Cold Facts Digital – Page 63 – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

Scientists Achieve the Coldest Temperature Ever Recorded

The absolute coldest a substance can ever achieve then is when all molecular motion is stopped. This occurs at -459.67 °F / -273.15 °C, also known as absolute zero, or 0 degrees on the Kelvin scale. It was this limit that scientists at the University of Bremen, Germany, approached when...

Ten Things You Might Not Know about Antimatter

Antimatter is the stuff of science fiction. In the book and film Angels and Demons, Professor Langdon tries to save Vatican City from an antimatter bomb. Star Trek’s starship Enterprise uses matter-antimatter annihilation propulsion for faster-than-light travel. But antimatter is also the stuff of reality. Antimatter particles are almost identical...

CERN to Provide Two DUNE Cryostats

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) in the US is set to replicate that marvel of model-making, the ship-in-a-bottle, on an impressive scale. More than 3000 tonnes of steel and other components for DUNE’s four giant detector modules, or cryostats, must be lowered 1.5 km through narrow shafts beneath the...

Chart Industries and FLSmidth to Collaborate on Carbon Capture that Targets Over 90% Removal of CO2 Emissions from Cement Production

FLSmidth has signed an agreement with Chart Industries, Inc. to implement advanced carbon capture technology to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from cement production. Cement production represents 7-8% of global CO2 emissions – carbon capture technologies are essential to reduce that number and meet the targets of the Paris Agreement.

Sealing Options for Aluminum Vacuum Chambers

The goal of any sealing option for a vacuum chamber, whether aluminum or another material, is to provide a leak free (or acceptable leak rate) transition from the interior vacuum of the chamber to the exterior environment. For all types of vacuum chambers these options fall into two broad categories:...

Cool Fuel: Bias and Green versus Blue Hydrogen

I was ready to write about the awesome green beauty of a 454.6 nm argon laser and what it does to the hydrogen molecule when a friend sent me an article from the New York Times by Hiroko Tabuchi, “For many hydrogen is the fuel of the future. New research...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

Latest in Cryo Central

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

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