Useful Thoughts and Actions Taken

Physics and chemistry of a dry cell battery

 Outer layer: Zinc                           Middle layer: Ammonium Chloride                       Inner layer: Manganese Dioxide                       Carbon Rod            WaveGuide(wire)

Zn(s) → Zn2+(aq) + 2 e-  U+2192.svg         2 e-  + 2NH4+(aq) → 2NH3(aq) +  H2(g)   U+2192.svg    H2(g) +  2MnO2(s)→ Mn2O3(s) + H2O(l)   U+2192.svg       2e-         U+21E5.gif          Photon

                                    U+2190.gif2Cl         

My original thinking

Without a waveguide aka "wire going to load completing the circuit" charge builds up so as to impede the zinc + chlorine reaction.  That is to say the energy state of the electrons on or about the carbon rod are same state as those emanating from the zinc + chlorine reaction. That leaves new movers no where to go.  When the wave guide path is completed the electrons are able to accelerate and thereby to emit a photon and depopulate the state allowing more electrons to follow it on the path it has just taken.  The photon skips down the waveguide at near the speed of light with intermittent interactions with the conductor.  This can be visualized like a stone skipping across water as can be done with a flat rock across the surface of a pond.  The points where the rock touches the water are the interactions with conductor.  Remember this occurs as a push pull affair.  While the electronic force pushes out the carbon rod it pulls in the cathode. This is standard waveguide behavior which an RF engineer would call paired currents The propagation of which is the photon itself. This is an informatic transfer in that time is required for the energy to propagate as opposed to a book keeping like transfer that occurs with entanglement.  

Next Question:  What is the frequency of the photon involved in transfer of e- charge over a potential of 1.5 volts?

1 electron volt = 1.60217646 × 10-19 joules

Planck's constant = 6.626068 × 10-34 m2 kg / s

E=hF

…but this leads to a crazy high value computed for frequency of the photon???

F=386 Terrahertz????   What am I doing wrong?  Am I doing anything wrong?     Visible light spans 400–790 THz.   This part makes sense if one thinks about an light emitting diode (LED).   That is the reverse.  Electricity travels down a wire and is turned into visible photons in this frequency range.

At this point I panic because I know that this frequency does not propagate well along a wire wave guide as described above or at least right now so I think.  Is there a frequency conversion mechanism?  Seems there must be.  Unless there is some sort of group phenomena.   If one thinks and realizes that "DC" current is made up of photons then DC is made out of a fundamentally AC phenomena namely photons. 

Heuristic notes:  

  1. Imagine a 1400Mhz oscillator.  The waves propagating out from it are very much lower in frequency than the frequency of the photon in the above calculations.  Yet I can easily measure a wave that has 2 volts peak to peak amplitude. 
  2. How does group behavior relate to this?  Can visible light photons be propagated in the belly of a wave group that is much slower?

Answers to the questions generated by this post

  1. How optical photons are converted to low frequency photons for transport along copper wire waveguide
  2. How do electrical conductors work?

Background Information

Chemical reactions (following from wikipedia )

From Zinc Carbon Battery: In a zinc-carbon dry cell, the outer zinc container is the negative terminal. The zinc is oxidised according to the following half-equation.

    Zn(s) → Zn2+(aq) + 2 e-

A graphite rod surrounded by a powder containing manganese(IV) oxide is the positive terminal. The manganese dioxide is mixed with carbon powder to increase the electrical conductivity. The reaction is as follows:

    2MnO2(s) + H2(g)→ Mn2O3(s) + H2O(l)

The H2 comes from the NH4+(aq):

    2NH4+(aq) + 2 e- → H2(g) + 2NH3(aq)

and the NH3 combines with the Zn2+.   In this half-reaction, the manganese is reduced from an oxidation state of (+4) to (+3).  There are other possible side-reactions, but the overall reaction in a zinc-carbon cell can be represented as:

    Zn(s) + 2MnO2(s) + 2NH4+(aq) → Mn2O3(s) + Zn(NH3)22+(aq) + H2O(l)

The battery has an e.m.f. of about 1.5 V. The approximate nature of the e.m.f is related to the complexity of the cathode reaction. The anode (zinc) reaction is comparatively simple with a known potential. Side reactions and depletion of the active chemicals increases the internal resistance of the battery, and this causes the e.m.f. to drop.  Although carbon is an important element of the battery's composition, it takes no part in the electrochemical reaction, instead only serving to collect current and reduce the resistance of the manganese dioxide mix.

Construction

The container of the zinc-carbon dry cell is a zinc can. This contains a layer of NH4Cl with ZnCl2 aqueous paste separated by a paper layer from a mixture of powdered carbon & manganese (IV) oxide (MnO2) which is packed around a carbon rod.

By Fudgy McFarlen, ago

Smart Feller has fun with words

Rev 3

 I'm a tree feller who's quite a smart feller

 I fell more trees than three smart fellers      

 

 When I am around all feller fell smart

 Yes I fell more smart than any tree feller

 

  My girlfriend fell for a smart feller.  

  her heart felled for the best of smart feller

  I'm really lucky I fell smart  

  When she fell smarted but I'm the feller who felt smart   

By Fudgy McFarlen, ago

The Anti Inflammatory Diet

As previously mentioned in this blog I tried in my early 40's to lose weight.  I would run 5 miles per day and still only hold a steady weight.  No weight loss!  Below is an updated summary of the tricks I have discovered and developed to lose weight in an effortless fashion.  They work on me who has many over allergies.  They also work on my room mate who gets next to no exercise and has no overt signs of allergy. He gets no headaches and has no problem with psoriasis or with congestion.

Do not eat the following     In descending order of importance for inflammation response.

  1. Any wheat / gluten containing product  – make sure your beer is not made with wheat!  No gluten beer == no headache!  Many recommend whole grains but that is crazy.  The Romans noticed more than 2k years ago that soldiers fed wheat were not as ready for battle.
  2. No caffeine or erstwhile stimulants:  No chocolate either!  ( it is quite a stimulant )
  3. dairy product – cheese, milk , yogurt  
  4. eggs
  5. avoid peanut butter or any other item that tends to have alot of fungus in it.
  6. Sugar – ( this one is not so much inflammation issues as it is a simple insulin transform away from fat deposits )

Sleep is central to weight loss and function of a clear mind!

  1. debug your sleep process – this means figuring out if you have sleep apnea. This is common with people that are carrying extra weight. I experienced sudden wake ups after my throat would prolapse and prohibit breathing.
  2. buy an oxygen concentrator  and use it when you sleep – very deep sleep with very slow heart rates.  Its also good for getting rid of headaches.
  3. take an NSAID such as ibuprofen before going to sleep at night.  It helps your body reduce the irritations of the day during sleep.  

Additional techniques that are very helpful ( almost indespensible )

  • Cook for yourself and find recipes that are easy and efficient to prepare.  This allows you total control over what you eat.  If you prepare food that is so good that it hits your psychological satisfaction centers of the brain you'll find the going much easier
  • Get a pressure cooker off of ebay.  They are cheaper there than Walmart and you will get an older much higher quality pan there.  I am in love with my pressure cooker.  You really can not prepare beans very well without.  It takes too long and its virtually impossible to get the right texture.

For carbohydrates substitute dried beans such as chick peas or kidney beans for the carbohydrates you had in your diet.   I have lost 25 lbs at the very least with this diet at the age of 49.  A feat I had all but given up on until I invented the anti inflammation diet.  Likewise with my room mate who eats almost exclusively what I cook due to aversion to kitchen processes.  The energy release from beans is much more smooth than wheat flower which tends to hit you with a case of pasta shock.  These days I consider wheat flower to be a quasi sugar because of this.

The best theory I have for why this works is that the effects of allergy / inflammation / irritation of the body are such that they inhibit weight loss.  

Additional benefits

  • as you lose weight you will automatically start sleeping better
  • A nice side effect of this diet is you will be getting adequate fiber.  I have gone from moving once per day to up to 5 times per day. No more struggling!
  • joints feel much better.  Any sensation of sore or stiff joints are gone now.  
  • bph ( benign prostrate hypertrophy ) is lessened.  Caffeine is your enemy if you have this issue.
  • a clearer mind.  As an engineer I am super sensitive differences in my intellectual performance.  If I am having a bad day physically it translates directly into a poor intellectual performance.
By Fudgy McFarlen, ago

Video: Beer Wars – A study in how big government regulation stifles free enterprise

The 3 teired system of the beer industry is such that it is very difficult to introduce a new beer.

Beer Wars Movie Trailer from Beer Wars on Vimeo.

If you have a netflix account you can watch in full here

Ever wonder why for longer than you have probably  been alive that the only beers available have been poor quality pisswater pisners?  Well it is because your federal government conspires with its minions to limit free enterprise and competition.  As you watch Beer Wars make sure that you substitute the name of any number of industries for "beer".  Examples would be "health care", "oil", "automobile".  The list is endless.  Your government is your enemy.  Worse yet your government is the enemy of progress.

By Fudgy McFarlen, ago