#646-649 Crop circles, Iornman Reactor and Selective Yellow
Fun Fact #646
Chaos and Crop Circles
Ah, Tasmania, Home to many wonders of the world and for a time even thought to have been visited by aliens. Aliens?! What in the UFO is going on in “The land Down under!”
Well to understand that you need to understand that while it’s not their main export, Tasmania is the world’s largest exporter of Legal Narcotic Opium producing around 85% of the world’s supply, as well as other substances the flowers produce like morphine, codeine, and Thebaine which must be separated during processing. Once again, while they make a lot from poppies, monetarially it’s actually outpaced by their Mining, Fish, Meat and Dairy industries.
Then there is the Wallaby population on the island (Think tiny kangaroo) which has developed both a knack for getting through places it shouldn’t and a taste for poppies. Once they’ve “wasted” Wallabies commonly roll around for a while making large circles in the fields. The story actually made international news in 2009 when this explanation was finally released to the general public. What an alien concept, Macropods frolicing in the flowers.
Image by Claudia Zap at Upshot and retrieved from Yahoo News
Special thanks to Daniel, a Youtuber called “Moreparz” for the idea to do this fun fact. As always thank you for reading and please have a wonderful day.
https://youtube.com/shorts/XKwDn1jt7xU?si=nxTrwjJiqUE74R_p
Fun Fact #647
Haven’t The Foggiest
It is no surprise that no one likes the Fog. Afterall when a majority of the light you send out is reflected back to you from the water droplets it makes it terribly difficult to see. However, France has gone down in history as the country that got so few up with it that they reinvented the lightbulb just to fix it.
Apparently during a Monte Carlo Rally in the late 1920s, one of the drivers was refueling their car when they noticed a newspaper placed over the headlamp cast a yellow light whose light did not seem to be impacted by the Snow flurry. Soon after The French Academy of science invented “The Selective Yellow” and is used on most car fog lights today.
As for how this works its all due to the wavelength the light is made from. Blue light has a short wavelength allowing it to be easily reelected by snow or fog, while red is too long. Yellow however is like goldilocks and just right to shine through yet retain the high contrast needed to pick out the outlines of the road and other cars. So the next time you fear something might be hiding in the dark, don't go yellow belly, get some “Selective Yellow”
As always thanks for reading, I hope you found today’s fun Fact Enlightening, and please have a wonderful day.
Fun Fact #648
Reactor Reactions
While searching for fun facts early last week I heard a rumor which both excited and made me very skeptical. The rumor was a man (Alex Burkan) had built a semi functioning ironman suit with a Nuclear reactor. Upon investigation it was not a Nuclear reactor but it was still cool as the “Reactor” Suit was actually a functioning Electrolyzer.
An Electrolyzer is a device which is built to separate water into molecules of Hydrogen and Oxygen (2H2 O⟶2H2 + O2 ). When these molecules are mixed it is called “Brown Gas” (Oxyhydrogen) and is known for its very fast combustion rate.
Alex collects the brown gas from his electrolyzer for use in pyrotechnics for the repulsor costume effects –which is honestly really cool and means to run his costume all it requires is water and electricity. The best part of all of this? He built it using items you can easily get a hold of and put the designs and instructions online for anyone to build their own. Just look up the youtube channel “Alex LAB” on youtube to find his playlist.
PS: An Electrolyzer is (in the classical sense) a Hydrogen reactor but in the modern day when you say “Hydrogen Reactor” many people think of a Hydrogen regulated reactor which uses hydrogen to self-regulate the nuclear fission reaction –which is why I was confused. Thus what Mr. Burkan WAS actually a reactor, just dressed up a bit with some LEDs (it really is cool!).
Image taken from his Video: “Functional Hydrogen Reactor for Iron Man Repulsor. DIY electrolyzer for Tony Stark exosuit.” https://youtu.be/FDVrM929s70?si=-8C09WK-9-T2WoZt
Fun Fact #649
Pyrotechnics? Repulsive?!
. . . Now lets be honest, I couldn’t talk about Alex Burkan’s functioning Hydrogen Reactor (Electrolyzer) for his Iron Man costume without talking about what he uses the Brown gas it generates for. It's just too cool to pass up.
It is also surprisingly simple since the repulsor is based off a Pulse-Combustion Generator. Meaning it takes that highly flammable brown gas and mixes it with air before ignition causes the mixture to go up in a brilliant puff of Fire and smoke.
Some other cool details include that as the hot air propelled out, new cooler air rushes in to mix with more Brown gas creating a continuous cycle until the gas is cut off or runs out. Additionally pulse-combustion chambers are usually used for their high fuel efficiency (∽97%) meaning his suit runs very cleanly, albeit with some kick when he fires a blast. However, that should be expected from a mechanism used to make some of the simplest jet engines ever designed with almost no moving parts (look up the V-1 “Buzz Bomb”: The first functional cruise missile ever designed which used this same mechanical mechanism as its engine.)
Image taken From Alex Lab’s Video "Iron Man Repulsor DIY”
https://youtu.be/qvzRN2XKJeU?si=pHnpO9TGHgoI2won
