Topic Review
Foams and Emulsions
Foams and emulsions are collections of different kinds of bubbles or drops with particular properties. They provide exceptional sensitive bases for measuring low concentrations of molecules down to the level of traces using spectroscopy techniques, thus opening new horizons in microfluidics. The optical and spectral properties of foams and emulsions provide information about their micro-/nanostructures, chemical and time stability, and molecular data of their components. 
  • 3.7K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Deriving the Schwarzschild Solution
The Schwarzschild solution describes spacetime under the influence of a massive, non-rotating, spherically symmetric object. It is considered by some to be one of the simplest and most useful solutions to the Einstein field equations.
  • 3.7K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Deformation (Engineering)
In engineering, deformation refers to the change in size or shape of an object. Displacements are the absolute change in position of a point on the object. Deflection is the relative change in external displacements on an object. Strain is the relative internal change in shape of an infinitesimally small cube of material and can be expressed as a non-dimensional change in length or angle of distortion of the cube. Strains are related to the forces acting on the cube, which are known as stress, by a stress-strain curve. The relationship between stress and strain is generally linear and reversible up until the yield point and the deformation is elastic. The linear relationship for a material is known as Young's modulus. Above the yield point, some degree of permanent distortion remains after unloading and is termed plastic deformation. The determination of the stress and strain throughout a solid object is given by the field of strength of materials and for a structure by structural analysis. Engineering stress and engineering strain are approximations to the internal state that may be determined from the external forces and deformations of an object, provided that there is no significant change in size. When there is a significant change in size, the true stress and true strain can be derived from the instantaneous size of the object. In the figure it can be seen that the compressive loading (indicated by the arrow) has caused deformation in the cylinder so that the original shape (dashed lines) has changed (deformed) into one with bulging sides. The sides bulge because the material, although strong enough to not crack or otherwise fail, is not strong enough to support the load without change. As a result, the material is forced out laterally. Internal forces (in this case at right angles to the deformation) resist the applied load. The concept of a rigid body can be applied if the deformation is negligible.
  • 3.4K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Deformation
In physics, deformation is the continuum mechanics transformation of a body from a reference configuration to a current configuration. A configuration is a set containing the positions of all particles of the body. A deformation can occur because of external loads, intrinsic activity (e.g. muscle contraction), body forces (such as gravity or electromagnetic forces), or changes in temperature, moisture content, or chemical reactions, etc. Strain is related to deformation in terms of relative displacement of particles in the body that excludes rigid-body motions. Different equivalent choices may be made for the expression of a strain field depending on whether it is defined with respect to the initial or the final configuration of the body and on whether the metric tensor or its dual is considered. In a continuous body, a deformation field results from a stress field due to applied forces or because of some changes in the temperature field of the body. The relation between stress and strain is expressed by constitutive equations, e.g., Hooke's law for linear elastic materials. Deformations which cease to exist after the stress field is removed are termed as elastic deformation. In this case, the continuum completely recovers its original configuration. On the other hand, irreversible deformations remain. They exist even after stresses have been removed. One type of irreversible deformation is plastic deformation, which occurs in material bodies after stresses have attained a certain threshold value known as the elastic limit or yield stress, and are the result of slip, or dislocation mechanisms at the atomic level. Another type of irreversible deformation is viscous deformation, which is the irreversible part of viscoelastic deformation. In the case of elastic deformations, the response function linking strain to the deforming stress is the compliance tensor of the material.
  • 3.2K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Yield (Engineering)
In materials science and engineering, the yield point is the point on a stress-strain curve that indicates the limit of elastic behavior and the beginning of plastic behavior. Below the yield point, a material will deform elastically and will return to its original shape when the applied stress is removed. Once the yield point is passed, some fraction of the deformation will be permanent and non-reversible and is known as plastic deformation. The yield strength or yield stress is a material property and is the stress corresponding to the yield point at which the material begins to deform plastically. The yield strength is often used to determine the maximum allowable load in a mechanical component, since it represents the upper limit to forces that can be applied without producing permanent deformation. In some materials, such as aluminium, there is a gradual onset of non-linear behavior, making the precise yield point difficult to determine. In such a case, the offset yield point (or proof stress) is taken as the stress at which 0.2% plastic deformation occurs. Yielding is a gradual failure mode which is normally not catastrophic, unlike ultimate failure. In solid mechanics, the yield point can be specified in terms of the three-dimensional principal stresses ([math]\displaystyle{ \sigma_1, \sigma_2 , \sigma_3 }[/math]) with a yield surface or a yield criterion. A variety of yield criteria have been developed for different materials.
  • 2.5K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Space Travel Using Constant Acceleration
Constant acceleration is a proposed aspect of most future forms of space travel. It entails that the propulsion system of whatever kind operate continuously with a steady acceleration, rather than the brief impulsive thrusts used by chemical rockets — for the first half of the journey it constantly pushes the spacecraft towards its destination, and for the last half of the journey it constantly uses backthrust, so that the spaceship arrives at the destination at a standstill.
  • 2.4K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Plasma
Plasma (from grc πλάσμα (plásma) 'moldable substance') is one of the four fundamental states of matter. It contains a significant portion of charged particles – ions and/or electrons. The presence of these charged particles is what primarily sets plasma apart from the other fundamental states of matter. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, being mostly associated with stars, including the Sun. It extends to the rarefied intracluster medium and possibly to intergalactic regions. Plasma can be artificially generated by heating a neutral gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field. The presence of charged particles makes plasma electrically conductive, with the dynamics of individual particles and macroscopic plasma motion governed by collective electromagnetic fields and very sensitive to externally applied fields. The response of plasma to electromagnetic fields is used in many modern technological devices, such as plasma televisions or plasma etching. Depending on temperature and density, a certain amount of neutral particles may also be present, in which case plasma is called partially ionized. Neon signs and lightning are examples of partially ionized plasmas. Unlike the phase transitions between the other three states of matter, the transition to plasma is not well defined and is a matter of interpretation and context. Whether a given degree of ionization suffices to call a substance 'plasma' depends on the specific phenomenon being considered.
  • 2.3K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Quantum Reinforcement Learning
Quantum machine learning has emerged as a promising paradigm that could accelerate machine learning calculations. Inside this field, quantum reinforcement learning aims at designing and building quantum agents that may exchange information with their environment and adapt to it, with the aim of achieving some goal. Different quantum platforms have been considered for quantum machine learning and specifically for quantum reinforcement learning. Here, we review the field of quantum reinforcement learning and its implementation with quantum platforms. This quantum technology may enhance quantum computation and communication, as well as machine learning, via the fruitful marriage between these previously unrelated fields. 
  • 2.3K
  • 03 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Green Star
In astronomy, a green star is a white or blueish star that appears greenish in some viewing conditions (see § Psychology below). Under typical viewing conditions, there are no greenish stars, because the color of a star is more or less given by a black-body spectrum. However, there are a few stars that appear greenish to some observers, due to the viewing conditions, for example the optical 'illusion' that a red object can make nearby objects look greenish (and vice versa). Some multiple star systems, such as Antares, have a bright reddish star where this contrast makes other stars in the system seem greenish.
  • 2.0K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Action
In physics, action is a numerical value describing how a physical system has changed over time. Action is significant because the equations of motion of the system can be derived through the principle of stationary action. In the simple case of a single particle moving with a specified velocity, the action is the momentum of the particle times the distance it moves, added up along its path, or equivalently, twice its kinetic energy times the length of time for which it has that amount of energy, added up over the period of time under consideration. For more complicated systems, all such quantities are added together. More formally, action is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory, also called path or history, of the system as its argument and has a real number as its result. Generally, the action takes different values for different paths. Action has dimensions of energy × time or momentum × length, and its SI unit is joule-second (like the Planck constant h).
  • 2.0K
  • 25 Nov 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 9