At our last Tech Talks Ian Maver acquainted us with developments in Vertical Take off and Landing airplanes by the Lilium Company. There has been a lot of development recently and hopefully it will not be long until we can easily transport ourselves short and medium distances through the air. Small vehicles that carry 4-8 people are close to production. These have a new system of propelling themselves. Essentially power comes from using a number of electric jet fans - maybe 32 - to provide the power to take off vertically and then move the vehicle through the air with more efficiency that is provided with either internal combustion or conventional jet engines. Lilium has developed a novel electric ducted jet engine that integrates smartly with the wings of the aircraft. The success of this powerful technology not only will allow Lilium to achieve all the performance objectives of the flight profile, but also could help the aviation industry in the transition to affordable emission-free intercity air travel. All jet fans can be manipulated separately, and this allows maximum efficiency.
 
With the increase in Global Warming, we are all interested when a new battery concept is released. The biggest battery company in the world has released details of a new battery concept that has increased efficiency to the extent it will make electric driven jet engines possible. 500 Watts per Kilo is the magic number. These new batteries should give electric cars a range of 1000k. These are condenser batteries and not solid state.They have a high energy cathode and a new anode and they are apparently a real game changer.

ChatGPT has been developing Artificial Intelligence for some time. Great claims have been made for the future of AI. New chatbots are now becoming available to the public. These chatbots are capable of many things and time will tell if their development will lead to a greater use of digital science. ChatGPT could become the most used tool on the internet. We watched several videos showing their uses but we also watched a video of one of the developers advising that there are dangers involved in allowing artificial intelligence to develop without regulation and he is uneasy about his involvement.

At Tech Talks I like to range over a number of subjects. We finished by looking at a film of Melbourne In the 1920’s. It was more or less the same as it is now but with a few differences. The streets have not changed and the buildings are still recognisable. There were a limited number of cars.  Hardly any.  There were still some horses and carts. Out of the CBD there were no traffic lights. The streets looked empty. Trams ran well out of the city.

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Neville Gibb

At our April Tech Talks session, we welcomed a new attendee. We began by discussing the recent Formula 1 Race. Our discussion centred around the surprisingly small size of each engine. It is hard to believe that so much power can be extracted from engines smaller than the average domestic car.

NASA has announced that it is planning to send probes to the outer edges of the Solar System and beyond and new methods of powering the long-term probes will be required. It will not be possible to power these craft with solar panels. They will have to be powered by nuclear power packs of Plutonium. As we know Plutonium is an unstable dangerous element and needs to be treated with respect. The Plutonium that will make up the power packs comes to the manufacturing process as a liquid and has to be refined. This is a very complicated affair. We were acquainted with the manufacturing process which takes place behind thick glass and inside liquid oil. All done by using mechanical hands.

We then turned our attention to gold. As we know gold is not manufactured inside our solar system. Our Sun only produces lighter elements and heavy metals can only be manufactured when vulcanisation occurs in Supernovae explosions when a star collapses or when neutron stars collide. Extreme heat is required. Gold has had to come to the earth in asteroids. Gold nuggets are found on the surface of the earth in specific areas and is not scattered randomly. Nor is it found in the earth’s core.  It could not have been present when the earth formed and its molten core was established. If gold was present, being heavier than most other elements it would have sunk to the bottom.

We then watched a video showing the gold vault of the Bank of England. This is quite a large room full of gold ingots. Both the UK and other countries gold reserves are held in this room. An interesting piece of information is to calculate just what a human being would be worth if they were valued at their weight in gold. One kilogram of gold is worth $95346.00.

We also saw a report on the planned expansion of high-rise buildings in Melbourne’s CBD. If anyone has been surprised at the number of recent new high-rise buildings in Melbourne, then please note many more have been approved.
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Neville Gibb

Africa is not a place that immediately comes to mind when we think of new inventions. Likewise, it is not known for its innovative entrepreneurs.  At least not examples that we know of.   We all agree that the electric car is a thing of the future.  We looked at a report about a young inventor from Zimbabwe who has invented an electric car that converts radio frequencies into energy.  His claim is that he has developed the first car that can drive without needing recharging systems.  Energy is being generated without using moving parts. He did not go into any further detail except to say he has not been able to patent the procedure. So, we can be a little sceptical.  But with all new concepts something great may come out of the idea.

We also looked at a report about the development of toroidal propellers. These are an advancement on the old screw propeller and can both decrease the noise of a screw propeller and increase its efficiency by a significant factor. They are mostly being used in noiseless drones. The cost of converting ships to toroidal propellers has so far held up their use but it will happen. 

In the first half of the session, we watched a BBC documentary on the history of Electricity entitled Shock and Awe.  This covered the full history from the first example of watching the transfer of positive and negative charges that produce a spark to the realisation that electricity has some connection with the movement of electrons.  The documentary showed examples of all the significant developments and we actually witnessed how electricity was first produced inside a vacuum jar. The amazing thing was that you could actually see electricity. This as you can imagine was spectacular.
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At our next session we will continue to follow in part the exploration of electricity.


​Neville Gibb

The next Tech Talks will occur in February, with a mixture of the practical and theoretical.

For instance it is interesting to note that science is still debating just how electricity works. We will continue to investigate such subjects.

Attendees will be encouraged to bring any subject that interests them to the table and it is hoped much discussion will ensue.

I hope that we can encourage more people with an interest in technical matters to attend in 2023.

Neville Gibb

At our most recent Tech talks we ranged over a number of subjects.   The CSIRO have released some statistics that question some of the more extreme global warming figures.  The figures that the CSIRO have released give some cause for optimism.

We also discussed the intriguing proposition where noise can extinguish flame.   This exists - fire can be extinguished by pointing noise at it.   Unfortunately, this application cannot be directed at fire over a wide area, however we all know things change in the future.   We can hope it might have some impact in Australia.

We then watched an extremely interesting video on the Noble metals - Rhodium Iridium Platinum and Gold.   These are all extremely rare metals.  Our lecturer had several bars as examples and explained that in his hands were several million dollars worth.   These metals are used as catalysts in all sorts of applications.   It was extremely interesting seeing these metals and having their uses explained.

There are Noble Metals and Noble Gases. This simply means that they do not react easily with oxygen.

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Neville Gibb

We did not have a good turnup in October but still we ploughed on, examining several interesting subjects.

We listened to Elon Musk explain his ideas on how he wants his employees to act. Elon Musk is reputed to  be the wealthiest man in the world and he has built a large manufacturing base within his short life. He gives a number of instructions to his employees that are somewhat different to what instructions are normally given to employees. Time will tell if any long-term conclusions can be drawn.

We watched a video that showed the development of the Silicon Chip. The Silicon Chip has a fascinating history and is now widely used in most electronic machines. The chip is always in development and is always looking for new code. It is capable of much work that has not yet been thought of. 

We finished by watching a video about the development of the Boeing 787 and the Concorde.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a new plane that has some special features. The majority of its structure is built of composite materials. It is slightly smaller than normal jumbo jets, but it fits into a special niche which will allow it to travel long distances at less expensive rates. Another small but significant difference is that its makeup allows it to have larger windows which every passenger will be pleased with.

The Concorde was a noble concept in engineering unfortunately now confined to museums. It was developed by both the British and French governments and after some years of successful flying, unfortunately a piece of metal on the runway was picked up by a tyre and a fuel tank was ruptured. This led to a terrible crash with the loss of many lives. It was decided to withdraw the plane from service.

The Concorde was loved by passengers. The supersonic technology that made it possible was much loved by the engineering community. Unfortunately, it was a plane that only the wealthy could use, however many problems were overcome in its development and ultimately it was a triumph.   If the crash had not happened, would it still be in service?  


​Neville Gibb

At this month’s Tech Talks we watched and commented on what was virtually an ad from Westinghouse as to how you can now buy a nuclear pack that will power 10000 to 12000 homes and last for 10 years. It appears you simply purchase the pack and insert it into your grid, although it must be more complicated than this. Advertising can gild the lily.

We are purchasing nuclear submarines which must operate on the same principle, except it has been advised they will operate for 30 years without any refuelling.

We then were shown how to operate a machine to convert film into digital. One of the problems that has emerged with modern life is that our family records - slides - homemovies - even vinyl records - have been made redundant by new technology.

I am writing this report from memory battened down in our hotel room waiting for the Japanese Typhoon. I apologise for not giving a full report.

Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we listened to Brian Cox give his explanation of Quantum Mechanics.  I hope that I have his explanation correct.  He stated he was repeating Feynman’s explanation and it was as follows: -
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• Particles are particles and they hop from place to place with a particular probability.
• The probability that a particle will be at one place at one point of time and will be at a different place later is given by a simple rule and depends on mass, time, and distance and these can be calculated.
• An example is accepting an electron will be in one position at one point in time but will be in another position at another point in time and the probability is that it will be in every position in a given area during a specified time.
• In simple terms a particle will move from point A to point B and there is a probability attached.  Remember that Quantum Mechanics is the study of the infinity small.

We also watched a video which showed us new uses of science including how we can fight fire with sound.

We also discussed the use of robots and whether they will always take on human form.

Numbers being low and as one of our attendees had to leave early, we called it a day at 3pm.  If any other U3A members or their friends are interested in attending, we would welcome them.
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Neville Gibb

This month in Tech Talks we reverted to more mundane discussions about just how Technology relates to the world.  

We looked at the list of internet speeds amongst countries in the world and wondered why Australia was so far down the list. 

​We looked at the world’s worst carbon polluters both per capita and actual and again wondered why Australia was so far down the list.

Finally, we brokered the concept of whether it was possible to go cold turkey in the use of coal.

It is worth considering that in the past at various times we have also gone cold turkey on some things. 

We stopped killing whales cold turkey when it was obvious the species was in danger (admittedly with the exception of one country, but the world is working on them). 

We stopped cold turkey the use of certain refrigerants when the danger to the Ozone Layer was obvious.

Could the world do the same with coal?

Neville Gibb

​Neville was unavoidably absent in June, but we soldiered on & discussed Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.

We found there were fifty products under development or licensed in ten countries using six technologies

We discussed the technologies, including light water reactors (current generation three technology), Molten Salt Reactors, High Temperature Gas Reactors and Sodium Fast Reactors.

This later group are generation four reactors and more next decade technology, although they have been in development dating back to the 1950-60s.

Generation three reactors are inefficient in the use of uranium ore. They generally use fissile U235 which is only 1% of uranium ore while non fissile U238 is 99%.  Consequently, there is long term nuclear waste to be carefully stored

Generation four reactors are much more efficient, are able to burn nuclear waste from generation three reactors and in some cases transmute U238 to fuel within a reactor, eventually leaving a small amount of very short-term nuclear waste.

Les Rodgers

Due to one Lexar USB Stick looking like another Lexar USB Stick, this month’s Tech Talks almost came to a very early end. I have to apologise, but as usual I can always blame someone else.

Fortunately, Ian Maver came to the rescue and saved the day.    Ian enlightened us with an explanation of electricity.    It is interesting that we can still consider just what is electricity.

We can still reflect on how it is transmitted.  Does it for instance travel along copper wires at a certain speed.

We can speculate just what role electro magnetism has in the connection between the quantum world and the gravitational world.

All these points were raised by Ian in his stirring talk.

At our next Tech Talks we will concentrate on Australia’s Broadband Network amongst other things.

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Neville Gibb

At our meeting on Tuesday 12th April, we followed on from our last month’s meeting.

Ian Maver lectured on the James Webb Telescope and Les Rodgers lectured on Nuclear Fusion.

The James Webb Telescope is an incredibly complicated piece of machinery. It is now situated a long way from Earth and there is no present method of repairing it or recalling it to Earth. It has to work. It has a lot of very precise machines on it.  Les pointed out some of the engineering involved in its functioning. The mirrors at times must be moved and this has to be done with precise measurement.   Machinery is involved.

Les then followed with Nuclear Fusion Reactors, Part 2. 

Les spoke about the reconstruction of the Japanese JT-60U reactor as a result of the “Broader Approach” agreement between the EU and Japan. This agreement was reached after a two-year standoff while the argument proceeded as to whether ITER should be built in Japan or France. France won and the agreement was the payoff to Japan and has already been extended. Physical construction was completed in March 2020 and commissioning has been ongoing since then but was interrupted in March 2021 by the failure of insulation in the connections to the Equilibrium Coil EF1 at 25% full power. Commissioning was expected to recommence in February 2022 but has not done so yet.
This was a major setback and was said to be a failure of quality control of the design and specification of critical components. Finding and correcting these things are what such comprehensive commissioning tests are for. 

​Neville Gibb and Les Rodgers

(If you would like to read Les’s summaries of his powerpoint presentations for both Parts I and II, visit the posts below).

Les Rodgers
March 2022

At our last Tech Talks we were fortunate enough to listen to two separate lectures.

Les Rodgers brought us up to date on the development of Fusion Reactor Technology. Fusion Technology aimed at the production of electricity is rapidly moving towards the so called Holy Grail, where the output is equal to or greater than the electrical input. A surprising number of Fusion Machines already exist, none of them yet producing electricity. However new machines are being built with one prototype aiming to produce electricity by 2024 and a number expecting to in useable amounts  by the end of the decade.
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We also listened to a lecture by Ian Maver on the James Webb Deep Space Telescope. This telescope was only launched in late December but is now in a position to start operating.   Literally, it is parked well off shore so to speak -  way out in space and held rigidly in place by the gravitational forces of three bodies - the sun, the moon and earth.  Such is the nature of physics it will not require any external source of energy to hold it in place. It will sit facing away from the earth and will look deep into the infra-red spectrum in space.

​Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we discussed items of interest and watched a selection of videos:

1. A video from 2007 of Steve Jobs introducing the iphone to the world.  It is worth reflecting on the impact the iphone has had on the world. It is now possible for humans in Africa , in South America - indeed anywhere in the world - to be all doing exactly the same thing at the same time on their mobile phones. And communicating with each other. We can thank Steve Jobs for this. Shortly everyone will have a mobile phone and, as Apple has developed and expanded into one of the largest companies in the world, we have to admit it has changed the world.

2.  A Video explaining the true nature of electricity.  The truth is we are still learning about electricity. It doesn’t always work as we thought it did. It is still very complicated.

3.  A short video showing extremes of climate.  In Canada it can get so cold everything turns to ice. Even boiling water.

At our next meeting we will be brought up to date on Nuclear Fusion and the production of electricity. We will also learn what is occurring with the James Webb telescope.

Neville Gibb

At our meeting held Tuesday 9th Nov we were fortunate to have a Barrel Organ demonstrated to us by Brian Greed.

Brian has recently built this Barrel organ by hand. He informed us of problems with supply and other things which he overcame by his natural persistence. The Organ has an internal bellows which is manipulated by a crank handle and the notes are produced by air being forced into barrels which produce notes.

All in all, a very enjoyable show and tell.

In the second half we listened to Jeremy Clarkson give muted positive acclaim to a Telstra Electric Car. It could be said that he appeared to be speaking through gritted teeth. Clarkson has always spoken in derogatory terms about Electric cars but in this instance, he claimed to be impressed.

Unfortunately, the car's cost ($160,000) will probably limit the ownership to low numbers.

We then watched a video showing a large nuclear waste dump that exists quite near to Los Angeles. Nuclear waste is a problem that will not go away until some method of recycling spent fuel rods is developed. Surprisingly this miracle is claimed to be possible. Until this happens, we have the problem of where we store the waste. Australia is a large country with its own tectonic plates that do not normally allow earthquakes that could cause the waste to spill and consequently is often mentioned as a possible candidate as a world storage facility.

My contention is that the best solution would be to store the waste at the same site as the nuclear reactor and that the nuclear reactor should be located in the centre of our largest City. This would ensure we made it safe. 

My suggestion did not generate a lot of discussion.
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Neville Gibb

At our next Tech Talks Brian Greed will show off his recently manufactured Barrel Organ. This is a show and tell that deserves a wide audience. Brian has built a fully functional Barrel Organ in his workshop and if regulations permit he may be busking in the main street at Christmas.. He will explain the workings etc to all who attend our next meeting. We look forward to it.
At our last Tech Talks held Tuesday 12th October we covered a range of interests.

We started by watching a report on the expansion of the new Chinese high speed train system. In the past 20 years China has built a completely new high speed rail network that now criss-crosses the country. Some discussion was initiated on my part because I believe that Australia can learn from the example of others. 

We then watched a prediction on 7 new Technologies that will be widespread by 2030. This is only a short time into the future and we can only wait and see if any of the predictions come true. One prediction was that cars will become driverless and pooled. Another was that white collar jobs will be replaced by robots. Another was that phones will become smaller and more powerful to the point where they will be able to be implanted.

We watched documentaries on Henry Ford and Nicolas Tesla. Tesla had a tragic life and suffered from harsh treatment handed out by his jealous competitor Thomas Edison. He died in obscure poverty.  However, in recent times his name has been brought back into public knowledge by the naming of a certain car.

We also watched an educational video on how gold is manufactured in far off space and transported to our planet.

We came back to earth by considering a problem we all share - how do we dispose of our waste?
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In Australia we tend to dispose of our waste by putting it in landfill.  In Malaysia they have developed a portable technology that burns it. All waste no matter what can be disposed of by burning and the claim is that the technology developed in Malaysia produces a cleaner waste than normal and all polluted air is washed clean. Some cities in Europe also burn their waste and use the energy generated to power their electrical needs. They have strict pollution controls which they must adhere to.

It would be in Australia's interests if we began to consider such schemes.
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Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we listened to an interesting lecture by Les where he acquainted us with his response to damage to an amplifier after a power surge.  Les showed us the wiring diagrams involved in electrical circuits and what is required in the theory and practicality of replacement and repair of a complicated piece of equipment.

After that we relaxed by watching two videos relating to Quantum Mechanics and Dark Matter. Quantum Mechanics is the study of the very small which is nevertheless surrounded by large areas of space and not subject to the forces of gravity.  We know Dark matter makes up a large percentage of the universe but we have not yet been able to prove its existence.  Neither of these subjects are part of our normal discourse but are important matters which in time will eventually have to be understood by everyone. By listening to lectures we hope in time we will gradually begin to comprehend.

We finished up by watching a video on the History of the Sydney Opera House.  The Sydney Opera House took a long time to build, was the subject of many Political battles and was often used as a political football. It is, however, an example of both style and substance.  It is undoubtedly a Work of Art that was fortunately not destroyed by the government's desire to finish the job as soon as possible after they dispensed with the services of the Architect.
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Neville Gibb

​At our last Tech Talks we opened with a short video from Jeremy Clarkson where he was shown driving in China and making the prophecy that the UK was doomed.  He emphasised his point by repeating Doomed - Doomed in much the same way as Private Fraser.  He was explaining how China has set up both a rail system and a freeway system that criss-crosses the country which is quite a way ahead of the UK.  Clarkson is loath to ever give praise to any country apart from England, so this was surprising to hear. From what he showed on the video he was only stating the obvious, however.

​We then watched the American TV personality Jay Leno show off some of his car collection. Leno has used his success in the Media to indulge his passion for cars and has quite a collection.

Leno test drove a 2020 Electric Ford Focus and gave it good marks. This is a car that is available to the public and should be available in Australia in the future.

He then demonstrated his 1909 Baker Electric by taking it out on the roads around his house. This electric car had a range of 100 miles and had the look of a genuine horseless carriage but nevertheless worked quite well and was popular in its day. It did not survive the development of the internal combustion manufacturing industry.

​He also demonstrated a genuine hybrid car from 1900 that worked by using an internal combustion engine to drive an electric motor that provided the power to drive the car. Much the same as a modern diesel electric train engine works. But this was in 1900. This was an expensive car and not many were made.  Nevertheless, it worked well and he explained not much restoration work was required on the mechanical parts.

We finished up by showing a documentary that was made in 1964 where Arthur C Clarke predicted what would happen in the future. We then jumped ahead to his message to the world just before he died where he opened by saying that he had completed 89 revolutions of the Sun. We all indulge in space travel and he predicted it will become quite common in the future.
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Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we were informed as to how Les Rogers set up his garage off grid without having to run a power connection. 

Les acquainted us with the various systems which can be installed to the point where he can run electrical drills etc.

After that we watched a video explaining how problems have arisen in one of the very tall new buildings in Shanghai China. This building is spectacular to look at, but tenants find it difficult to rent as a lot of space in the building is not habitable. Only half the building is tenanted.

The video did show how much development has taken place in Shanghai over the past 30 years.
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To lighten the mood, we watched a video about the bridges on the Thames in London.
 
Neville Gibb

The next Tech Talks will be held on Tuesday 13th July at 2 PM. 

We will discuss amongst other things Living off the Grid.

If anyone has a talking point they would like discussed, perhaps a controversial subject that has been in the news lately, please bring it to the meeting.

Or, if you have a particular engineering project or passion you would like to share with others please do not hesitate to come forward.

We are always happy for informed discussion to take place no matter how unlikely the subject.

Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we watched a video from the early 50's showing the first Transistors. These Transistors replaced vacuum tubes used in radios, telecommunication early computers and made certain predictions about the size of computers.  We also looked at a video made in 1968 which predicted what the modern home would look like in the year 2020. Effectively it got nothing right. Life changes so quickly and so completely even the brightest minds cannot predict the future.
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We then watched a video informing us as to what 5G is and what it will do. Basically, 5G will make communication between computers more efficient but there will be more towers required.
We finished up watching a documentary about Sir Isaac Newton - one of the fathers of modern science. It is interesting to note that at one point in his life Isaac had to endure a complete lock down in Cambridge when a bout of Plague was raging in southern England. 
 
Neville Gibb

Quantum theory is a revolutionary advancement in science that emerged in the early twentieth century. It is a mathematical theory able to explain the unexpected behaviour of subatomic particles, eg the phenomenon of entanglement. In the late twentieth century it was discovered that quantum theory applies not only to atoms and molecules, but to bits and logic operations in a computer. This realization has brought about a revolution in the science and technology of information processing, making possible new kinds of computing.

Our current computers perform calculations and process information using methods which date back to Turing and von Neumann. In this model, all information is reducible to bits, which can take the values of either 0 or 1. All processing can be performed via simple logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, XOR, XNOR, NAND, NOR) acting on one or two bits at a time. At any point in its computation, a classical computer’s state is entirely determined by the states of all its bits, so that a computer with n bits can exist in one of 2^n possible states, ranging from 00…0 to 11…1

The power of the quantum computer is in its much richer range of states. A quantum computer also has bits — but instead of 0 and 1, its quantum bits, or qubits, can represent a 0, 1, or linear combination of both, which is a property known as superposition. A quantum computer takes advantage of a special kind of superposition that allows for exponentially many logical states at once, all the states from (00…0 to 11…1). This is a powerful feat, and no classical computer can achieve it.

The quantum superpositions most useful for quantum computation, are entangled. Entangled states are states of the whole computer that do not correspond to any assignment of digital or analog states of the individual qubits. A quantum computer is therefore significantly more powerful than any classical computer.

The IBM Quantum Composer provides a hands-on opportunity to experiment with operations on a real quantum computing processor. A field guide contains a series of topics to allow experiments to be constructed, run in simulation, and executed on real quantum processors available through IBM Cloud®.

The true challenge of quantum physics is in ideas that are counterintuitive to day-to-day experiences in the physical world, which of course are constrained by classical physics. To comprehend the quantum world, a new intuition for a set of simple but different (and often surprising) laws needs to be built.

There is no single simple physical principle from which these conclusions follow. The best that can be done is to distil quantum mechanics down to a few mathematical laws, from which all the observed behaviour of quantum particles (and qubits in a quantum computer) can be deduced and predicted.

Les Rodgers
April 2021

At our last session we watched several videos. One of particular interest was a documentary on the construction of the Snowy Mountain Authority Those of us of a certain age grew up when this large construction project was in full force and was well publicised in the newspapers of the time. There were many familiar images shown of dams, turbines, tunnels etc being built which we could all remember.  Certain veterans of the scheme were able to bring us their own particular reminiscences.

We also saw a video of a new form of propulsion which may be the answer to long term space travel.

Our next session is on Tuesday 13th April. We will be discussing Quantum Computers and Hydrogen Fuel Cells.

​Neville Gibb