Amorphous Ice

Amorphous ice is an amorphous solid form of water, meaning it consists of water molecules that are randomly arranged like the atoms of common glass. Everyday ice is a crystalline material where the atoms are regularly arranged in a lattice whereas amorphous ice is distinguished by a lack of long-range order in its atomic arrangement. Amorphous ice is produced either by rapid cooling of liquid water (so the molecules do not have enough time to form a crystal lattice) or by compressing ordinary ice at low temperatures.

Although almost all water ice on Earth is the familiar crystalline Ice I_h, amorphous ice dominates in the depths of interstellar medium, making this likely the most common structure for H₂O in the universe at large.

Just as there are many different crystalline forms of ice (currently fifteen known), there are also different forms of amorphous ice, distinguished principally by their densities.

The key to producing amorphous ice is the rate of cooling. The liquid water must be cooled to its glass transition temperature (about 136 K or −137 °C) in a matter of milliseconds to prevent the spontaneous nucleation of crystals.

Formation techniques

This is analogous to the production of ice cream, which must also be frozen quickly to prevent the growth of crystals in the mixture. The difference is that pure water forms crystals much more readily than the heterogeneous mixture of ingredients in ice cream, so amorphous ice is more difficult to produce, requiring a physics lab rather than an ice cream churn.

Pressure is another important factor in the formation of amorphous ice, and changes in pressure may cause one form to convert into another.

Chemicals known as cryoprotectants can be added to water, to lower its freezing point (like an antifreeze) and increase viscosity, which inhibits formation of crystals. Vitrification without addition of cryoprotectants can be achieved by very rapid cooling. These techniques are used in biology for cryopreservation of cells and tissues.

Forms:

Low-density amorphous ice

Low-density amorphous ice, also called LDA, vapor-deposited amorphous water ice, amorphous solid water (ASW) or hyperquenched glassy water (HGW), is usually formed in the laboratory by a slow accumulation of water vapor molecules (physical vapor deposition) onto a very smooth metal crystal surface under 120 K. In outer space it is expected to be formed in a similar manner on a variety of cold substrates, such as dust particles. It is expected to be common in the subsurface of exterior planets and comets. It may also form in the coldest region of the Earth's atmosphere, the summer polar mesosphere, where noctilucent clouds exist.

Melting past its glass transition temperature (T_g) between 120 and 140 K, LDA is more viscous than normal water. Recent studies have shown the viscous liquid stays in this alternative form of liquid water up to somewhere between 140 and 210 K, a temperature range that is also inhabited by ice I_c. LDA has a density of 0.94 g/cm³, less dense than the densest water (1.00 g/cm³ at 277 K), but denser than ordinary ice (ice I_h).

Hyperquenched glassy water (HGW) is formed by spraying a fine mist of water droplets into a liquid such as propane around 80 K or by hyperquenching fine micrometer-sized droplets on a sample-holder kept at liquid nitrogen temperature, 77 K, in a vacuum. Cooling rates above 10⁴ K/s are required to prevent crystallization of the droplets. At liquid nitrogen temperature, 77 K, HGW is kinetically stable and can be stored for many years.

High-density amorphous ice

High-density amorphous ice (HDA) can be formed by compressing ice I_h at temperatures below ~140 K. At 77 K, HDA forms from ordinary natural ice at around 1.6 GPa and from LDA at around 0.5 GPa (approximately 5,000 atm). At this temperature, it can be recovered back to ambient pressure and kept indefinitely. At these conditions (ambient pressure and 77 K), HDA has a density of 1.17 g/cm^3.

Peter Jenniskens and David F. Blake demonstrated in 1994 that a form of high-density amorphous ice is also created during vapor deposition of water on low-temperature (< 30 K) surfaces such as interstellar grains. The water molecules do not fully align to create the open cage structure of low-density amorphous ice. Many water molecules end up at interstitial positions. When warmed above 30 K, the structure re-aligns and transforms into the low-density form.

Very-high-density amorphous ice

Very-high-density amorphous ice (VHDA) was discovered in 1996 by Mishima who observed that HDA became denser if warmed to 160 K at pressures between 1 and 2 GPa and has a density of 1.26 g/cm³ at ambient pressure and temperature of 77 K. More recently it was suggested that this denser amorphous ice was a third amorphous form of water, distinct from HDA, and called it VHDA.

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UFOs Continue to Appear, No One Can Hide It

PHOENIX (CNN) -- When it appeared in the Arizona sky on the night of March 13, it was witnessed by hundreds of people. Neither researchers nor witnesses have yet figured out what Arizonans saw in the event now dubbed "the Phoenix Lights." But that hasn't stopped them from trying to puzzle it out.

Tim Ley and his family are among the hundreds of witnesses who have come forward to talk about the Phoenix Lights. They first saw the lights while looking north from their Phoenix home.

Ufo

Now, their recollections of what they saw have been transformed into computer images, using a combination of digital photos of the landscape taken by Ley and computer drawings of the objects his family saw in the sky.

"When it finally got here and we realized this thing was coming right over us, we really started getting antsy," Ley said. Then, said he and his son Hal, it went directly overhead in complete silence.

Tim Ley said that when the right side of what appeared to be a giant V-shaped craft passed directly over him, the left side was a couple of blocks away.

His wife, Bobbi, who also saw the aerial light show, said the size of the craft they saw was overwhelming. But, she said, "It didn't seem threatening. ... When it was right overhead and we couldn't hear a sound, it was like you're just awestruck."

Jim Dilettoso of Village Labs, who has been researching UFOs for 20 years, is in the process of reconstructing the incident with a virtual reality model.

The Leys are among the hundreds of witnesses he interviewed about the Phoenix Lights. He said he considers the family to be "very reliable," and their data "very important," because by their account they were so close to the craft.

While nobody knows for sure what the Leys and hundreds of others saw, Tim Ley is sure his family will never forget that night. He said it has changed his outlook on the UFO movement, turning him from a "polite skeptic" to someone quite open to the experiences of UFO believers.

"We just re-experience it every time we tell it," said his wife. "It's like it was just yesterday. We've never seen anything like it."

Reporter John Hook of CNN affiliate KSAZ in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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Vimanas

Vimāna is a word with several meanings ranging from temple or palace to mythological flying machines described in Sanskrit epics.

The predecessors of the flying vimanas of the Sanskrit epics are the flying chariots employed by various gods in the Vedas: the Sun (see Sun chariot) and Indra and several other Vedic deities are transported by flying wheeled chariots depicted to be pulled by animals, usually horses.

The Rigveda does not mention Vimanas, but verses RV 1.164.47-48 have been taken as evidence for the idea of "mechanical birds":

VIMANA

The Vaimanika Shastra is an early 20th century Sanskrit text on aeronautics, obtained allegedly by mental channeling, about the construction of vimānas, the "chariots of the Gods".

The existence of the text was revealed in 1952 by G. R. Josyer, according to whom it is due to one Pandit Subbaraya Shastry, who dictated it in 1918–1923. A Hindi translation was published in 1959, the Sanskrit text with an English translation in 1973. It has 3000 shlokas in 8 chapters and was attributed by Shastry to Maharishi Bharadvaja, which makes it of purportedly "ancient" origin, and hence it has a certain notability in ancient astronaut theories.

A study by aeronautical and mechanical engineering at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1974 concluded that the aircraft described in the text were "poor concoctions" and that the author showed complete lack of understanding of aeronautics.

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The Truth About Space Exploration | Neil Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is not pleased with the plight of NASA. After the agency's decades-old space shuttle program was shuttered last year -- ending the kind of low-Earth orbit exploration that the astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium director jokes "boldly went where man had gone hundreds of times before" -- Tyson believes America is at a critical moment for future space exploration.

Maybe that's why he originally wanted to call his new book Failure to Launch: The Dreams and Delusions of Space Enthusiasts. (After publishers balked at the depressing title, it was renamedSpace Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.) Over the last few decades, Tyson writes, Americans deluded themselves into believing misconceptions about space travel, and, as a result, the purpose and necessities of a space program are now misunderstood.

Give NASA the money it needs, he argues, and the agency will stimulate the economy and inspire students to pursue innovative, ambitious projects. (Say, for example, a way to thwart a wayward asteroid that could threaten to wipe out humanity.) Continue to fund NASA at its current rate -- a shade more than $18.7 billion in 2011, or as Tyson often reminds, six-tenths of a percent of the federal budget -- and the country will lose an ongoing space race to the Chinese and European space agencies of the world.

In a conversation last week, I asked Tyson about American curiosity toward space, what needs to be done to save NASA, and how he's been able to make science accessible to the general public.

Space Chronicles focuses on the future of space exploration and America's interest in it. What do you think inspires children and students to want to learn about science and technology?

What I have found is that people who really need the science education are the adults. Adults outnumber children. They're in charge. They wield resources. They vote. All of the things that shape the society in which we live are conducted by adults.

Kids are born curious about the world. What adults primarily do in the presence of kids is unwittingly thwart the curiosity of children. Let's say, for example, a kid wants to jump into a muddy puddle. What does the parent say? "No, don't do that. You'll get your clothing dirty." Well, that's how craters are formed on the Moon! This experiment has now been halted on the premise that it would get something dirty, when it otherwise it would've been a science experiment with interesting, illuminating consequences.
The challenge has never been children. The challenge has been adults. I don't think you have to do anything special to get kids interested in science, other than to get out of their way when they're expressing that curiosity.
All the adults are saying, "We need to improve science in the world. Let's train the kids." I've never heard an adult say, "We need more science in the world. Train me." I've never heard an adult say that. It's the adults that need the science literacy, the kind of literacy that can transform the nation practically overnight.

SCIENTIST X

In your book, though, you mention the difficulties of keeping students interested in science -- that it doesn't work to stand in front of a high school class and ask, "Who wants to design a vehicle that's 20 percent more fuel-efficient than they one your parents built?" If that's the case, what needs to be done to attract their curiosity?
While all kids are scientists, they reach a point, a benchmark, when puberty sets in and social life starts getting complicated. Then it's time to consider how their interests will manifest through the transition. At that point, I would step in and offer an ambitious goal for them to reach for, so that while they're continuing (or initiating) their studies of science, they know they have a place to land when they get out of the pipeline.
You're right. If I say, "Design me a plane that's more fuel-efficient, because the country needs that now," you're not going to get any truly transformative, innovative solutions. Instead, if I say, "Who wants to build an air foil that'll navigate the rarified atmosphere of Mars?" or "We're about to go to Mars. Who wants to study life forms that are yet to be understood that we may discover?" I'm going to get the best engineers, I'm going to get the best biologists. I'm going to get the best of those categories because it's a goal befitting the depth of ambitions of students.
You've made yourself incredibly open to the general public - on Reddit, Twitter, through email, and your podcast, Star Talk. What have those interactions revealed to you about adults' curiosity towards space?
Thanks for asking that question. Not everyone puts it together that way - there are many different dimensions of reaching the public, particularly with the many media today, social media in particular, which parcel what audience you might reach from one medium to another.

For me, the most fascinating interface is Twitter. I have odd cosmic thoughts every day and I realized I could hold them to myself or share them with people who might be interested. These are thoughts that are unique to the perspective of someone who is an educator and is scientifically literate. For people who are not one or both of those, these observations become intriguing.
I remember once, just reflecting when I was driving down the street after I saw a streetlight, "When that turns red, I stop. But suppose our blood was based on copper instead of iron? It would be green instead of red, so green would be a color of warning. What would stop lights look like if we had green blood?" I put that out there and it was heavily forwarded, heavily re-tweeted. People enjoy thinking along with me with these thoughts.

Is that why you included "space tweets" in your book?
Yes! I couldn't let these tweets go uncaptured for this book. I tried to treat them like little biscuits -- you earned your way to that point in the book, so have a little tasty biscuit. All tweets are tasty. Any tweet anybody writes is tasty. So, I try to have each tweet not simply be informative, but have some outlook, some perspective that you might not otherwise had.
I always try to get people a different outlook. When you do that, people take ownership of the information. They don't ever have to reference me because, I'd like to believe as an educator, I'm empowering them to have those thoughts themselves. When a person has those thoughts themselves, the embrace the information, they take ownership of it, and it becomes relevant to their lives. That's why in every tweet, I try to put in something people want to capture and keep. Otherwise, people will say, "That's true because Tyson said it." If that's how you're getting through your argument, I'm failing as an educator.
You write that space exploration is a "necessity." Why do you think others don't agree?
I don't think they've thought it through. Most people who don't agree say, "We have problems here on Earth. Let's focus on them." Well, we are focusing on them. The budget of social programs in the federal tax base is 50 times greater for social programs than it is for NASA. We're already focused in ways that many people who are NASA naysayers would rather it become. NASA is getting half a penny on a dollar -- I'm saying let's double it. A penny on a dollar would be enough to have a real Mars mission in the near future.
Can the United States catch up in the 21st-century space race?
When everyone agrees to a single solution and a single plan, there's nothing more efficient in the world than an efficient democracy. But unfortunately the opposite is also true, there's nothing less efficient in the world than an inefficient democracy. That's when dictatorships and other sort of autocratic societies can pass you by while you're bickering over one thing or another.
But, I can tell you that when everything aligns, this is a nation where people are inventing the future every day. And that future is brought to you by scientists, engineers, and technologists. That's how I've always viewed it. Once people understand that, I don't see why they wouldn't say, "Sure, let's double NASA's budget to an entire penny on a dollar! And by the way, here's my other 25 pennies for social programs." I think it's possible and I think it can happen, but people need to stop thinking that NASA is some kind of luxury project that can be done on disposable income that we happen to have left over. That's like letting your seed corn rot in the storage basin.
So, is NASA's current funding situation not enough?
President Obama says we're going back to Mars, that we'll get there sometimes in the 2030s. Is he going to oversee that? No, it's a president to be named later. On what budget? On a budget acquired by a president to be named later. This is not an audacious statement to make. It's a pretty safe comment for a politician to make, and I was disappointed in that.
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
Of the drivers you mention in Space Chronicles that increase NASA funding -- war and economic interests -- which do you think is more likely to be adopted by politicians in the coming decades?
No one wants to die, and no one wants to die poor. These are the two fundamental truths that transcend culture, they transcend politics, they transcend economic cycles. So, once you recognize that a healthy moving frontier in space stimulates the kind of mindset that fosters innovations in science and technology, then you'll realize that of course we need to go in space because that's just the kind of society you'll want to live in.
While war is always the easiest solution to anybody's funding problem, you don't want war to be the modern day driver of space -- even though that's what got us to the moon, in spite of our memory cleansing that into "We're Americans, we're explorers, we're discoverers, that's why we went to the moon." So going forward, the economic argument is a strong one, but it's not a simple "A goes to B". It's not "We need more innovation, so let's fund innovation companies."
My favorite quote, I think it was Antoine Saint-Exupery who said, "If you want to teach someone to sail, you don't train them how to build a boat. You compel them to long for the open seas." That longing drives our urge to innovate, and space exploration has the power to do that, especially when it's a moving frontier because all traditional sciences are there. And so you'll get the best students, they'll have a place to land, and you'll change the attitude that our culture has to the role of science, engineering, technology, and math on our future.
To make any future that we dreamt up real requires creative scientists, engineers, and technologists to make it happen. If people are not within your midst who dream about tomorrow -- with the capacity to bring tomorrow into the present -- then the country might as well just recede back into the cave because that's where we're headed.

Reporting by theatlantic

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Magnitude 5.7 earthquake hits near Tokyo

Magnitude 5.7 earthquake hits near Tokyo

- A magnitude 5.7 earthquake has hit near Tokyo, shaking buildings in the Japanese capital. No tsunami risk is reported.

The US Geological Survey said the quake had hit at 16:23 local time (0723 GMT), with its epicentre 57 kilometres north-northeast of Maebashi and around 143 kilometres north-northwest of Tokyo.

A few minutes later a 4.7-magnitude aftershock was registered, The Daily Yomiuri reports.

"It shook vertically for about 10 seconds. Nothing fell from shelves and window glass was not shattered. There was no report of fire and we are preparing to patrol the city," Takayuki Fukuda, spokesman for the Nikko city fire department in Tochigi prefecture near epicenter told AFP.

The Japan Meteorological Agency had earlier put the magnitude at 6.2. The agency said the epicenter was about 10km deep. It registered 5 in most parts of Tochigi, including Nikko, 4 in Fukushima and Gunma prefectures, 3 in Saitama and 2 in Chiba and Tokyo, where tall buildings swayed for upwards of half a minute after the quake.

National broadcaster NHK said no abnormalities were detected at nuclear power plants near the epicenter.

REPORTING BY: RT NEWS

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Neil Tyson Explains What May Happen on Earth 2029 | Apophis

Apophis Asteroid

99942 Apophis ( previously known by its provisional designation 2004 MN₄) is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would strike the Earth in 2029. Additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029. However, a possibility remained that during the 2029 close encounter with Earth, Apophis would pass through a gravitational keyhole, a small region no more than about 800 m (half a mile) wide, that would set up a future impact on April 13, 2036. This possibility kept the asteroid at Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006, when the probability that Apophis would pass through the keyhole was determined to be very small. Apophis broke the record for the highest level on the Torino Scale, being, for only a short time, a level 4, before it was lowered.

The diameter of Apophis is approximately 325 metres (1,066 ft). As of the December 29, 2012 observation arc, the probability of an April 13, 2036 impact is considered to be 1 in 140,000,000. Preliminary observations by Goldstone radar in January 2013 have effectively ruled out the possibility of an Earth impact by Apophis in 2036. Of objects not recently observed, there are about ten asteroids with a more notable Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale than Apophis. On average, an asteroid the size of Apophis (325 meters) can be expected to impact Earth about every 80,000 years.

       

                     Apophis characteristics

Discovery
Discovered by	Roy A. Tucker David J. Tholen Fabrizio Bernardi
Discovery site	Kitt Peak
Discovery date	June 19, 2004
Designations
Named after	Apep
Alternative names	2004 MN4
Minor planet category	Aten PHA
Orbital characteristics
Epoch January 4, 2010 (JD 2455200.5) (Uncertainty=0)
Aphelion	1.0987 AU
Perihelion	0.74604 AU
Semi-major axis	0.92241 AU
Eccentricity	0.19121
Orbital period	323.58 d (0.89 a)
Average orbital speed	30.728 km/s
Mean anomaly	339.94°
Inclination	3.3315°
Longitude of ascending node	204.43°
Argument of perihelion	126.42°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	325±15 m
Mass	4×1010 kg (assumed)
Mean density	~3.2 g/cm3
Escape velocity	~0.52 km/h
Rotation period	30.4 h
Albedo	0.23
Temperature	270 K
Spectral type	Sq
Absolute magnitude(H)

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Neil deGrasse Tyson | Talk About Ufos | See What He Thinks

Neil deGrasse Tyson

On this speech Neil talks a bit about UFOs. actually he did not say "yes" or "no" .. but as a great scientist he wants to maintain his level without ruining your reputation! is a good video to have a vision of things differently.

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Do You Believe in UFOs? More Disclosure in 2013 | On TV

Do You Believe in UFOs? More Disclosure in 2013 | On TV

With the assistance of RT (TV channel), freedom of expression about UFOs has been increasing, and their questions to the U.S. government has increasingly tight. we are in 2013, and there is much evidence on the identification of these unknown objects.
Scientist X got the legalization of this little reporting to keep you updated.
We have more news soon!

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Orion Exploration HD Animation | Nasa

Orion Exploration HD Animation Screenshot


Animation of the Orion spacecraft's Exploration Mission-1 in 2017. Exploration Mission-1 will be the first integrated flight test with both the Orion spacecraft and NASA's new Space Launch System.

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Glaucus Atlanticus: Blue Dragon Sea

Glaucus Atlanticus: Blue Dragon Sea

Glaucus atlanticus (common names sea swallow, blue glaucus, blue dragon, blue sea slug and blue ocean slug) is a species of small-sized blue sea slug, a pelagic aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Glaucidae. This is the only species in the genus Glaucus, but is closely related to Glaucilla marginata, which sometimes is included in Glaucus.

The normal size of this species is up to about 3 cm, depending on the animal's age. It is silvery grey on its dorsal side and dark and pale blue ventrally. It has dark blue stripes on its face. It has a tapering body which is flattened and has six appendages which branch out into rayed cerata. Itsradula bears serrated teeth on their blades.

Glaucus atlanticus and its close relative, Glaucilla marginata, live in close association with what Sir Alistair Hardy described many years ago as "The Blue Fleet" - the siphonophores such as Physalia, Velella, Porpita and the other associated animals including the "violet snails" of the genus Janthina. All these animals float on the surface of the ocean being carried by the currents and the winds. Most of us are only aware of their existence when days of onshore winds blow great fleets of them on to the beaches, causing pain and angst for swimmers.

Both species spend their life floating upside down in the water, partially bouyed by a gas bubble in their stomachs.

The two nudibranchs feed almost exclusively on Physalia, and as Tom Thompson and Isobel Bennett reported some years ago, it appears that they are able to select the most venomous of Physalia's stinging nematocysts for their own use. Like most aeolids, they store the nematocysts in special sacs (cnidosacs) at the tip of their cerata .

There are a number of reports in Australia of kids engaged in "Bluebottle" fights - where they throw stranded Physalia at each other - being badly stung by inadvertently playing with Glaucus and Glaucilla, both of which, by concentrating the most venomous of Physalia's nematocysts, are much more deadly.

Another interesting feature of the two species is their colouration. They both exhibit a textbook example of colour countershading. Their foot and undersides of the cerata, (which because they float upside down is effectively their dorsal surface), is blue or blue and white which helps to camouflage them from predation (sea birds) from above. Their true dorsal surface, which faces down in the water, is silvery grey to effectively camouflage them from fish looking up from below.

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