Adventure Ausrama Blog

Carbon dioxide changes behavior. Higher carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be making us stupid. Research has shown that greater concentration s of CO 2  c auses neurological impairment in fish. Sea water stores the dangerous element - the ocean has become more acidic because of its increased presence. The test subjects were Damsel fish  (Acathochromis polyacanthus) , which live in coral reefs. Half were kept in a normal atmosphere. The other half were put in an atmosphere with elevated CO 2 . Brain chemistry, blood and behavior were measured. The behavior test involved the fish choosing between entering normal sea water or going to water containing injured fish. The smell of the injured fish should have stopped the damselfish from choosing to enter that water. However, the fish exposed to higher CO 2   ignored or did not pick up the chemical warning : the injured fish didn't bother them. This is ground breaking stuff. It could show what will ha...

If you want to improve the efficiency of solar cells, use your pencil. Well, the graphite in pencils can now be used to make tiny nanodots. Graphite rods in sodium hydroxide solution produce nanodots which can potentially be used to augment existing solar panels. The Pencil study involved using pencil "leads" as the cathode and anode, which were dropped into ethanolic sodium hydroxide. Nano particles of 3 nanometers (nm) were produced. Nanodots in a compound with carboxyl and hydroxyl collected on the anode. The nanodots were then drawn into the pores of a titanium and silicon dioxide template. Other mesoporous materials have been tested. They each have particular properties in regard to sensing, catalysis and optoelectronics. This allows for fine tuning of solar panels. The pencil lead system  improved current transfer from simulated sunlight by 38 per cent. ◆ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Article...

Turning carbon dioxide in carbon monoxide may seem like a silly thing to do, considering carbon monoxide is a deadly poison. However, if this can be done easily and cheaply it could reduce pollution: it is used to produce fuels and plastics. A catalyst has been made that does the conversion into carbon dioxide. It does the task rapidly. Last year the world's first commercial capture process at a coal power plant began operating. Waste gases were bubbled up through vats of amine solution. This is very expensive though. The new process became possible when it was made to work in water. Electrocalysts have been used for two decades to take an oxygen molecule from a CO 2 atom. As it now safely functions in water a whole new horizon opens up to clean up the environment. conversion occurs at a rate of 290,000 atoms a second, an improvement of 26 times the pre-water process. Little maintenance of the system is needed. It has only been done in the lab so far. Plans...