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| Sonoluminescence is a little-understood phenomenon which apparently serves no useful purpose but has enormously tantalizing potential. The standard demonstration of sonoluminescence involves a laboratory flask, with transducers attached, filled with liquid. High energy sound is pumped into the fluid and the result is what appears to the human eye to be a point source of light, which pulses in time with the sound frequency. This is due to cavitation. Bubbles form and collapse violently at the acoustic focal centre, emitting light. It has been argued that maybe some kind of fusion process is involved but tapping that energy seems to be a futile task. If the entire planet were to be covered with such flasks and if it were possible to tap into the energy output, the resulting power would maybe raise the temperature of a cup of coffee by just 1 degree celcius! |  |
| So another, entirely different, approach is necessary if sonoluminescence is to be put to any practical use. My proposal is that a music string could be constructed with a multi-filament carbon fibre core, wound with aluminium wire. This is intended to contain water between the carbon fibres. All three of the materials involved (water, carbon and aluminium) are diamagnetic, i,e., they repel alternating magnetic fields. |  |
| Pictured right, a short section of a single, dry carbon fibre (top right) and (below right) how it appears when immersed in water. The water cannot wet the surface of the fibre, so an envelope of air surrounds it, acting as a perfect mirror. If a bundle of such fibres, as proposed for the music string, is assembled, and the bundle is wound with aluminium wire (as above), any water that is pumped into the capillary spaces will be forced to form into water-strings, suspended centrally in each capillary. 18,000 fibres will make a core only 1mm in diameter. |
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| To test the mirror effect of the repulsion of water by carbon, a simple experiment can be performed. A candle flame will blacken a coin with carbon (soot). Immersed in water, the coin appears to have a mirrored surface. |
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| To clarify this idea, here, on the right, is a picture to illustrate the principle. The flashing blue dots represent the water-strings suspended in the spaces between the fibres. Any water string thus structured will be capable of performing as an efficient fibre-optic. |
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I have always found it difficult to explain most of this theory to non-technical people so here is another attempt to show where the water strings would be suspended and pulsating within their capillary spaces between the carbon filaments (picture left from an earlier version). |
| There will also be formed, effectively, three triangular sectioned air-strings enclosing each water-string. |
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| This graphic (right) illustrates the mechanism further and shows the relative proportions of carbon fibre and water. |
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| At any cut end of such a string (containing water-strings) will leak a short length of water but no further leakage can occur. Surface tension of the water holds it together for most of the hard string's length but each end will balance in repulsion and no further water will exit each capillary. A convex end-meniscus forms (I'm guessing, of course - hence no "Dragons Den"). |
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| To build a jig in which to tension the music string as suggested, some basic principles of music string dynamics will need to be observed. Strings don't like sharp edges; a rounded support is a much better design. This is because all music strings have some degree of stiffness inherent and cannot behave with infinite flexibility. On a guitar, for example, a rounded top to a bridge saddle renders a much sweeter, harmonically rich tone. The string can wrap around the curve as it vibrates and thus it follows that the speaking length will change with each oscillation. |
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| To see this effect more clearly, here is a second illustration: - |
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| Every music string needs to be tensioned in order to produce a sound, so this special string will have to be gripped at each end with curved surfaced supports. A pair of carefully shaped grooved collets are ideal for the jig suggested. |
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| Here's a sectional view of one end of the string, gripped by a pair of such collets: - |
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| - and here (right) is another, external view showing the anchorage collets on a piece of the string. |
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| The jig I have designed makes use of a four-spoked rotor to stimulate vibration electro-magnetically within the string and water. This component (the rotor) also needs to conform to the essential rounded-support design. As the rotor spins at the central point of the string length, it divides the speaking length in two, generating the second harmonic of whatever is the frequency of stimulated vibration. For a music string this creates a note one octave above the fundamental. The same applies here. |
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| The jig uses the minimum number of parts possible to achieve the required result. The collets also serve as capacitive stators for the control of the rotor's rotational speed. The aim is to produce billions of sonoluminescence cavitation events, all perfectly synchronised within the water strings. If successful, it should be possible to actually derive light and heat from the resonant feedback induced within the string. The only fuel is water but the string will wear out through fatigue with prolonged use, so can be considered as fuel too. |
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| Each of the water strings experiences electromagnetic pulses from the action of the rotor passing the stators and will divide up into high numbered harmonics. Longitudinal peristaltic-like waves occur, moving along in each direction away from the central point and help to stimulate cavitation events at the compression nodes and anti-nodes spacing. The carbon and aluminium components of the string are limited to relatively low-frequency vibration but the water strings have an enormous degree of flexibility and harmonics within them can rise to virtually unlimited numbers. All of the water strings (18,000 x 2) pulse in complete synchronization. |
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| Each (diamagnetic) water-string experiences constriction pressures as the electro-magnetic pulses synchronize the cavitation events longitudinally. The water strings are all subject to the same electro-magnetic forces and behave in near perfect synchronization (nothing is perfect). A 1m.m. hard string core would contain 18,000 fibres which means there are 36,000 capillary spaces, each containing its own water-string. The potential rotational speed of the rotor, being low-mass, is extremely high and the flexibility of the water-strings is also extremely high. Let's say, for example, that the node/antinode divisions in each water string can be as short as 1m.m. Over a 100m.m. length of hard string, that would indicate that 100 node/antinode divisions are plausible in each water string. 36,000 x 100 is 3,600,000 simultaneous sonoluminescence events, all in parallel vector - but the wavelength of the water-strings' vibration could easily be much, much shorter. Water is extremely flexible. Right down to the molecule. |
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The device is designed to be extremely sensitive to vibration. The whole principle is dependent upon feedback and the electricity supply is provided by two heavy-duty piezo crystal elements. When the string is tensioned and the jig is agitated (by hand or, if you insist, by electro magnetic means), the piezos generate voltage which is passed to coils made of the same kind of string that is used for the speaking length. Some years ago, I drew this graphic to show the train of thought in the development of the idea (right): - |
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| O.K., so how will this be made into a practical machine? Here. on the right, is a cross-section of the main part of the assembly. The string will be about 100mm in speaking length and the same type of string is used to wind coils around it. Give the whole assembly a bash and the string will start to ring. As it does so, the piezo driver elements will transduce those vibration into alternating voltages which will pass to the coils, which in turn will generate alternating magnetic fields to the stators and string. Feedback arises and "bootstrapping" occurs, leading to more string vibration. The process continues cyclically, the harmonic number increasing exponentially. |
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| Getting the hang of it? The voltages created by the string vibration are conducted by terminal crowns to the coils. |
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| Tension is applied to the string speaking length by means of two mutually opposed pistons in the central cylinder. There are two mechanisms which allow control of tension, as seen below. |
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Limited rotation of the coils allows for specific
alignment of the stators relative to each other and the stators.
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All of the original drawings for this device (like
the sketch on the right), were done with good old-fashioned pencil
and paper between 1982 and 1984. At that time, I had no knowledge
of sonoluminescence and believed I was designing a plasma
generator and projector. Amazingly, when I became aware of sonoluminescence
(S.L.) through the internet, in 1999, I found that I didn't need to
make any changes at all to the design in order to accomodate water.
If you like conspiracy theory, here's a good one. After applying for
a U.K. provisional patent in 1984, I approached the M.O.D. hoping
for interest, as I believed it to be a potential hand-held weapon.
The law insists upon U.K. priority in such cases; not to submit it
to them would constitute treason (still a capital offence). How they
laughed (quite rightly, as it happens!). So I then approached the
American Embassy with it. Some time later I received a letter from
them telling me that it had been sent to Weapons Research at Kirtland,
Albuquerque for evaluation and that I would hear from them within
sixty days. A certain Major Humpherys signed the letter (see
letter) but later it emerged that there wasn't and never had been
any such a person. Creepy!
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| On the right, is a copy of half of the original patent drawings. The looped handle is filled with mercury and completes the feedback circuit with the coils, transducers and speaking length of string. Nobody has, as yet to my knowledge, produced a machine which is capable of the mass-production of billions of sonoluminescence bubble collapse events, let alone their being in perfect synchroization and in parallel lines, within the space of four inches. Considering the theory, I believed (and still do believe) that it would be a very powerful and dangerous thing to have and to hold. Consequently, for safety's sake, I included an axe-head shaped bar, which would immediately shut down all electrical current by shorting it out across the terminal crowns but with only theory to consider, I don't know how safe that would be. At the base of the assembly is a screw-adjustment handle mechanism for pumping pressure into the central cylinder, thus tensioning the string. On the drawing (right), components which are labelled as part # 17 are copper short-turn rings, which, together with magnetostrictive pin (#14) establish a focussed vector for fields setting the synchronized timing rotation of the rotor. How to get water to flood the string capillaries? Immersed in boiling water, air is expelled from the spaces and when the water is allowed to cool, near-perfect vacuum conditions within the string capillaries draw in water to fill those spaces. Each coil can be rotated relative to the other thus providing further options for fine tuning the synchronization of the rotor between the stators. If I could think of a simpler way of describing all of this, I would put it here. Unclear? |  |
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In 2000, I approached the U.K. Ministry of Defence again about this beast. In preparation for this, I produced a new set of drawings (here and below). Unfortunately, up to this point, I still thought I was dealing with plasma production and projection; water hadn't come into the equation. They (the M.O.D.) didn't get it at all (quite rightly, as it happens) but gladly offered me some basic facts about string vibration and guitar design and construction. They told me that if you put a brass plate under the bridge of a solid bodied electric guitar, you get more sustain. Right... Amazingly, I found when re-considering my thoughts about the working action with sonoluminescence involved, I didn't need to change even one detail of the construction parts! By then it was too late and they considered me to be a crank with nil credibility. That was their final decision; they would enter into no further communication with me. Today, in 2011, still no serious-minded scientist will risk reputation by association with any part of this entire concept. The standard answer is that I am trying to contravene the 1st law of thermodynamics. Bullshit - I ain't. If you think that, then you are jumping to conclusions having not comprehended the argument and you are definitely not considering the plausibility of sonoluminescence within a hollow music string. Unless of course you've tried it and have shown it to be impossible, in which case well done! Publish, why don't you? And do please let me know where I can read about your results. Set my mind at rest... |
| Warning: - Might cause earthquakes! |  |
(Other important information: - here...)
