MIT researches have created a synthetic crystal that can control the transmission of heat. It was built by using silicon dioxide, which is a hard glassy material, and polymer material, which is a molecule made up of smaller units bonded to form a chain. The two component materials reflected phonon — created low-level heat. Phonons are the quantum of acoustic or vibrational energy (sound), considered a discrete particle rather than a wave, (wikipedia) which the phonons became a wave of density variation which passed through a material. This could bring to insulating materials that could block the escape of heat.
If you alternate layers, spacing between similar layers matches the wavelength of the phonons, those phonons are blocked and reflected back. The photons that are reflected are in low-heat. At this moment, it only works at sub-freezing temperatures because heat is anything above zero. All they need to do is decrease the thickness in the layer and it will bring them closer to succession. Phonons used to only be able to deal with sound-wave frequencies, but people have discovered that it is possible to create materials with small structures to handle the high-frequency, short-wavelength phonons that deal with heat.
To learn more, click here.
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.