Jumat, 30 November 2007

The Classic Radiometer

The Classic Radiometer

Way back in 1873, some dude named Sir William Crookes noticed some weirdness in a scale he built. It appeared as though some samples weighed more or less depending on if sunlight was shining on the scale. Weird! He postulated that it was the pressure of the light being exerted on the scale that modified his results.

Of course, he was totally wrong, but it was a cool idea.

See, the bulb in which the blades spin is a partial vacuum. Partial being the tricky part - another clever scientist by the name of Lebedev noticed that the effect disappeared in a hard vacuum. So, air has something to do with it. Basically, the principal is the air that hangs out by the cool side of the blade flows slowly to the warm side of the blade. That process is called thermal transpiration. Science is cool.

The Classic Radiometer

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