• Australians invent tiny tractor beam
    35 replies, posted
Source: [URL]http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/09/tiny-tractor-beams-gain-a-thir.html[/url] [QUOTE]In the week that marked the 44th anniversary of Star Trek's first TV broadcast, the web has been buzzing with news of a real-world tractor beam. The device, designed by physicists at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, can shift nanoparticles from one end of a lab bench to the other - 150 centimetres away - using nothing more than a couple of laser beams. If that sounds far-fetched, a quick hunt through the New Scientist story archive shows that similar technology has been with us for some time - although confined to two dimensions. Optical tweezers rely on variation in the intensity of light within a laser beam to pull small objects into their centre. The tweezers are surprisingly strong: in 2008, one "tractor beam" was used to test the intrinsic strength of protein molecules by pulling at each end until the structure ripped in two. But these tractor beams can simply pull tiny objects around in a two-dimensional plane. The ANU device works in three dimensions. A hollow laser beam traps objects in its core because the surrounding tube of bright light heats the air, creating an impenetrable high temperature barrier. Some of the light from the beam trickles into the dark core, however, where it can heat the exposed side of the nanoparticle and push it along the beam away from the laser. If two such lasers are mounted on opposite sides of the object, both working together to trap the object in the hollow core of a laser beam, it's possible to move the trapped object in either direction along the beam by varying the intensity - and heating potential - of one or other lasers. The ANU team's approach uses heated air to shunt objects around, and so couldn't function in space. But John Sinko of Nagoya University, Japan, has a design for space-ready laser tractor beams. He suggests fitting satellites with special materials that ablate when exposed to intense laser light, releasing a jet of material that pushes the satellite in the opposite direction. The technology could clear space junk from Earth's orbit.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/game-hunters/2010/06/29/portal2x-large.jpg[/IMG] anyone?
cool
finally something aussies can be proud of
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_tweezers[/url] I knew optical tweezers before, but I had no idea they were made several decades ago. It's just the thing that news try to sell something old as new all the time. Why not just say the Aussies set up a new record? 150 cm are simply incredible, cheers.
inb4itsatrap
[QUOTE=bazyboy;24740424]finally something aussies can be proud of[/QUOTE] hey fuck you
Neat, now only twenty more years until we have tractor beams that can move several pounds of weight in a three dimensional orientation.
Rape
[B][I]We must not take such news lightly[/I][/B]
[img]http://static.reelmovienews.com/images/gallery/dr-evil-photo.jpg[/img] Tractor beam.
[QUOTE=bazyboy;24740424]finally something aussies can be proud of[/QUOTE] what are you talking about, we single handedly made up an animal and got most of a country to believe they exist [sp]DROP BEARS![/sp]
[url]http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Australium[/url]
[QUOTE=bazyboy;24740424]finally something aussies can be proud of[/QUOTE] Hey hey don't be so mean, they have plans for an awesome firewall and already have wonderful censor laws. That's plenty to be proud of.
[QUOTE=bazyboy;24740424]finally something aussies can be proud of[/QUOTE] Australians invented WiFi too you know.
tractor beams are banned in Australia
Australians? [b]Inventing?[/b] [b][i]IMPOSSIBLE[/i][/b]
[QUOTE=Tacosheller;24741384]Australians? [b]Inventing?[/b] [b][i]IMMPOSSIBLE[/i][/b][/QUOTE] Even more impossible is your spelling
Uh oh guys! Looks like Obi-Wan's shutting this tractor beam down! [IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BuENOh6AKqA/SHLaqYVMwNI/AAAAAAAACJc/PAP3OteZYA0/s400/200px-ObiWan-tractorbeam.jpg[/IMG]
This is amazing.
George Lucas will probably stop the development because they are too much like the tractor beams from Star Wars.
Someone will get hurt with it, and it will be banned in it's own homeland :saddowns:
[QUOTE=Revan564;24742637]George Lucas will probably stop the development because they are too much like the tractor beams from Star Wars.[/QUOTE] nah they are kinda in every sci fi film/book ever
[QUOTE=Suttles;24742582]They invent it? Now what? Are they going to ban it?[/QUOTE] So sorry, my good anonymous friend, but I'm afraid I feel impelled to inform you that you're not funny.
Australia bans lasers
[IMG]http://www.freethunk.net/nickkim/tractorbeam.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Soul-Chicken;24742925]Australia bans lasers[/QUOTE] no
[QUOTE=Suttles;24742582]They invent it? Now what? Are they going to ban it?[/QUOTE] Lamest joke of 2010. I'm not editing the quote.
:bravo:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs[/media] Also I :love: science
How the hell is a conventional laser vaporising metal to push something away a tractor beam? Jeez, I hate it when people make something sound cooler than it is. [editline]11:02PM[/editline] [QUOTE=hamberglar;24741170][url]http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Australium[/url][/QUOTE] My first thought when I saw the title.
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