update.527 (fwd)

[aluger at hushmail.com]

I'm so glad you grace our electronic InBoxes with this stuff every day Jim!

Bless you!

At Sun, 25 Feb 2001 22:26:37 -0600 (CST), Jim Choate <ravage at einstein.ssz.com> 
wrote:

>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 13:43:41 -0500 (EST)
>From: AIP listserver <physnews at aip.org>
>To: physnews-mailing at aip.org
>Subject: update.527
>
>PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE                         
>The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News
>Number 527  February 23, 2001   by Phillip F. Schewe, Ben Stein,
>and James Riordon
>
>SILICON CAGE CLUSTERS: BETTER THAN BUCKYBALLS?
>The discovery of carbon fullerenes (Update 2) caught the
>imagination of scientists and the public alike as researchers raced
>to find applications for the tiny spheres commonly called
>buckyballs. Now researchers at the Joint Center for Atomic
>Research in Japan have managed to create similar arrangements of
>silicon atoms, a feat previously thought impossible owing to
>silicon's chemical nature. Potential applications of the silicon
>assemblies range from components in quantum computers to
>chemical catalysts to new superconducting compounds. Silicon is,
>of course, a vital material for the vast semiconductor industry and
>one of the most studied elements in all of science.  Therefore this
>new discovery might lead to applications that could match or even
>exceed those expected for carbon fullerenes.  Unlike carbon atoms,
>pure silicon cannot form stable, closed configurations. The new
>research, however, reveals that silicon can gather around a central
>metal atom and settle into basket-like arrangements called silicon
>cage clusters. One particularly low energy, and therefore stable,
>configuration consists of twelve silicon atoms forming a regular,
>hexagonal cage that surrounds a tungsten atom (see figure at
>http://www.aip.org/physnews/graphics).  Because the choice of a
>central metal atom affects the chemical behavior of cage clusters,
>scientists should be able to tailor the clusters to create novel
>nanodevices and catalysts. The researchers (Hidefumi Hiura, h-
>hiura at bq.jp.nec.com, 011-81-298-50-2615) note in particular that
>clusters efficiently isolate their guest metal atoms from the
>surrounding environment, a characteristic that could permit a
>cluster to act as a robust qubit in a quantum computer by storing a
>single bit of information in the spin state of the enclosed metal
>atom. (H. Hiura et al, Physical Review Letters, 26 February 2001.)
>
>UNTYING THE KNOT.  Dealing with shoelaces is for most of us
>[SSZ: text deleted]
>
>PERMIAN CATASTROPHE COMET?  A trace of indium in
>[SSZ: text deleted]
>
>    ____________________________________________________________________
>
>           Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a
>           smaller group must first understand it.
>
>                                           "Stranger Suns"
>                                           George Zebrowski
>
>       The Armadillo Group       ,::////;::-.          James Choate
>       Austin, Tx               /:'///// ``::>/|/      ravage at ssz.com
>       www.ssz.com            .',  ||||    `/( e\      512-451-7087
>                           -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-
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