divinephoenixegg8: Being revised

Showing posts with label Being revised. Show all posts

Saturday, 19 December 2009

Process of Salinity Gradient Thermal Energy

In the twenty-first century the solar pond's design is based on the naturally occurring phenomenon of the salinity-gradient-thermal-energy process which was first observed in Transylvania in the early 1900s. Solar ponds are human-made structures lined with a dark material filled with three layers of different densities of salt to harness the solar power. The green energy that is available is 6,000 times higher than all the global fossil fuel consumption in the last century in 1990. (1) The resulting solar thermal energy is stored within the bottom storage layer of the solar pond. Therefore the hot saline water can be transferred through pipes to be reheated to produce steam. This steam can drive a steam turbine and generator which will provide electricity for the water pumps to ensure the desalination of saltwater from the ocean and drinking water affected by salt in the outback. One of the main advantages of a solar pond application when combined with a desalination plant is that the design can be modified either to suit the densely populated urban or sparsely populated rural areas of Australia. To fully understand the process of the salinity-gradient-thermal-energy, please be so kind as to refer to the data below.

The first layer consists of brackish water, which technically can range from 0.5 to 30 grams of salt per litre of water. Brackish water on the whole cannot be defined as a precise example of saline content as this can vary depending on the application of whether it is natural or human-made.

The water in the second layer cannot rise because the water in the first layer has less salt content and is therefore lighter in density. The water cannot fall because the water in the third layer has a higher salt content and is heavier in density. The middle layer keeps the top and bottom layers separate acting as a transparent insulator trapping the heat of the sunlight in the third layer.

Large quantities of salt are dissolved in the third layer making it too dense for the water and air to rise to the surface. The temperature of the bottom layer of the hot water can range from 70 -100 Celsius, which has a very high salt content. The bottom layer traps the heat in a similar way to a solar storage battery.

Process of Salinity Gradient Thermal Energy

Reference List

Solar Pond - courtesy of SpotFilms

Sunday, 11 October 2009

My Trench Coat

"The trench was once a uniform. Now it is a barge of individuality - expressing who the wearer is or wants to be" - Nick Foulkes

This essay will explore my personal fetish object of remembrance. An vintage item of outer clothing referred to as the trench coat. Various reference points will include my personal memories of my late mother Madge Linthwate, a child's coat, the history overview of the trench coats design and the water-proofed fabric. There will be always the film noir sense of the hard-boiled private detective wearing a trench coat in the film studios of Hollywood in the 1940s. This garment both traditional and modern has been re-invented as a high-fashion icon of clothing for the wearer in the twenty-first century. The second-hand culture of collecting highly prized vintage clothing will also be discussed. How vintage collectors re-invent their narrative of self by wearing clothing that empowers their identities of uniqueness and yet pays homage to the mythology of the past. Today in this techno-age of infinity8 there is appreciation for the workmanship of these garments, be it man-tailored, beaded, embroidered and printed or just the fact the zip was sewn in by hand. The generous amount of material or the textile reality of feeling the fabric can also amaze and intrigue from a tractile point of view. The history of the garment can be analysed on so many levels about the former owner of such exquisite fragments of time detailing how life was lived from a personal perspective.

Whenever I feel I cannot stand the stress of studying at UTS I go vintage clothing hunting in Newtown, which has a large selection of second-hand shops. There is one place deemed to be my favourite as I have found various items of vintage clothing to either hand-wash or to be dry-cleaned to treasure and file away in garment-bags for future use. One day I was offered a mink coat with a fox fur collar which unnerved me. I had no intention of being an extension of my late mother's narrative. My mother was viewed as a true 'Continental Lady' because of her ash-blonde hair and her striking resemblance to Marlene Dietrich. My most endearing memory of my mother was of an elegant lady dressed in a black man-tailored costume, gun-metal silk stockings with a seam, and crocodile killer stiletto shoes of black. A matching handbag and perched on her head a black net fascinator with tiny black velvet bows drawing attention to the deep set eyes of emerald green. My mother's lips were painted with Helena Rubinstein's red lipstick and her nails were painted with blood red nail polish. My first memory of my favourite item of outer clothing was a coat from Harrods. This design was usually worn by royalty in England and I remember looking in the full-length mirror at the child with ash blonde curly hair. The black velvet detailing on the collar, cuffs and the pockets intrigued me along with the feel of the fabric of the coat fastened with buttons covered in velvet. This was a practical gift brought for my sixth birthday by an American relative by marriage.

The trench coat is an amazing concept of practicality evolving in the trenches in the Boer War, the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The original fabric was a crude rubberised material which was replaced by the tightly woven water-proofed fabric of gabardine patented by Thomas Burberry (Foulkes, 2007, :37). The design of this coat goes way beyond the war-time boundaries into peacetime when veterans continued to wear their garments as a barge of pride. Therefore the history of the trench coat may be traced back to England but because of the war-related travel of servicemen this coat became a globally recognised symbol of freedom. The three main trade-names associated with the trench coat are Macintosh, Aquascutum and Burberry (Foulkes, :8-9). One of the main features is the raglan sleeve first designed in the nineteen century by an aristocrat's tailor to ensure ease of dressing by Baron Raglan who had lost an arm in the battle of Waterloo. There are also the other classic elements such as the welted pockets and the two rows of ten buttons down the front of the coat. The additional storm flap on the coat which can button up around the neck to protect the wearer against the harshness of the weather. One can be further smug with the belt tightly tied to keep the warmth within with the shoulder straps used to secure binoculars, gas-masks, whistles and gloves in wartime in the last century (Foulkes, :40-46).

In the 1940s there was the actor Humphrey Bogart wearing the trench coat in 'The Big Sleep' film noir landscape of blackmail and murder. The character Phillip Marlowe was the perfect example of the hard-boiled private detective in Hollywood cinema. Bogart wore the trademark Aquascutum's Kingsway-style trench coat in most of his films such as 'Casablanca' and 'Beat the Devil'. The only contender to challenge Bogey as the reining trench coat film star was Peter Sellers. Inspector Clouseau was a bungling idiot who through his misadventures he was somehow transformed into a style god because of his trench coat.

My Trench Coat

The concept of the online 'My Trench Coat' is a revised/improved format of the paper-based medium 'My Trench Coat' copyright © Marjorie Savill Linthwaite 2009 All rights reserved. 50134 Culture, Writing and Textuality subject 2009.

Friday, 2 October 2009

Solar Power: Renewable Energy

Sun Montage - SOHO NASA Solar Flare -PHJ - courtesy of Tahiti Petey

"Matter itself is a form of energy E=mc2" - Einstein

Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is a perfect example of how matter itself is a form of renewable energy. There are two combined extreme forms of solar power in nature. These two examples are the nuclear fusion of the rest-mass of matter and the pure energy state of the electromagnetic radiation of the Sun. The energy emitting from the Sun comes mostly from what is termed as rest-mass converted into solar energy when the hydrogen nuclei fuses to form helium nuclei (nuclear fusion). The time it takes to reach the earth's surface for the energy-packed-photons of electro-magnetic radiation (radiant light) traveling from a distance of 149 million kilometres from the Sun at 300,00 kilometres per second amounts to just 8 minutes. There is the energy intrinsically stored in a piece of matter at rest equals its mass times the speed of light squared. Einstein's mathematical formula of E=mc2 consisting of m representing an objects mass and c which is represented as the speed of light shows the potential of this untapped solar energy. Therefore, the solar energy contained within a rest-mass size of an fifty cent coin would amount to one million dollars worth of green electricity.

Long-Term Drought-Proofing Green Solutions /
Solar Power: Renewable Energy

Links: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses Solar Power 2006 / Govt puts solar power program on ice