bumpy silence

[AntonioLao]

What do turbulence, shockwave; sonic boom, shallow brook, and waterfall have in common? Loudness and noisiness, all these demonstrate some sorts of chaotic fluid flow. 1. In mechanical engineering, a smooth ride in a car or airplane meant two things: internally, the fuel burns properly, externally, there can be no uneven patches on the road or denser air pockets in the sky. 2. In electrical engineering, high efficiency power distributions would mean less electrical resistance in the transmission lines. 3. In chemical engineering, a perfect process would mean mass and heat transfers work at constant entropy. 4. In civil engineering, the strength of materials would mean not exceeding the tensile limit.

Some solutions for the 1st are high octane gasoline and flexible pavements. For the 2nd are step-up or –down transformers and alternating current. For the 3rd are endothermic isolations and exothermic cooling. For the 4th are lightweight constructions and suspension cables.

In spite of all these ingenious innovative engineering feats for achieving ideal silencers, nature still prefers bumpy silence. A discovery made recently by a group of engineer physicists under the leadership of Jens Fransson at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden http://www.kth.se/aktuellt/nyheter/2006/02/200602240815.html. They demonstrated that tiny bumps on controlled surfaces allow air and liquid to flow smoothly delaying the onset of turbulence. These facts are contrary to accepted thinking but which could further advance aerodynamic science for faster cars, airplanes, and sonar invisibility for all future submarines. One of its impacts on quantum vacuum technology would be optical or electromagnetic invisibility already achieved by dark matter and dark energy.

[mkirkpatrick]

I have experienced many bumpy silences,CAT clear air turbelance can be very scary,in
particular when the plane drops suddenly.


regards michael.