible, some people do experience some changes when they get a normal tattoo. Tattoos can act as placebos and cause people to experience changes. For example, if someone has a scar that reminds them of a tragic event and they cover it with a tattoo it can help them cope mentally and emotionally (Moore). Tattoos can also be used simply as a reminder of sorts or motivation to live a happier and healthier life and can have a profound effect on a person’s life if they believe in it. Also, some cultures, like in Southeast Asia, use tattoos for protection, both spiritually and physically. Tattoos have been used among warriors as well as among monks (Yantra Tattooing).

At the University of California at San Diego electrical engineer Todd Coleman is developing a temporary tattoo that can be used to control machinery. The “tattoos” are barely visible when worn; they are about as thick as a human hair and are made out of material that can stretch and wrinkle like skin. When placed on a person’s forehead the tattoos are able to detect electrical signals linked with brain waves. They are powered by solar power and have antennas to transmit information. When placed on the throat the tattoo is able to detect what the person is simply thinking about saying and is able to translate that electrically. This will help people who lost the ability to speak to communicate with others (Choi).

This new technology is similar to the steles and runes because in a way the temporary tattoos do give people superpowers. They give people the power of mind control over machinery. They are also both temporary. However, they are also different in several ways. The runes are obvious and visible whereas the temporary tattoos are designed to be discrete and almost invisible. Also the temporary tattoos have limited abilities; they can only be used to control machines. But the runes are able to give the user many different powers.

Each member in our group participated in the research for both parts two and three of the project. For the writeups we split them up so that a different person wrote each one.

Choi, Charles Q. "LATEST." Txchnologist. N.p., 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <http://txchnologist.com/post/43496630304/temporary-tattoos-could-make-electronic-telepathy>.

Knight, Michele. "Psychic tools: what are runes?" The UK's Favourite Psychic. Michele Knight, 1 Apr.

   2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.micheleknight.co.uk/articles/psychic-readings/

   psychic-tools-what-are-runes/>.

Moore, Jennifer. "Healing Tattoos Interview." Tattoo Medicine. johndturner.com, 7 May 1999. Web. 5

   Oct. 2013. <http://spirittattooing.com/articles-interviews/healing/>.

"Mortal Instruments: City of Bones." Blog spot. Blog spot, n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.

   <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DauQgLARkfg/UlYBGdAF9EI/AAAAAAAAAAg/vGVLp6HiCXw/s320/TMI+Rune.jpg>.

"Runic Tattoos." Runes. Alphabet of Mystery. Sunny way, 4 Sept. 2008. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

   <http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/tattoos.html>.

"Yantra Tattooing." Wikipedia. Wikimedia, 4 May 2011. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/

   wiki/Yantra_tattooing>.

Royce Period 5 Kyle, Emon and Julia Post #2 Teleportation

The teleportation of an object requires a scan of the objects precise atomic configuration. This atomic configuration must be reconstructed exactly as the original in a new place while the original is being destroyed. This would create a way to move from one place to another without physically crossing a distance. Physicist Charles Bennett brought Teleportation "out of the realm of science fiction and into the world of possibility" when he conformed that quantum teleportation of photons was possible. Although with photons teleportation is possible, it is extremely unlikely that it will ever be possible to teleport a human. This is due to the fact that the original photon must be destroyed and an exact copy must replace it, one would not be able to destroy and rebuild the exact atom configuration of a human being.  A human can not be replaced.