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| View of the LHC tunnel sector 3-4 Maximilien Brice (CERN), CERN Document Server, Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported |
Within the 8.5 km-diameter Large Hadron Collider (LHC), sub-atomic particles are accelerated to close to the speed of light by electric fields in radiofrequency (RF) cavities.
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| Hardness of various materials Infographic created by Grok |
Did you know that on a modified Mohs hardness scale that runs from 1 to 10, tooth enamel would rank at 5? That's harder than mild steel at 4.0 to 4.5 and softer than glass at 5.5.
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| Water level in the Poulaphouca Reservoir Image courtesy ESB |
The water level in the Poulaphouca Reservoir is still dropping, albeit at a slower weekly average than a month ago, when it was falling by about 2 cm to 2.5 cm per day.
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I resorted to dismantling my printer during the outage. Didn't have any success with that. Three blank cartridges — one filled with Quink ink (which worked successfully for over a year) and a brand new one wouldn't work.
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| Tailte Éireann map |
Whenever I'm out and about, it's nearly impossible to make out L roads on maps on my phone in bright sunlight because of the low contrast.
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| Flow versus time for Golden Falls dam Image courtesy ESB hydro |
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Poulaphouca lakeside |
A question was asked on the Blessington Blog today to the effect, “Will the lake get as low as this again over the next weeks?” It showed a photo of the Poulaphouca Reservoir taken during a previous drought, in which neat linear piles of rocks could be seen along the shoreline, clearly marking the locations of the walls of houses that were submerged when the valley was flooded in the 1940s.
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| Image made by Grok. |
What's the difference between a click or thump sound (e.g. when you hit something with a stick or hammer a nail) compared to striking a bell or a string in a musical instrument? It's mainly due to the amount of damping involved.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
You can check what's between the inner and outer drums of a washing machine, or check for limescale build-up on the heating element, by spinning the drum and illuminating it with a bright torch.
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| Created with ChatGPT. |
A common misconception is that the Earth is closer to the Sun in summer, but it's actually further away. Diagrams would be better for explaining this. I'll get around to it, but I'll try to do it with words for now.
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78XX series of voltage regulators. E.g. 7805 and 7812 having regulated outputs of plus 5 volts and plus 12 volts respectively. Silverxxx, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons. |
We're surrounded by electronic gadgets and appliances, and even devices that don't appear to be electronic may use electronic circuitry internally. For electronics to work properly, it's imperative that voltage be stable and constant.
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| Public domain image from Canva |
The Google Maps measuring tool can be used to measure the distance between two points, and the result is displayed in feet and metres. Alternatively, values are displayed in miles and kilometres if a user zooms out to view a greater-sized region of the map.
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| © Eugene Brennan |
Resistors are ubiquitous components in electronic circuitry both in industrial and domestic consumer products. Often, in circuit analysis, we need to work out the values when two or more resistors are combined. In this tutorial, we'll work out the formulas for resistors connected in series and parallel.
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| Gas distribution network in central Kilcullen from the interactive Dial Before You Dig website. Image courtesy Gas Networks Ireland. |
On 4th March last year, a press release was issued by Uisce Éireann to media and local public representatives to the effect that:
“Civil Engineers are carrying out pre-work activities on the 225mm pipeline, which involves a localised crossing over the High Transmisison (sic) Gas main under the supervision of Gas Networks.”
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| Immersion heater terminal box. © Eugene Brennan |
So I was doing some gardening for the sister today and she mentioned a smell that was coming from her immersion. This immediately rang alarm bells in my engineering head, knowing what was likely to have happened—So I investigated.
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| Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech |
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| Forces on a falling insect. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Image by permission Weller Tools |
Soldering is a fundamental skill essential to learn when building electronic circuits or fixing circuit boards.
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| Kippure in the Wicklow Mountains, photographed from Kilcullen. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Original uncaptioned image Lurens, public domain image via Pixabay.com |
Icebergs can be massive, but did you know that you're only seeing literally the tip of them above the water? Yes, up to 90% of an iceberg's volume can be under water. But why does that amount sink and not just float above sea level like the rest of it? In this article we explore why.