ian unspoken

I’d be at Powerhouse Retreat at Central Coast till Saturday, so you won’t hear from me till then. Catching the train there. I’m so excited!

I can’t believe this. There is even a Starbucks gossip blog. Anyway, I just woke up, getting ready for church. I need my coffee fix! Gloria Jeans!

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The Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis match just ended 1.5 hours before I woke up. They walked off the court at 4.34 a.m.! Who starts a tennis game at 11.47 p.m. and ends the next morning? I just managed to watch half of the first set. Anyway, he’s the only surviving Aussie man there. I need to play tennis soon! I don’t know anyone in summer who plays tennis…

From weatherzone.com.au

Rainfall today has reached 18.0mm. This month’s total is currently 28.0mm. That means today’s rainfall accounts for 64.3% of the rain in the entire month!

So far the lowest minimum temperature for this month was 18.4°C, on the 16th. Highest maximum was 32.2°C. Very moderate I heard that the record highest maximum temperature was 45.2°C on the 1st of January, 2006. Thank God for the moderate temperate weather. Spring was even warmer than summer! Maybe it’s the melting polar ice caps.

I should get back to my Physics(can’t you see how bored I am?). I’ve a test on Monday!

Research and technologies like these keep me on my toes. I always dreamed of going to Stanford University. Hopefully that dream will be fulfilled one day.

A tenfold improvement in battery life?
Stanford researchers say silicon nanowires could help extend the life of a lithium ion battery for laptops from 4 hours to 40 hours.
By Alex Serpo
Special to CNET News.com
Published: January 15, 2008, 7:35 AM PST

Stanford University researchers have made a discovery that could signal the arrival of laptop batteries that last more than a day on a single charge.

The researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to give rechargeable lithium ion batteries–used in laptops, iPods, video cameras, and mobile phones–as much as 10 times more charge. This potentially could give a conventional battery-powered laptop 40 hours of battery life, rather than 4 hours.

The new batteries were developed by assistant professor Yi Cui and colleagues at Stanford University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

“It’s not a small improvement,” Cui said. “It’s a revolutionary development.”

Citing a research paper they wrote, published in Nature Nanotechnology, Cui said the increased battery capacity was made possible though a new type of anode that utilizes silicon nanowires. Traditional lithium ion batteries use graphite as the anode. This limits the amount of lithium–which holds the charge–that can be held in the anode, and it therefore limits battery life.

Silicon anodes have the “the highest theoretical charge capacity” according to Cui’s paper, but they expand when charging and shrink during use: a cycle that causes the silicon to be pulverized, degrading the performance of the battery. For 30 years, this dead end stumped researchers, who poured their battery life-extending energy into improving graphite-based anodes.
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Cui and his colleagues looked at this old problem and overcame it by constructing a new type of silicon nanowire anode. In Cui’s anode, the lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires, each with a diameter that is a thousandth of the thickness of a sheet of paper. The nanowires inflate to four times their normal size as they soak up lithium, but unlike previous silicon anodes, they do not fracture.

Cui said there are a few barriers to commercializing the technology.

“We are working on scaling up and evaluating the cost of our technology,” Cui said. “There are no roadblocks for either of these.”

Cui has filed a patent on the technology and is considering formation of a company or an agreement with a battery manufacturer. He expects the battery to be commercialized and available within “several years,” pending testing.

Finally… I’ve decided to go. I’ve been thinking about it for quite a while. I have (math) tests on Thursdays. But few have been persistent in asking me to go, and so I’ve signed up for it. Thought that it will be a great way to start off the new year. I want a fresh challenge. Hopefully I can make it for Brian Houston’s message on Friday evening. Will see how it goes…

Anyway, if you’re still thinking about it, just stop thinking and just sign up. It’ll be fun. I kinda miss my FGA Firebrands youth camps already.

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