Original post by David Harris

Colour Classic – Low End Mac

Colour Classic Screen Upgrade

Colour Classic Screen Modification

World of the Power Colour Classic

Colour Classic Discussion Forum

Club for Creating the Stongest Colour Classic

More views of the original version (December 2001):

Click on any of the images for a larger view!

I have to recommend TV set dissection as a great activity to review physics concepts in electricity and magnetism. It’s great fun! Just keep your eyes out for old clunkers at garage sales – bring them to class, and let the fun begin! My students are required to identify as many electrical components as possible, and then create a display that outlines the functions of the parts.

Actually, the older the set, the more interesting they are inside! TV sets that are sold now have the electrical components miniaturized to the extreme. A couple of words of caution… never open up the case of a TV set that has been recently been powered up – you can be killed by electrical shock. The clunkers we tear apart have been sitting for at least six months. Opening a set that has been recently powered up should only be done by a qualified electrician. You should also be very careful with the picture tube – it’s a vacuum tube, so dropping it will produce an implosion that will send sharp shards of glass flying. Take care!!!

ScienceMan has described TV set dissection as an activity on these pages before – it’s a great activity for reviewing electrical components and gives students insight into how those components are actually put into use. If you’d like to take it a step further, you can also use the opportunity to investigate the picture tube!

Physics teachers talk about the vacuums and electron guns, but students never seem to get to experience and see them first hand. Or do they? Well, we did, and the whole thing worked out great! See the video that illustrates the last steps of removing the electromagnetic yoke from the picture tube, and snapping the glass nipple at the back of the set so that students can hear the air rushing in as it violates the vacuum of the tube;

 

This type of activity must be only done with older students – it has several dangerous aspects to it, so students need to exercise a great deal of responsibility. Eye protection is a must, and workgloves are probably a good idea when snapping the glass. Don’t ever drop a picture tube or rest it on the long, slender portion. You want to avoid shattering it – glass will fly dangerously everywhere (and the inside surface of the front of the tube has poisonous phosphor – yuck)! Also be very careful removing the yoke and the circuit board and plastic from the end of the tube when you are trying to get at the nipple – take your time, be gentle – you don’t want the glass to be broken unexpectedly.

Once you’ve got the vacuum of the tube violated, you can now gently tap off the end of the tube and extract the electron gun – cool!

 

This technology is called WiTricity and was developed by MIT. It works via “coupling without magnetic resonance radiation Side audio and video Haier is based on technology WHDI (Wireless Home Digital Interface) transmitting signals of 1080p 1080i and 720p and other signals high definition on a 5 GHz band.



The question is whether these associations wireless technologies will not in future affect the health of consumers. Anyway this new TV deliver no radiation and also to meet international standards FCC, IEEE and the American standard 3C.

February 2, 2009> Face recognition: the computer should imitate … bees


Engineers for many years, learned to imitate nature. But there was no expectation that the computer face a complex problem РFace Recognition Рinspired by an animal nervous system so simple, the bee. But yes, these insects browsers can recognize human faces in photographs. As the six-legged robots to explore the planet Mars, this example is only one among many of bionics, as explained Agn̬s Guillot and Jean-Arcady Meyer, robotics and authors of a book on the subject.



March 13, 2009> 3D Touch Panel, Touch Screen, which sees the finger approaching

A touch screen … three dimensions is possible. That is what having an additional option for controlling a computer or mobile phone. The computer beyond imagination to develop new human-machine interfaces, an area where people do not hesitate to explore new ideas, apparently original or eccentric.



In March 2009, we have seen, at the same time that the Virtual Cocoon, the gCubik a curious box with six touch screens to manipulate an image object that appears inside. With these interfaces, virtual reality becomes … real, as was shown in April, the salon Laval Virtual, the hair-raising demonstrations.



April 13, 2009> How to generate electricity from vibrations and sun


For power devices become smaller, even nanomotors, engineers devise new solutions for extracting energy from the environment. In the U.S., the team from the Georgia Institute of Technology led by Zhong Lin Wang, has made nanopoils entering the slightest tremor vibration of air, even under the sole influence of noise, giving rise to an electric current. By combining a photovoltaic cell, we get a generator can produce electricity almost anywhere …



May 12, 2009> screens elastic Soon!


Applications – even potentially – of the computer soft no end to multiply (see also later in the month of July). Here’s another possibility: the flexible displays and an amazing finesse, less than a tenth of a millimeter. The business models are still very far because, at the same time, LG Display has a thick TV less than 6 mm, while the record belongs to Sony, with 3 mm but for a screen using OLED.



No mouse, no keyboard, no joystick, the ultimate interface (perhaps) to reduce the human body. Pranav Mistry did and that is with more conventional techniques. Just a computer with a camera observes and interprets the movements of the fingers … Packed with his little equipment, the visitor takes pictures without touching the device, simply by forming a rectangle with his fingers.



September 13, 2009> A powder to heal the electronics!

An electronic device fails? Shake it, repaired it! The searches are going well to imitate, even awkwardly, the magnificent building of healing of living organisms. A U.S. scientist has developed microscopic capsules enclosing nanotube carbon and applied electric contacts. A mechanical shock breaks these spheres and release the nanotubes which act as drivers of emergency, restoring the flow of current.

The closest approach of the asteroid was held at 18h38 UTC at a distance of 803 kilometers. About 60% of the surface has been solved in providing an overview of all single image from which a certain number of important physical properties can be deduced.

Little was known about the asteroid (2867) Steins when he was chosen in early 2004 as a target for a fly closer during the Rosetta mission. At this time, it was classified as an E-type asteroid based on its visual spectrum and near infrared and its high albedo. Later, ground-based observations have estimated a diameter of approximately 4.6 km and identified a period rotation of about 6 hours



The new images of OSIRIS show that Steins is a body flattened at the poles, like a brilliant diamond, with dimensions of 6.67 x 5.81 x 4.47 km. Its surface is mostly covered with shallow craters with some scattered larger craters smaller. Analysis of impact craters indicates a deficit of small craters (those with a diameter of less than 0.5 km) that Keller and his colleagues attributed to a reorganization of the surface resulting from the effect Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii – Paddack (YORP). The effect would have caused landslides that have caused the filling of craters smaller. This is the first time that the YORP effect is seen in the asteroid main belt.

Absorption spectroscopy


An incident photon can also be absorbed by a molecule and then the photon energy is converted into an excitation of that molecule’s electron cloud. This type of interaction is sensitive to the internal structure of the molecule, since the laws of quantum mechanics only allow for the existence of a limited number of excited states of the electron cloud of any given chemical species. Each of these excited states has a defined energy; the absorption of the photon has to bridge the energy gap between the ground state (lowest energy state) and an allowed excited state of the electron cloud. Molecules can therefore be identified by their absorption spectrum: Their wavelength-dependent capacity for absorbing photons depends on the energy spacing of the states of their electron cloud. (Astronomers use absorption lines to determine the composition of stars, for example.) Molecules which strongly absorb visible light appear colored to the human eye and are therefore called “chromophores,” i.e. “carriers of color.”

The new battery uses enzymes that play a catalytic role. These enzymes go into action with the soda, drink decomposed to extract the atoms of hydrogen The electrons of these atoms then generate the electricity which used to feed the phone. They are in fact fuel cells that create the energy from the hydrates of carbon (carbohydrate) enzymes are responsible for converting sugar (carbohydrates) into electricity.



Institute Research:


I’m sure that most readers will agree with me when I say that most fail in mobile devices is now no doubt in their batteries, not only because they are consumed in a sigh (which is what has to feed such property) but also by other problems.



The current batteries are expensive, relatively effective and difficult to eliminate harmful to the environment. What could be the solution? For some time they are working on developing biological batteries which would replace the not too distant future to today.

Over there is the new mobile concept designed by Nokia Daizie Zheng. As we see it a mobile with a pipette that would feed through a biological battery. In particular, it would use enzymes as a catalyst to generate electricity from carbohydrates in the drink contained sugar that is poured inside.



As I currently only a concept, but quite feasible. The “bio battery” carbohydrates are being studied for several years and major brands such as Sony, have very real models for some time. Perhaps the day when we see a mobile device powered by one of these batteries is closer than we think.

However, the establishment of platforms Spider and Dragon is a first step in the young association AMD-ATI. In fact, it is more a search for a new standard, prompting the user to change configuration, a real innovation. It is under the auspices of the AMD Fusion project that the firm has surpassed the classic architecture of a configuration computer.



A winning team


AMD Fusion catalyzes the experience of the two branches of the group in the area of the CPU and GPU to give birth to the APU, in English acronym for Accelerated Processing Unit or Unit expedited. It is a microprocessor that combines CPU and GPU into a single processing unit. With this centralization of computing, communication between unit and graphics unit of treatment may be greatly accelerated. AMD also wants the redesign of current system significantly reduces the power consumption of computers personal. Indeed, in recent years, PC power supplies have experienced spectacular consumption good, with top models reaching 1250 watts.



Demonstration of potential applications of the proposed AMD Fusion for 3D real entemps (in English). © AMD Originally, AMD hoped to commercialize its first APU in 2010. But the firm has reviewed its plans and the Product Manager Rick Bergman announced the deferment of the sale in 2011. Most will get frustrated in the tooth some technical characteristics such as compatibility with DirectX 11 or a fine engraving set to 32 nm. To sweeten the pill, AMD announced for next year a new variation of his famous Opteron, which will include 12 cores. To recall, the most powerful supercomputer in the world, the Jaguar is based 6-core Opteron.

Despite overwhelming competitors, Intel and nVidia in mind, AMD continues to innovate. It remains to be seen whether the postponement of its flagship project does not adversely affect his opponents who are also major projects in their boxes.

To illustrate the principle of interstellar communication and stimulate interest what better way to send my own message? So this was done using the large radio telescope of Arecibo November 16, 1974.



Frank Drake in front of a telescope (not that of Arecibo). Credit: Seti.org


For 3 minutes, a radio signal was emitted in the direction of the Hercules Cluster (M13), a famous globular cluster located 25,000 years light. Based on the idea that the only universal language would be that mathematics, the message itself consisted of a series of binary numbers, 0s and 1s. There were a total of 1679 and it was no accident because it is the product of two primes, 23 and 73. These numbers give the dimensions of a table which can be represented by black squares and white 1679 the number of binary message itself.

Information arranged by 73 rows and 23 columns then gives an image. If we read from left to right, it shows the numbers one to ten, the atomic numbers of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen from the oxygen and phosphorus, chemical formulas of sugars and bases in the nucleotides of the DNA, the number of nucleotides in DNA, the double helix structure of DNA, a sketch of the man and his size, the population of the Earth, the solar system, and an image the Arecibo radio telescope with its diameter (see diagram below this article).



Carl Sagan, the great scientist for astrobiology. Credit: NASA


We know that the Seti program is threatened in its financing and probably also for this reason that a member of the biology department of the famous MIT, Joe Davis, has decided to celebrate 35 years of Arecibo message by sending a new message.

He had just arrived in the facility’s largest radio telescope in the world located on the island of Puerto Rico when the director told him that the encoder is usually used to modulate the beams of the telescope, when works such as radar, was temporarily out of service!

While he has suggested wait, Davis feared never have another opportunity to send the message that he had concocted. So he began to think, and with a friend, finally found the solution. It was enough to cobble together a device to connect an iPhone!



Joe Davis taking the iPhone used to call the credit AND: Ashley Clark


The idea proved correct, and since the beginning of this month, a new message rushes toward several solar-type stars but at distances between 12 and 30 light-years around. The message itself was different from that of 1974. It represents a molecule, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase, or abbreviated RuBisCO. This is the enzyme’s main terrestrial life for the sequestration of CO 2 into organic matter. This feature makes it a protein quantitatively very important, as closely linked to photosynthesis.
This story makes me smile. One can not help thinking of a film in the early 1980s. Remember, when someone tried to phone home, he would do with an iPhone today?

On the theoretical level, a sensor curve should achieve better performance. It is also a way to increase the surface. If it achieves half-sphere example, instead of a plan, we double the surface. But solar cells are small and made of materials Semi-conductors that are suitable for achieving flat surfaces. Get bent structures is not easy especially if one takes the cost constraints. A practical question then arises. Even if we succeed there, how successful can we expect?



Led by Ralph Nuzzo, a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a method for making original and stylish by self-assembly, published in PNAS. These researchers are using tiny silicon films that fold while only around drops of water to different forms.

The stages of self-assembly of a 3D solar cell (click on image to enlarge). The circuit (a semiconductor doped with some positive, p +, and some negatively doped, n +) is etched on a silicon wafer (SOI wafer) by conventional techniques of lithography, with its electrical contacts (Cr / Au, chrome and gold). Very late (within 2 microns), the component obtained is removed by a chemical etching (etch undercuts), a conventional process too, and we put a drop of water. Origami then closes as expected in a sphere. Below, the result. The electrodes are welded and the curves show the intensity obtained (milliamps / cm 2) versus voltage (voltage). The result is improved by the presence of a reflector, reflective sort of bowl which is placed in this sphere. © Nazzo Ralph et al. / PNAs



The team is part of a wafer and used the classic techniques of lithography to write the components of a photovoltaic cell. Remains to fold origami this tiny, a few millimeters from side to a thickness of 1.25 to 2 microns. The idea is to use surface tension forces occurring between the film and a drop of water, the thin sheet tends to curl around.
For some three-dimensional form, researchers at the time of etching, drawing the component in a complex geometry, like a cardboard pre-cut which will produce an object, a box for example.

Once the component performed on the wafer, a drop of water is placed in the center … and the miracle is accomplished. As the water evaporates, the silicon film, like a flower that would close, folds to adopt a certain form.



How to predict self-folding forms of pre-cut?


In fact a miracle, much of the trick is to determine precisely what carry on cutting the cake to get the desired shape. The term origami is not usurped and the team has developed a mathematical model to predict the self-folding, taking into account the thickness of the film characteristics of silicon and forces induced by surface tension during the evaporation of water.

This tool allows them now, as evidenced by the photographs published in the article, to obtain a variety of forms. To stabilize their tiny structures, the researchers deposited a piece of glass in their centers, established by Ades.

Current density in milli-amperes per cm2 as a function of voltage (voltage) obtained with a cell cylindirque with or without rflecteur with a cell plate manufactured in the same way. © Nazzo Ralph et al. / PNAs

What results they achieve with this delicate craft? The announced return of 1% (ratio of incident light energy and electrical energy produced) has something to laugh a manufacturer of photovoltaic cells. But it should not be compared to a commercial product because the prototypes were manufactured using a process frustrating compared to industry standards. According to the authors, the electric intensity is much greater than that obtained with sensors designed in the same manner but plans.



This work is therefore limited to the laboratory for the moment but the basic principle seems validated and manufacturing techniques, similar to that of lithography used for electronic circuits, make the option very realistic.