March 1999
Story ideas from ORNL. To arrange for an interview with any of these researchers, please call RonWalli of Communications and Public Affairs at (423) 576-0226.
CHEMISTRY -- Abracadabra . . .
Oil and water don't mix. Or do they? A group of chemists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory believe they've unlocked the key to blending particles that normally don't mix. The key to their discovery lies in a droplet technique that allows researchers to work with ultra-fine polymer molecules of the materials. In addition to the academic significance of this discovery, the finding clears the way for the development of new materials in the form of bulk composites and blends that can be used for coatings, opto-electronic components, magnetic media, ceramics and special materials, micro- or nano-manufacturing and bioengineering. The researchers see first applications in sophisticated drug delivery systems. [Contact: Don Noid or Mike Barnes]
PHYSICS -- Revolutionary discovery . . .
A finding by an astrophysicist at ORNL is casting doubt on the long-held chemical equilibrium theory and clearing the way for a new field -- kinetic chemistry. Weihong Liu and professors at Clemson and Harvard discovered that radioactivity destroys the strong chemical bond that holds carbon and oxygen together. This bond was thought to be virtually unbreakable. Scientists also believed it was impossible to convert cosmic carbon from a gas into a solid if there was more oxygen than carbon present. Conventional theory held that the carbon would be taken up by the oxygen and be transformed into carbon monoxide. Liu's work, published in Science Feb. 26, has far-reaching implications for physics, chemistry, astronomy, meteoritics and planetary sciences. [Contact: Weihong Liu]
TRANSPORTATION -- Keep on truckin' . . .
Thousands of accidents involving truck rollovers could be avoided with an onboard warning system being developed by a team headed by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Conservative estimates peg annual losses at about $3 billion in death and injuries, property damage, lost productivity and lost time because of traffic backups. Up to 4,000 of the 15,000 such accidents each year could be prevented with ALERT. It's a system consisting of roadside transmitters, sensors mounted on the trailer, and a cab-mounted computer and receiver able to warn the driver of an impending rollover. Prototype testing is set for this spring. [Contact: Scott Stevens]
PHYSICS -- The sharpest view of a silicon valley . . .
How wide is the silicon valley -- the distance between rows of silicon atoms that has never been "seen" or measured before? It's less than an angstrom, or one-millionth the width of a human hair. This answer was found recently in the world's sharpest electron microscope image of a crystal, which was recorded at ORNL using the Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microcope. The image of a silicon crystal has double the resolution of typical transmission electron microcope images. The image was obtained by Steve Pennycook, a physicist in ORNL's Solid State Division, and Peter Nellist, a former ORNL postdoctoral scientist now at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. In their image, columns of silicon atoms only 0.78 angstrom apart can be seen. By contrast, typical transmission electron microscopes under the same conditions can image individual atoms no closer than 1.6 angstrom apart. [Contact: Steve Pennycook]
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