Once again, it is that day of the year when we reflect over how the year behind us was and make our predictions and wishes for the year to come.
One important piece of news during 2019 was that researchers at my alma mater Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, led by professor Kasper Moth-Poulsen reported that they have developed a molecule, that is able to capture the sun’s rays, store it as chemical energy for up to 18 years, and retrieve the energy and convert it into heat when needed.
The following graphic shows how it all works:
It all starts in the upper middle section of the sketch. The solar reflector (SOLFÅNGARE) placed on the roof of a building captures the sun’s rays. The parabolic section concentrates solar energy and transmits it to the liquid in the tube in the center of the solar reflector. From there, the cold liquid, now containing stored chemical energy, is sent to an energy storage (ENERGILAGER). It can be stored there for up to 18 years! When we need to heat up our house, we simply let some of the liquid out from storage, run it through the catalyst (KATALYSATOR), thus obtaining a hot liquid without any stored chemical energy. Experiments have shown that the liquid with released heat can have a temperature that is 63 °C higher after the catalyst in relation to before! The hot liquid then goes into the normal heating system of the house, e.g. the radiators (ELEMENT I HUS) in the various rooms, heats up the ambient, and then the now cold liquid goes back up to the roof to capture more sun rays. Graphic made by Yen Strandqvist.The leftmost photo shows the parabolic solar reflector with the liquid tube in the center. To the right is the inventor of the material, professor Kasper Moth-Poulsen, securing a small sample of the miraculous liquid. All material has been extracted from Chalmers Magasin no. 1 2019, text by Karin Aase and photos taken by Oscar Mattsson and Johan Bodell.
References # 1 through 4 below contain more material if you are interested in further details.
Can you use an hourglass?
According to Wikipedia: “An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) from the upper bulb to the lower one. Typically the upper and lower bulbs are symmetric so that the hourglass will measure the same duration regardless of orientation. The specific duration of time a given hourglass measures is determined by factors including the quantity and coarseness of the particulate matter, the bulb size, and the neck width.
So you think are smart? Then show it now! We have two hourglasses like the ones shown above. The bigger ones completes one cycle in 11 minutes, the small one in 7 minutes.
Question: Using a combination of these two hourglasses, you need to measure a time lapse of exactly 15 minutes. How would you do it? (Solution to follow in the first blog post of 2020.)
I wish all my faithful blog readers a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
What did you learn in School today? 
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