Wow. It has finally happened. Bloggers now have a medium for split-screen video streaming in Blogging heads.tv.
Good heavens. I don’t think I am ready for this. I’ll have to get a bow tie …
Blog TV
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Neutron Lethargy- This Weeks Obscure Dimensionless Quantity
Good morning boys and girls. In keeping with Th’ Gausslings weakness (sickness??) for odd and specialized information, a quantity known mainly to nuclear reactor operators and other nukkenvolk is trotted out.
Neutron lethargy, or logarithmic energy decrement, u, is a dimensionless logarithm of the ratio of the energy of source neutrons to the energy of neutrons after a collision: u = ln(Eo/E), or, u2-u1 = ln(E1/E2). So, if you plot a curve of E vs u (E = Eo*exp(-u)), you see an exponential decay of energy per unit collision showing that the greatest delta E’s of energy result from the early collisions.
Basically, it shows that in order to obtain thermal neutrons from fission decay neutrons, you have to contain them so that they can rattle around and dump energy before they fly out of the area of interest. As to the number of collisions that are needed? Well, that is a different issue.
Source- Glasstone & Edlund, The Elements of Nuclear Reactor Theory, Van Nostrand, 1952, p 146.
[Note: It happens that of the 1300 or so posts I have written, this is the most popular. Who knew? But there are at present much more informative links out there.
>>> Obsolete links deleted. Sorry. <<<
Neutron Fluence Measurements, http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/34/065/34065175.pdf
Vatican Astronomer Approves Belief in Aliens
Vatican Astronomer, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, stated in an interview that, essentially, belief in aliens was not incompatible with Catholic Doctrine.
“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ‘sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom, he said.
This is quite a thing to hear from the Vatican. Rev. Funes stated that he felt that the big bang theory seemed quite reasonable to him, provided that the universe was an act of creation rather than chance. The Vatican has come a long way from the trial of Galileo, resulting in what John Paul II called a “tragic mutual incomprehension.”
Photo pilfered from Collegehumor.com.
Spacely Sprockets
A commentor recently pointed out that Th’ Gaussling was sounding off in a nationalist/socialist way. While I’m pretty sure I’m not a socialist, I must admit that I’m on a nationalistic bender at the moment. And by nationalistic, don’t think for minute that I get weepy and sentimental over Kenny Rogers flag waving ballads. I don’t.
But I do believe that, in the short and bloody history of humanity, this North American culture of ours has produced or advanced some truly amazing things. Like space exploration and antibiotics. Airplanes, transistors, synthetic chemistry, and cinema. We’ve had some low points as well. But in spite of our war-like behavior, much good has come from our industriousness.
And, I am anxious to keep it much of it running. There is no return to a pastoral life in the Shire. We are electric hominids whether we like it or not. The very existence of life itself leads to disorder. Highly ordered organisms that we are, we create vast amounts of disorder to energize life and hold our molecules together in cellular membranes. Practically by definition, we cannot help but leave a carbon footprint. The trick is to avoid adding carbon faster than the cycle can accomodate.
It is plain as day that the USA is trending in a bad economic direction. I’m not talking about economic indicators or some political movement. I’m talking about our business culture. I believe that our manner of doing business has gone astray. We have come to value the wrong people and unhealthy organizational behavior. We have come to admire those who appear to generate wealth by the manipulation of financial contrivances and accounting machinations. Strangely, the notion of manufacturing as a desirable activity has become nearly obsolete.
We don’t need Grand Theft Auto IV or Microsoft Vista or better cell phone gimmicks. We don’t need more gadgets to give neurotic, hyperactive, workaholics 2X better web connectivity. Somehow, we have become intoxicated with computer technology to the point where we feel we need to fill terabytes of disk space with junk data rather than going outside and planting a garden or talking to the neighbor.
The greedheads in banking, finance, and real estate have helped to construct a business finance machine that few understand. Greed as a virtue is the norm. The right to petition congress has come to mean a docking port for electronic funds transfer to the military-industrial complex. If gaming the system is possible, then it is manditory.
We don’t have to abandon the basic principles of laissez faire markets. Markets work. Even the Chinese communists realize this. But we don’t have to shut our brains off either.
We do need a comprehensive mass transit network covering most of the continent. We need better ways to generate and transfer electric power. We need to find ways to make sure that people in Honduras have clean drinking water.
We don’t need a better version of Excel or SAP. We need Spacely Sprockets. We need people to continue to go into the trades and build things. We need welders and electricians and machinists, millwrights and longshoremen. This country needs to get back to the fundamentals of manufacturing tangible products.
Aviation Deathmatch- Boeing vs Airbus vs PR of China
China has announced that it will enter into the passenger jet manufacturing business. China Commercial Aircraft is expected to produce 150-passenger aircraft by 2020.
This is a big deal. And a big time challenge to the primacy of the US aviation industry. China’s aim is to achieve self-sufficiency in all high tech sectors. If it were just that, it would be less threatening. But what it really means is global market domination, not just self-sufficiency. This is just competition, but how it plays out for the US will depend on how US industry acts to hold on to its marketshare beginning right now.
The USA retains talent and ability in the entertainment and aviation industries. I believe that US influence of the petrochemical industry is in decline, due in part to the rise of nationalized oil companies in much of the oil producing world. It looks as if our aviation industry will feel competition by a nationalized aircraft manufacturer as well.
The rise of Chinese competition in the marketplace in inevitable. What the west must come to grips with is the inherent leverage that China has with its low wage labor force and the ability to channel resources into projects of national pride such as this.
China will also have the benefit of a century of jet engine and aeronautical research paid for by other nations. I imagine that more than a few of its engineers will have western universities listed on their resumes. Can’t do much about this either. But we in the west can use this example to strengthen our resolve to not go the way of tired and anemic empires.
Thus Begins Cold War II
Russia celebrated a holiday recently with a large scale military parade on Red Square. Just like the bad old days. Putins sock puppet, President Dmitri Medvedev, smiled while Putin stood stern-faced at his side at the annual Parade of Hardware. Insiders claim that Russia’s effort to modernize its military forces is anemic and plagued with corruption. Putin and followers are plainly appealing to that voice in the Russian soul that longs for strongman leadership.
China, on the other hand, is quietly constructing a secret underground nuclear submarine base on Hainan. Hmmm. A secret underground lair. Sounds like Dr. No. I doubt there are miniskirted nubiles with machine guns. Bummer.
Whereas Russia is fighting infrastructural inertia in its return to the platform, China is methodically ramping up its military with an economy flush with cash. With funding from its exports of Wal-Mart inventory and other Cheap Plastic Crap (CPC) marketed through its many outlets in the USA, China is moving closer to a blue water Navy and an SSBN fleet.
In the next 20 years, we are likely to see China flexing its muscle by positioning naval (carrier ?) groups and hints of Chinese submarine fleets prowling the continental shelves of the world. Just like us.
While the USA shadow boxes with multiple terrorist threats around the world, China plods forward minding its own business and funding its own growth.
Four US presidential terms were squandered following the fall of the Soviet Union- 2 x Clinton and 2 x Bush. US efforts to engage Russia in economic cooperation were weak at best. The highlight was perhaps the downgrading of Soviet era nuclear materials. Instead of building friendships and trade cooperation, US presidents were distracted by faulty nation building exercises and dubious foreign adventures. Mikhail Gorbachev himself recently lamented that “… every US president has to have a war…”.
US government needs to spend a 4 year term focused inwards. We must address US infrastructure as eagerly and aggressively as we land troops on the sandy reaches of the earth. The US needs an upgrade in electrical power distribution, bridges, its rail “system”, and its ports.
Collectively, we must find ways to keep factories and businesses in the USA. We need to reconsider the structure of the Code of Federal Regulations. Our regulatory structure is now so complex and extensive that we face the real risk of killing innovation. Our tax code is too complex and too burdensome on citizens and businesses. The government is funding far too many activities.
In short, the USA must get back to basics. The country is in a existential crisis and we need to get grounded again. We need fewer rules in our lives, not more. We need fewer people telling us how to live an authentic life. More of us need to spend a bit more time in the pursuit of happiness.
Limbaugh Promoting Civil Dishonesty
If most of us had a dog that behaved in the unwholesome manner that radio entertainer Rush Limbaugh does, we would have it euthanized at the humane society. Limbaugh of course is the GOP’s grotesque and doctrinaire cartoon character and resident mad dog. Limbaugh has been promoting the idea that conservative voters slyly vote for Hillary Clinton in the primaries so as to aid her delivery to the electorate for the general election as the Democratic candidate. As the thinking goes, this will polarize voters and drive panicked undecided or inactive voters to the polls like nails to a magnet to vote for whomever the opposing party offers.
Voting is one of the most important acts we commit as citizens. To soil it with cunning and subterfuge in this manner is to disfigure ones standing as a citizen. It is simply wrong and Limbaugh should be widely condemned for his part in it. I’m thinking tar and feathers. Or, tar and packing peanuts.
On Industrial Lab Procedures
I often find myself performing synthetic preps written by others. Some literature preps are useful and efficient. More than a few are not. Many preps thoughtfully convey important issues for the operator to make note of. But very often, writers of synthetic preparations assume that users in the future will be as knowledgeable of the handling issues as they are when the paper goes to press.
The writing style used in American chemical journals is usually a past tense, passive voice style where an exuberant first person voice is frowned upon. Writers of papers in the peer reviewed literature write in a tight, condensed form that favors efficient use of space.
In industry, lab preparations are very often extracted from the literature and applied to the preparation of research or commercial products. The common style used in published procedures is such that some level of skill is assumed by the writer for the reader. This is fair. If one is combing the literature for preps, it is usually the case that the browser has a significant level of lab skills.
But in industry, or at least in the brackish waters I splash around in, a tight literature-style preparation may not be sufficient. In order to satisfy the needs of the company as a whole, health and safety data may have to be front and center on the writeup. Proper personal protective equipment requirements must be posted, and HMIS, MSDS, and labeling data is included.
To satisfy the cost accountants, a time and materials list might have to be tabulated in a way that makes sense to accountants. The regulatory folks need to know about air permits and TSCA status. To satisfy the Quality Assurance/Quality Control folks, lot traceability for raw materials, intermediates, and products must be defined and immortalized with a firm paper trail. This is done in the form of part numbers, certification data, inventory locations, lot numbers, and order numbers.
A prep document itself can be a permanent record of what was done. It can be used to document the management of change. A prep document itself can be used to provide documentation in place of a lab notebook.
But most importantly, a prep document will be used by other chemists. Possibly those of a lower skill level. So it is crucial that key information is immortalized. Ambiguity must be wrung out like rinse water from a towel. Key art must be set forth, but non-critical actions must be written in such a way as to allow discretion by the operator. Overly rigid instructions restraining trivial aspects are merely burdensome and unduly constrain the operator.
Writing a procedure is a kind of brain dump. It is a disclosure of all of the art necessary and sufficient to perform an operation. For a company, a procedure is company treasure and should be jealously maintained as such.
The business of bringing a new product to market is a lot like putting in a new town along the frontier rail line. You have to build the tracks to get there. You have to haul all of your materials and skeptical people to this promised land. Once there you have to decide what goes where and who will do what. Always you must have buy-in from the settlers. Much time, energy, and acrimony goes into the progress toward the finished good. At any given moment funding can be pulled, sending everyone home and leaving you with a ghost town. A mere memory of what was and what could have been.
A well written lab prep contributes to this settlement in the new land of opportunity by providing structure and a foundation from which to build.
On Company Lawyers
In the chemical technology world, it often happens that one company will engage another in the manufacture of some particular substance. Company A needs a particular material made according to certain specifications. Company A goes to Company B to ask for price and availability. But first, Company A must disclose the identity and certain particulars of the material to Company B.
For Company A to disclose the identity of its material, it must work out a secrecy agreement with Company B. Company A’s business depends on the material and it does not want Company B to disclose the details of the material, the process, or any other aspect of the business. So, they execute a secrecy agreement.
What is interesting about such arrangements is the great diversity of “language” in the terms among companies. Some companies are very concerned about the faintest smidgeon of errant information and write detailed terms accordingly. Others are much more concerned about the broad strokes and are apparently willing to let the courts work out the details in a conflict.
Some companies are willing to yield on unreasonable terms and conditions while others will fight to the death on even the slightest change. There is a strong correlation to the corporate culture and the extent to which a company is under a market pull influence (tolling operators) or is engaged in technology push (inventors).
In some companies, issues relating to intellectual property (IP) are strongly influenced by the lawyers. In such an organization, it sometimes happens that management is completely immobilized by indecision in IP matters. Managers may not understand the IP, are unable to engage their own lawyers in detailed discussion about the issue, or may simply be terrified of making a mistake. Doing business with organizations that are highly rigid in deference to their lawyers tends to be a more difficult activity. The thinking is that if the lawyer makes the decision, then they can take the heat if it goes south. Of course, the lawyer won’t take the heat- they’ll just bill you to get you out of the mess.
In other companies, upper management will take legal advice, but will not leave the decisions to the lawyers. These managers understand that IP is company treasure that must be put to good use in order to bring in revenues. Lawyers get paid irrespective of the outcome in the advice dispensing trade. A good manager knowns how to ride a lawyer like a cutting horse, digging in the spurs now and then to show who’s boss.
Scalia Speaks
There was an interesting interview of SCOTUS Associate Justice Antonin Scalia on MSNBC by Tim Russert. The normally reclusive Scalia is on a media circus tour touting his new book Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading a Judge. Like Lao Tzu or Machiavelli, Scalia is revealing his innermost thoughts on how to behave. The comments submitted on the Law Blog are interesting. Snarky, perhaps, but revealing.
Scalia said an interesting thing in the interview. He opined that too many of America’s best and brightest are drawn to the legal profession. He conceded that the field of law is fundamentally unproductive and that to have so many bright people drawn to it was a waste of talent that could be applied more industriously.
Regarding the Bush v. Gore matter, we’re advised to “get over it”.
Lamentations on Chemistry 