TECHNOLOGY

Smallest particles of matter in technology

THIS is a whole new series of technology report centred around this topic to take us through the next four months for the benefit of science and technology enthusiasts in PNG. This is your section to commence learning about science and technology for PNG in relation to the world around you in the current technology era.
This said, our technology topic for today is science taught in PNG schools focusing particularly on the tiny particles called atoms and molecules with applications in technology. These very tiny particles can only be seen with a very powerful device and microscope called an electron microscope.
An electron microscope neither works by light nor electricity but somewhat by magnetic field via magnetic coils. We do not even have an electron microscope in PNG anyway to practically see these particles but rather can see through pictures, books and videos.
Atoms and Molecules in Quantum Mechanics
Atoms and molecules are made of even very smaller particles or subatomic particles called the electrons, protons and neutrons. Electrons carry negative charges, protons carry positive charges and neutrons carry no charges. Even there are other sub-atomic particles called quarks and leptons which we can look at later. What happens is that the electrons orbit around the nucleus made of protons and neutrons. It is like our planet earth orbiting around the sun as the nucleus to give us day and night every twenty-four (24) hours.
The orbiting of the electrons tells a special story in that it signifies energy. It is just like you needing energy to move around or play. This is what electrons are doing because they are moving or orbiting around the nucleus. Electrons close to the nucleus are hard to remove and require more energy to remove than electrons orbiting away from the nucleus which can be removed with less energy. When you apply an external force to an electron that is more than the energy contained by that outer electron then, you are able to dislodge that electron from its orbit into free space.
Because electrons carry negative charges, that freed electron is likely to react with any particle that carries a positive charge since negative charges attract positive charges. This is how chemical reactions take place in order to produce new products called compounds now made of molecules and or formula units. That is two different atoms combine to produce one molecule. Eg. An oxygen atom plus a hydrogen atom will produce a molecule of water (H2O). Only electrons and protons involve in chemical reactions as well as determining their electromagnetic properties because they contain the charges to connect and neutrons are not because they contain no charge. When you go deeper you will learn this in chemistry as well as physics under classical and quantum mechanics in specialised physics studies taught at the Universities around the world. This is a workable scientific theory formulated by a once top scientist in the world named Albert Einstein in 1905 in Germany and published the finding through a scientific paper and established the wave-particle duality theorem which linked light in the electromagnetic spectrum as energy contained in photons. The photons as an energy packet can travel as a wave to dislodge tiny particles of matter particularly the electron that has a less binding energy to its nucleus.

Applications
An application of the presence of the electrons is that seen in the cathode ray tubes in old TV screens. That is TV signal carries the wave of information in the form of electromagnetic waves through the air. The information is received and fed to the TV via the antenna. The circuit interfacing the output and input devices changes the electric current from its circuits into the pictures you are able to see on the screen through its electron gun that spurts rays of electrons onto the red, blue green gobbles that raises their energy levels and upon the gobbles rescinding to ground state emit the lights and form the pictures you see on the screen.
The voice is received in a different working known as modulation and with fixed modulations of carrier wave and the actual voice signal it is synchronised with the picture wave that come together. That will explain the reason why, sometimes you will hear the voice on the TV’s loudspeaker, but you will wonder what has happened to the actual pictures because they are not appearing.
Other applications are seen in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in hospitals to scan very delicate organs of patients like their brain. When a brain surgeon does a brain surgery, he or she will do a lot of damage to the brain as the skull is cracked open because the brain is very delicate and complexly wired. Thus, with passing a ray of low energy radio wave to the affected part of the brain to trace magnetic vibrations to form images from a computer application software out of the ray diffractions. This information can be used to prescribe medications which will be a very safe way to diagnosing patients than to do brain surgery which will do more harm than good.

Future trend
There is the gigantic future of quantum mechanics coming your way in all areas of life. PNG will be no exception to be a beneficiary of this innovation and creativity. That future is in quantum computing as no other. There is also quantum mechanics application in all areas like chemistry known as quantum chemistry, engineering in detecting wearing and tearing of materials, life sciences as medicine as self-testing and treatment with architectures as well as nanotechnologies that involve reverse engineering.
There are quantum sensors which will depend on the isothermal variations in the temperatures to pass messages for control mechanisms to work for example, in expert systems and artificial intelligence. These are combinations of applications with quantum technologies and the current technology. Presently these technologies are powered with replaceable lithium batteries that have a life span like weeks or months that can affect the continuum of results which impacts its quality findings.
Quantum enhanced imaging is another application that involves charge carriers to correct light intensity, shapes, visibility and colour or chromaticity to produce pictures with very high magnifications or scalability and resolutions.
The onus now is on the decision makers in the public sector of life to set a benchmark in this country by coming up with innovative approaches through consultations with experts who have brighter ideas and knowledge on each and every subject to help the PNG people. The sole reason is that PNG ought to produce inventers, innovators and creators to fuel and sustain our PNG economy and less of too much dependence on the other countries for innovations and becoming consumers of innovations and creativity all the time.
My payer for PNG today is paraphrased through this hymn; “No man can live as an island, journeying through life alone and how can a father forsake his child. God will stand by us”

Next week: The relativity principle of physics in Technology

• Michael John Uglo is a lecturer in avionics, auto-piloting and aircraft engineering. Please send comments to my [email protected]

New music application launched

By JACK NOAH YAMAHA
A YOUNG musician has beat all odds and gone one step into the unknown digital world to help stop music piracy in Papua New Guinea.
This is something some well-established companies have tried to do for many years with little success.
The music application is called T3 Music Entertainment. The owner is 30-year-old Kelvin Thomas Aipa from Apenda in the east Pangia area of Southern Highlands.
Kelvin had a dream while undergoing electrical course at Port Moresby Technical College in 2010.
In launching the novel music application on Dec 25, Pastor Robin Pilpal of the Living Hope International Ministries commended the foresight of the young musician behind the music application.
“Bigger things will come from small beginnings. Small seeds make up forests,” Ps Pilpal said.
Similar sentiments were also expressed by Nelson Yakipu who was master of ceremonies at the T3 Music Entertainment application launch.
A good number of music fanatics and family members turned up to witness the occasion that captivated small but enthusiastic crowd.
Some people were given tokens as part of a trial visual demonstration. For some music lovers it was their first time to witness ordinary Papua New Guineans going into an unknown industry with no financial support.
Because of the financial constraints the owner used his family residential area to do trial demonstrations for public consumption prior to the major launch next month in Port Moresby.
The two Ururu siblings, Joseph and Trevor of Madang will be helping the owner and musician from Southern Highlands to realise his dream and to give Papua New Guinea piracy-free musical blue prints. In a nutshell music lovers, both religious and non-religious can shop in the music supermarket.

Leading music producers and promoters have tried in different ways to stop music piracy and these whiz kids’ work should be given prominence for their efforts.
Kelvin is also nicknamed ‘Mr Mastermind’ by his music followers for his creativity and this T3 product is a huge milestone in his short musical career. His creativity has is a challenge to big-time songwriters and producers around Papua New Guinea.
Perhaps, it is a small step but it can make these simple youths becomes stars in a few years.
And as such the work of this Southern Highlands young man and his two brothersand friends from Madang is a real admiration and motivation to other young men and women in whatever fields they choose to make a living or leave a legacy in their chosen career paths.
Kelvin knows a little about electronics and digital technology but because of his natural musical talent that drove him into this unknown territory, eventually the entire country may one day be familiar with his company’s musical application icon.
Prior to this success story, Kelvin completed Grade 12 at Gerehu Secondary School in 2007. After that did a three-year diploma programme in electrical engineering at Port Moresby Technical College.
He then attended the North Western Polytechnical University in China and graduated with bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering which is a rare field for Papua New Guineans.
He also learnt Mandarin as a mandatory course prior to studying aerospace engineering in a Chinese university.

• Jack Yamaha is a freelance writer.