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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 13 2018, @01:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-try-this-at-home-kids dept.

For those who want to play around with the other form of non-dark matter:

"Plasmas have never been easy to create or exploit. But now you can make them in your own kitchen. ...

Kausik Das of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and several colleagues who have found a way to create plasmas in an ordinary kitchen microwave. Their technique opens the way for a new generation to experiment with this exotic form of matter and perhaps to develop new applications.

They also demonstrate several interesting applications for home-brewed plasmas.

News:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611740/how-to-turn-a-kitchen-microwave-into-a-plasma-etching-device/

Details:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.06784


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by corey on Monday August 13 2018, @02:21AM (10 children)

    by corey (2202) on Monday August 13 2018, @02:21AM (#720792)

    Microwave: check.
    Flask with partial vacuum: Uh, umm. Hrmm.

    These headlines are great but a let down at times.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by arslan on Monday August 13 2018, @03:48AM (4 children)

      by arslan (3462) on Monday August 13 2018, @03:48AM (#720822)

      Can't you just get something like a Büchner flask [wikipedia.org] and either DIY or buy a vacuum pump to simulate what is needed?

      Didn't read the full arxiv paper just the journalist article.. so maybe there's more complexity there.

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @04:18AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @04:18AM (#720837)

        Fill flask with Mercury. Melt glass pipe to flask. Invert contraption and melt glass tube closed when Hg drains into a bowl (don't let bubbles in). Should be about 0.17Pa.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @05:26AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @05:26AM (#720847)

          Fill flask with Mercury..

          First, get your mercury in the quantity required to do so...that's not as easy as it once was.
          36 years ago as a student I used to build mercury diff pumps (silicone oil? yes, they'd heard tell of such stuff)..we used to have gallons of mercury stored in an unlocked cupboard off a public corridor
          19 years ago I had ready access to 6-7 pints of the stuff.
          Nowadays? I don't even have a mercury thermometer in the house.

          A decent second-hand vacuum pump isn't that hard to come by, and there's always the homebrew option using the compressor from a fridge/freezer.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 13 2018, @05:35AM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 13 2018, @05:35AM (#720849) Journal

            First, get your mercury in the quantity required to do so...that's not as easy as it once was.

            Give the specific weight and depending on the flask volume, handling it in the quantity required may not be easy either (250 mL of Hg will have about 4kg. Take a 3l flask and it may crack before you get to fill it up).

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @03:05PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @03:05PM (#721000)

            First, get your mercury in the quantity required to do so...that's not as easy as it once was.

            It's easier than it ever was. You can order elemental mercury online and have it delivered to your door.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Monday August 13 2018, @03:48AM (2 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 13 2018, @03:48AM (#720823) Journal

      Flask with partial vacuum: Uh, umm. Hrmm.

      On the online retails of your choice, search "vacuum HVAC pump".
      E.g. on ebay, I got this [ebay.com] - in the full description, the vacuum is rated at 5Pa (which is 0.0375 torr). Some prices are too good to be true (the linked one is advertised at $47), but you should be able to find a good one under $200.
      Old fridge compressors/vacuum pumps may be also adapted. [google.com]

      Now, if you care to RTFA on arxiv, page 5 has some plots on the range of pressure they managed to initiate the plasma** - go from about 100Torr to over 1000Torr.

      ** interestingly, the total volume of the flask change the range of vacuum required for plasma initiation - the closeness of the flask walls plays a role, I reckon.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @07:27AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @07:27AM (#720858)

        1 atmosphere is 760 Torr, so I guess "partial vacuum" includes up to +5
          psig?

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 13 2018, @09:25AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 13 2018, @09:25AM (#720878) Journal

          Ah, shit! My bad!!!
          The 100-1000 range (on which plasma happens in a matter of seconds) is, of course (stupid me), milliTor.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @12:36PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @12:36PM (#720931)

      Looks like a simple aspirator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirator_(pump) [wikipedia.org] won't quite do it?

      If a liquid is used as the working fluid, the strength of the vacuum produced is limited by the vapor pressure of the liquid (for water, 3.2 kPa or 0.46 psi or 32 mbar at 25 °C or 77 °F).

      Too bad, since kitchen sinks are usually located near the microwave...

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Monday August 13 2018, @03:16PM

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday August 13 2018, @03:16PM (#721004) Homepage
      You can make a pretty solid (95+%) vaccuum by boiling a small bit of water out of whatever vessel you chose (as it will push all the air out as well). If only you had access to a microwave to boil the wat.. oh, wait.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by hubie on Monday August 13 2018, @02:27PM (2 children)

    by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 13 2018, @02:27PM (#720988) Journal

    All you need is a grape [sfsu.edu]. Slice a grape almost all the way in half so that when you open it up, it is still connected like the two sides of an open book. Put that in the microwave and enjoy the light show. I've done this and it is a wonderful demo.

    I know of some people who have made a microwave thruster [spacegrant.org] that generates a plasma. They used to cannibalize store-bought microwave ovens to make prototypes.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @02:56PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @02:56PM (#720997)

      Yeah, TFA describes plasma as "hard to make" but that is clearly false: shuffle your feet on a carpet and point your finger at the doorknob. Voilà: plasma!

      In fact the article even says this, albeit indirectly: "One way to make plasmas is to break apart molecules using powerful electric fields." (spoiler alert: one way to make a strong electric field is to shuffle your feet on a carpet and then point at a doorknob).

      Regardless, the procedure specified in the article sounds pretty cool. It sounds like the material will hang around for a while in the container and glow different colours as the various gases in air ionize. Neato.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 13 2018, @09:32PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday August 13 2018, @09:32PM (#721129) Homepage
        Too high effort. Stick tape to a mirror, rip off - plasma!
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @05:20PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @05:20PM (#721054)

    Hello,

    We noticed you're browsing in private or incognito mode.

    To continue reading this article, please exit incognito mode or log in.

    Does anyone have a different link?

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 13 2018, @09:33PM

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday August 13 2018, @09:33PM (#721130) Homepage
      I got that too, but eventually it rendered its proper content. All JS off, all cookies off.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
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