March 27, 2015

Nearly 1,000 light years

The strongest signals leaking off our planet are radar transmissions, not television or radio. The most powerful radars, such as the one mounted on the Arecibo telescope (used to study the ionosphere and map asteroids) could be detected with a similarly sized antenna at a distance of nearly 1,000 light-years. -- Seth Shostak





March 20, 2015

Neon signs...

Neon signs don't consume much power, but they look like they do. A cousin of fluorescent lighting, neon is actually quite energy efficient.  A neon tube glows coolly when high-voltage, low-amperage electrical power excites the gas within it. -- Virginia Postrel


A fluorescent thank you!

March 6, 2015

Gravitation, does it require time?

But when we face the great questions about gravitation Does it require time? Is it polar to the 'outside of the universe' or to anything? Has it any reference to electricity? or does it stand on the very foundation of matter–mass or inertia? then we feel the need of tests, whether they be comets or nebulae or laboratory experiments or bold questions as to the truth of received opinions.  -- James Clerk Maxwell



Setting the electric fluid in motion...

...each metal has a certain power, which is different from metal to metal, of setting the electric fluid in motion...  -- Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta


Painting of Volta with a objects on a table and a book in his hand
Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta