The Toyota Prius is a lemon that environmentally conscious people are prepared to live with in order to minimise pollution. The Prius has an engine power of 73 kW plus a battery bank. To put this into perspective, a family car like the VW Golf R has an engine power of 206 kW

The Toyota Mirai (Japanese for “future) has a hydrogen fuel cell with a power output of 9 kW and the same battery bank as the Prius. So one could say the Mirai is an 8 times greater lemon than the Prius.

9 kW is probably sufficient power to keep the batteries fully charged in a Tokyo traffic jam with more charging time available on red traffic lights than driving time, but don’t take the Mirai for a spin in a hilly country side with a full load of people on board, the batteries will be empty in no time and 9 kW of fuel cell power does not get you over, even the most gentlest of, hill slopes.

It is obvious that the Mirai is just designed as a gimmick for the 2020 Olympics with the driving routes well defined and within the physical limits of the vehicle. I am also sure that Toyota has already space allocated in the local scrapyards to take all the Mirai’s after the closing ceremony of the 2020 Olympics is over.

The web site claims that the Mirai will store 5 kg of hydrogen in two bottles at a pressure of 100 bar. Hydrogen has a density of 0.09 g/l, so 5 kg of the compressed hydrogen would take the space of 5000 g / 0.09 g/l / 100 bar = 555 l. Scaling the fuel tanks size from the picture below, my best estimate is that they will hold a volume of about 100 l, that is about one fifth of what Toyota claims. This maybe ok for the transportations required at the Olympics and who cares how much hydrogen they can hold in the scrapyard.

 

豐田Prius(油電混合動力車)是一個檸檬(即買了回家, 才知道是爛貨). 只是一些有環保意識的人準備與它一起生活，以減少污染。Prius 發動機的動力加上電池組才擁有73千瓦。 給大家一個相關的比照: 一個家庭的汽車，如福斯高爾夫R擁有206千瓦的發動機功率.

豐田Mirai(日語為“未來"）是用氫燃料電池和Prius相同的電池組, 其輸出功率為9千瓦。因此，可以說 Mirai 比 Prius 是一個8倍更爛的檸檬。

9千瓦大概是足夠的動力來保持電池完全充電,如果你開在交通堵塞的東京, 特別如果加上交通燈常紅的話(道理很易理解吧, 當車不開動的時候, 動力肯定就用去充電的了).  但千萬不要拿 Mirai 載滿人去郊外兜風，該電池肯定好快是空的. 9千瓦的燃料電池動力, 什麼樣也不可能會載你跨越甚至是爬上最不斜的小山坡。

很明顯，Mirai 只是為2020年奧運會設計出來的噱頭. 依據了奧運會範圍內固定的駕駛路線來設計並推它至物理極限。我肯肯定，當2020年奧運會閉幕儀式後, 豐田預留的廢料堆放場空間將用來放置他們的 Mirai。

豐田網站聲稱，Mirai 將存儲5千克氫在兩個瓶子，在100巴的壓力下。氫具有0.09克/公升的密度，所以5公斤壓縮氫氣將需要5000克/ 0.09克/升/ 100 巴 = 555公升的空間。從下面的圖片我依照油箱大小比例去計算了一下, 車上最多只有持有約100公升的容積，即大約五分之一的豐田在網頁中聲稱(555 l)。100公升的容積可能就是為了迎合在奧運會運輸所需吧. 可是又有誰在乎它的氫容積持有多少呢, 反正奧運結束後, Mirai就要堆入廢料場!

 

 

No, the Mirai is not the car of the future, neither is any other fuel cell powered car. For some further reading on fuel cell cars see  http://edwardwechner-9.blogspot.com.au

 

 

不，Mirai 絕對不是汽車的未來，甚至其他任何的燃料電池動力汽車也沒可能是。

有興趣知多一些有關燃料電池汽車, 請至: http://edwardwechner-9.blogspot.com.au

  

A few days ago, I saw a video :

 

Top 10 Cute Animals - Earth Unplugged :

 

 

accordingly, the top number 10 is the snow leopard and Ms. Maddie, did mentioned their special purr! 

It is because I did write a blog about cat’s purrs :

http://meiwechner2099.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/cat-purr_16.html?view=flipcard

 

This is why I’m keen to know more about a snow leopard’s purr :

 

 

 

Funny Snow Leopard Meowing

 

 

Snow Leopard's Favourite Purr-fume!

 

 

OK, return back,  after we saw all the above videos, we need to know more about the behaviour of the snow leopard’s purr :

 

http://www.snowleopard.org/learn/cat-facts/behavior

 

Snow leopards make sounds similar to those made by other large cats, including a purr, mew, hiss, growl, moan, and yowl. However, snow leopards cannot roar due to the physiology of their throat, and instead make a non-aggressive puffing sound called a ‘chuff’.

 

Ah ha,  they can’t  roar,  they only can purr like a cat!  but I think it does not matter, because I do think a cat’s hiss  is much more scary!!!  What do you think? 

 

摘要:  雪豹不能咆哮, 只能跟小貓一樣發出咕嚕咕嚕的 purr 聲, 又或 mew, hiss, growl, moan, and yowl聲.

Documentary: Global Village, Pampa Scientists.

On the Argentinian Pampas Antoine Le Tessier Selvant, the director of the CNRS法國國家科學研究中心, the national centre for scientific research, has been installing research tanks since the year 2000.  There are now 1600 of them in place and they constitute the world’s biggest ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observatory.  We visit the local residents to see what they make of the strange structures, and the scientists who look after this remarkable facility.

Malargue was chosen by the National Centre for Scientific Research as a location to build the world’s biggest ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observatory.

every second, 200 cosmic rays hit every square metre of the planet.  Among these, a few have enough energy to lift a one-kilogram object a metre high.

The Pierre Auger Observatory was built to study these extremely rare ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, to understand their nature and origin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Auger_Observatory

----------------------------------------

Along with the tanks placed one and a half kilometres apart, a network of 24 telescopes is used.  The role is observe particle showers produced by the cosmic rays, when they penetrate the earth’s atmosphere.

the water Cherkov detector (small water basins, 1.2 m deep; called "tanks")

-------------------------------

The small blue dots represent the tanks installed in the Pampas, and when an event occurs, it’s represented in yellow or green on this drawing.

For example, here we see the footprint of a cosmic ray, which was recorded at more than twenty stations. extending across 20 kilometres. And here we see that this cosmic ray has an energy of 2 followed by 19 zeros electron volts. It would heat one gram of water about one degree, not even enough to make a cup of coffee.

With telescopes tracking down tiny light sources and electron volts with endless zeros, this research has found new impetus in Argentina. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/cosmic_rays.html

cosmic rays : are mostly pieces of atoms 原子:protons 質子, electrons 電子, and atomic nuclei 原子核which have had all of the surrounding electrons stripped during their high-speed (almost the speed of light) passage through the Galaxy

In astroparticle physics, an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) is a cosmic ray particle with a kinetic energy 動能 greater than 10¹⁸ eV, far beyond both its rest mass and energies typical of other cosmic ray particles.

An Extreme-energy cosmic ray (EECR) is an UHECR with energy exceeding 5×10¹⁹ eV (about 8 Joule), the so-called Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin limit (GZK limit).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Documentary: : Science Bulletins- Aiming High—The Search for Ultra High-Energy Cosmic Rays

From outer space, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays reach Earth. These consist of single sub-atomic particles (protons or atomic nuclei), each with energy levels beyond 10¹⁸ eV (about the energy of a tennis ball traveling at 80 km/h^{[citation needed]}). When such a single particle reaches Earth atmosphere, it has its energy dissipated by creating billions of other particles: electrons, photons and muons, all near the speed of light. These particles spread longitudinal (perpendicular to the single particle incoming route), creating a forward moving plane of particles, with higher intensities near the axis. Such an incident is called a "air shower". Passing through the atmosphere, this plane of particles creates UV light, invisible to the human eye, called the fluorescing effect, more or less in the pattern of straight lightning traces. These traces can be photographed at high speed by specialised telescopes, called Fluorescence Detectors, overlooking an area with at a slight elevation. Then, when the particles reach the Earth surface, they can be detected when they arrive in a water tank, where they cause Cherenkov effect: visible blue light. A sensitive photoelectric tube, can catch these impacts. Such a station is called a called water Cherenkov Detector or 'tank'. The Augen Observatory has both type of detectors covering the same area, which allows for very precise measurements.

 

 

Malargue, Argentina – prefect height, flat region and population friendly.

water Cherenkov Detector or tank, totally 600 tanks, 3000 km2, 24 telecsope.

The Pierre Auger Observatory is an international cosmic ray observatory designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: sub-atomic particles traveling at the speed of light and each with energies beyond 10¹⁸ eV. In Earth atmosphere, such particle interacts with air nuclei and produces various other particles. These effect particles (called an "air shower") can be detected and measured. But since these high energy particles have an estimated arrival rate of just 1 per km² per century, the Auger Observatory has created a detection area of 3,000 km² (1,200 sq mi) — the size of Rhode Island, or Luxembourg — in order to record a large number of these events. It is located in the western Mendoza Province, Argentina, near the Andes.  

17 countries, 300 physicists from nearly 100 institutions around the world, collect and analyse the measured data.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-energy_cosmic_ray

The history of cosmic ray research is a story of scientific adventure. For nearly a century, cosmic ray researchers have climbed mountains, soared in hot air balloons, and traveled to the far corners of the Earth in the quest to understand these energetic particles from space. They have solved some scientific mysteries—and revealed many more. With each passing decade, scientists have discovered higher-energy and increasingly more rare cosmic rays. The Pierre Auger Project is the largest scientific enterprise ever conducted to search for the unknown sources of the highest-energy cosmic rays ever observed.

 

Active galactic cores as one possible source of the particles[edit]

Interactions with blue-shifted cosmic microwave background radiation limit the distance that these particles can travel before losing energy; this is known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin limit or GZK limit.

The source of such high energy particles has been a mystery for many years. Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory show that ultra-high-energy cosmic ray arrival directions appear to be correlated with extragalactic supermassive black holes at the center of nearby galaxies called active galactic nuclei (AGN).^[3] However, since the angular correlation scale used is fairly large (3.1 degrees) these results do not unambiguously identify the origins of such cosmic ray particles. The AGN could merely be closely associated with the actual sources, for example in galaxies or other astrophysical objects that are clumped with matter on large scales within 100 Mpc.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the supermassive black holes in AGN are known to be rotating, as in the Seyfert galaxy MCG 6-30-15^[8] with time-variability in their inner accretion disks.^[9] Black hole spin is a potentially effective agent to drive UHECR production,^[10] provided ions are suitably launched to circumvent limiting factors deep within the nucleus, notably curvature radiation^[11] and inelastic scattering with radiation from the inner disk. Low-luminosity, intermittent Seyfert galaxies may meet the requirements with the formation of a linear accelerator several light years away from the nucleus, yet within their extended ion tori whose UV radiation ensures a supply of ionic contaminants.^[12] The corresponding electric fields are small, on the order of 10 V/cm, whereby the observed UHECRs are indicative for the astronomical size of the source. Improved statistics by the Pierre Auger Observatory will be instrumental in identifying the presently tentative association of UHECRs (from the Local Universe) with Seyferts and LINERs.^[13]

 

P.S.: further reading :

Discovering the sources of the particles’ acceleration could offer insight into high-energy astrophysics and the origins of the universe. The project also could reveal clues about “exotic physics,” such as supersymmetry and string theory.

With a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the six teams will accomplish advance work necessary to launch a telescope mounted to the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) on the International Space Station (ISS).

That launch is scheduled for 2017 and represents the largest collaboration on the ISS, involving the U.S. and 12 other countries. In addition to UWM, the U.S. team, led by the University of Chicago, includes the Colorado School of Mines, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

The goal of the international mission, called the Extreme Universe Space Observatory (JEM-EUSO), is to use the telescope to scan the night skies around Earth from space and record the luminous “tracks” left when these rare particles collide with the Earth’s atmosphere.

http://www5.uwm.edu/news/2013/03/05/uwm-joins-a-nasa-backed-search-for-cosmic-rays-2/#.UlUu2Dj4L1I

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoc-nse030813.php

筆記:

1. 能量: 

每秒鐘, 地球每平方米有200條宇宙射線( 能量都比較低, 大概是Most cosmic rays, however, do not have such extreme energies; the energy distribution of cosmic rays peaks at 0.3 gigaelectronvolts (4.8×10⁻¹¹ J).^[9]) 撞擊.  而其間出現有超高能量的宇宙射線卻非常難找到, 它們是出現的次數比較少, 每天發生在每千方公里只有一次(They occur only once per square kilometer of sky per millennium.) , 而能量是Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are extremely energetic subatomic particles (mostly protons, but also some heavier atomic nuclei) with energies greater than 10¹⁵ eV. The record holder so far is a UHECR with an energy of 3×10²⁰ eV – equivalent to a baseball thrown at 160 km/hr!

2.  觀察方法：

因為宇宙射線從外太空進入地球表面, 必經大氣層而發生撞擊後, 產生了 air shower ( 陣雨, the incident particle, which could be a proton, a nucleus, an electron, a photon, or (rarely) a positron, strikes a molecule in the air so as to produce many energetic hadrons. The unstable hadrons decay in the air speedily into other particles and electromagnetic radiation, which are part of the shower components.)

要觀察宇宙射線和陣雨 air shower, 在地面, The most advanced ground-based experiments to detect cosmic ray showers extend over several kilometres and consist of both Cherenkov detectors monitoring several large tanks of water for light produced by high-energy particles, and fluorescence detectors used to track the glow of the particle as it descends through the atmosphere.

3. 來源:

經過經年的觀察, 我們發現了超高能宇宙射線最有可能是從活動星系核的超大質量旋轉黑洞而來的, 例如 in the Seyfert galaxy MCG 6-30-15^[8] with time-variability in their inner accretion disks, 因為旋轉的動態黑洞是最大可能製造這些超高能宇宙射線.

The source of such high energy particles has been a mystery for many years. Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory show that ultra-high-energy cosmic ray arrival directions appear to be correlated with extragalactic supermassive black holes at the center of nearby galaxies called active galactic nuclei (AGN).^[3] However, since the angular correlation scale used is fairly large (3.1 degrees) these results do not unambiguously identify the origins of such cosmic ray particles. The AGN could merely be closely associated with the actual sources, for example in galaxies or other astrophysical objects that are clumped with matter on large scales within 100 Mpc.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the supermassive black holes in AGN are known to be rotating, as in the Seyfert galaxy MCG 6-30-15^[8] with time-variability in their inner accretion disks.^[9] Black hole spin is a potentially effective agent to drive UHECR production,^[10] provided ions are suitably launched to circumvent limiting factors deep within the nucleus, notably curvature radiation^[11] and inelastic scattering with radiation from the inner disk. Low-luminosity, intermittent Seyfert galaxies may meet the requirements with the formation of a linear accelerator several light years away from the nucleus, yet within their extended ion tori whose UV radiation ensures a supply of ionic contaminants.^[12] The corresponding electric fields are small, on the order of 10 V/cm, whereby the observed UHECRs are indicative for the astronomical size of the source. Improved statistics by the Pierre Auger Observatory will be instrumental in identifying the presently tentative association of UHECRs (from the Local Universe) with Seyferts and LINERs.^[13]

4. 最新消息:

NASA 將會更大的資源去觀察這些超高能宇宙射線

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoc-nse030813.php

Auger combines two techniques for observing cosmic rays. One technique consists mostly of large plastic water tanks, which serve as ground detectors that measure the shape of the shower. Spaced at one-mile intervals, the tanks occasionally intercept a particle from the atmospheric cascade generated by cosmic rays. The particles produce a flash as they cross from air into water. Electronics in the dark tanks detect the light and radios the information to a central station.

The second technique involves four infrared telescopes that detect ultraviolet light emissions generated in the atmosphere by cosmic rays. "You not only see the fluorescence on the ground, but you see the whole shower developing on the atmosphere," Olinto explained.

The Auger telescopes look straight up to the top of the atmosphere, approximately 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) high. "If you go to the International Space Station with the exact same technique and you look down, you can see a lot more of the atmosphere because now you're 400 kilometers up," Olinto said. "With a 60-degree opening angle, which we are designing, you can see instantaneously a hundred times the Auger area."

Olinto views the Extreme Observatory as the first step toward using the entire Earth atmosphere for studying subatomic particle interactions at energies far exceeding what the most powerful man-made accelerator at the Large Hadron Collider can currently produce. "In my opinion it's the way to the future," she said.

I remember a few years ago, I did watch a TV documentary about artificial reefs produced by the National Geographic.

I found it very interesting, except they shown the sinking war ship and tank did provide an eco environment for most of the fish, the most impressed me a underwater concrete art gallery in Mexico MUSA ((Museo Subacuático de Arte) by Jason deCaires Taylor.

The art he made is so impressive, but unfortunately, I will never have a chance to visit that amazing museum, because I don’t know how to swim.

But it is good that we have internet,  I still can keep up to look at his website, they updated his projects very often and I really love his work :

http://www.underwatersculpture.com/pages/projects/mexico.html

And then, we have concrete memorial reefs, which can bury your love one who don’t afraid of sea.  hihihi… 

But actually, I don’t like this kind of cemetery, don’t you think this don’t serve any purpose? Your family need to diving into the deep sea to see your grave? 

And if you think it is good to the environment, but why don’t you just spread your ash into the ocean to feed the fish or into a garden to grow a tree.   The only way good is someone did can earn a living out of it. Haha!

http://www.neptunesociety.com/memorial-reef

http://www.eternalreefs.com/

http://www.mbara.org/memorial-reef-program.cfm

History:

 

1. In ancient, human built reefs for the other race’s attack.

2. According to the Wikipedia, thousands year ago, Persians (now is Iranian) blocked the mouth of the Tigris River to thwart Indian pirates by building an artificial reef, and then, during the First Punic Warthe Romans built a reef across the mouth of the Carthaginian harbour in Sicily to trap the enemy ships within and assist in diving the Carthaginians from the island.

3. Japanese using rubble and rocks to make reefs to grown kelp (海帶/昆布), since 17th century.

4. And the earliest recorded construction of artificial reef in the United States is from 1830s when logs from huts were used off the coast of South Carolina to improve fishing.

Development:

1. a) According to Wikipedia, when the ocean current reach a vertical structure (like concrete block, sinking ship) which put on the bottom of the sea, the current rise up the a cloud of plankton / ocean micro organisms, that can attract small fish, which also draw in pelagic predators like tuna and sharks.   

    b) It also mentioned same as the National Geographic documentary that fish love the protection of hole or crevice which provided by the sinking ship.

   c) another benefit is algae, tunicates, corals and sponges grown in the reef structure over months or years, that create more food and protection for the fish.

2. Coastal protection: barriers are built near fragile shores, Japan built over 4000 breakwaters in the last 20 years.

3. Surfing reefs: reefs are installed to amplify waves in popular surfing areas.

 

 

Material :

 

1.   Back in 1972, a well-meaning non-profit group came up with the idea of creating an artificial reef off the South Florida coast using two million old tires. The sunken rubber was supposed to lure game fish to the area and simultaneously reduce toxic waste on shore. Reefs like these already existed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Africa, Australia, and the Gulf of Mexico. None of them have been successful. Steel restraints holding the tires of the Osborne Reef together have rusted away. When tropical storms come the tires careen across the ocean floor destroying marine life and damaging natural coral reefs along the way. This ecological catastrophe has gone unnoticed by the critical human eye for decades.

     'Reef', by Hannes Bend:
     http://hannesbend.com/index.php?/bs/eclipse/

     Osborne Reef, more then 2,000,000 used vehicle tires were dumped off the coast of Fort  Lauderdale, Florida to form an artificial reef is a disaster.  

     I remember when we clean up our river, we did find some people dumping vehicle old tires for growing oyster,  vehicle tire is make of toxic plastic, when it dissolve into the water, it will poison the fish and human.  We try so hard to take the tire out of the river, because it weight 10 times when it stuck in the river bed!!!!  That is why I know so well the damage it cost on Osborne Reef.

2.   I think the officially sanctioned material should be non release or dissolve toxic to the environment. 

3.  Another thing that very interesting me on the wiki web, is about Electro mineral accretion, it is not easy to understand for a people like me who have no knowledge about chemistry.  but after explanation from Edward.  I found it incredible interesting.  He told me about the typewriter history, how IBM came up with a solution to electro plate a plastic typing ball with hard chromium in 1961.

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter

   using electrochemical process chrome onto the surface of plastic, this is similar what it explain about EMA (Electro mineral accretion) : a group of scientists put a low voltage current to the sinking ship, in order to electro the limestone which floating in the sea, then attach the coral to grown. 

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_reef

but……..but……….but…….

   when I google about artificial reefs in the google picture…. I can find – dumping subway cars, conrete block, old fishing boat, war ship, antenna, plane………………………..  it is really scare me… it seem artificial reefs also can call artificial rubbish sea!!!!!!!!!!!