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In January MIT’s Professor Srinivasan Chandrasekar spoke about the forerunner of modern toughened glasses, and Dr. Albert Moussa addressed hydrogen in aviation at the David Wilson Science and Technology Forum.
By Ron Latanision, John Brown, and Walter Hubbard
Prince Rupert’s Drops: 400-year-old Mystery Revealed
On February 14, Professor Srinivasan Chandrasekar of Purdue University spoke about Prince Rupert’s Drops. Prince Rupert’s drops, special “glass bubbles,” possessing very striking mechanical properties, have been in existence since before 1625. Forerunners of modern toughened glasses, they exhibit a paradoxical combination of strength and fragility that excited the imagination of natural philosophers of yore. The head of a drop does not break when hammered on an anvil: yet when its tail is broken with mild finger pressure applied, the drop disintegrates explosively into fine powder. Chandrasekar unraveled this curious behavior using high speed photography, fractography and stress measurements, thereby providing the solution to a 400-year-old conundrum. The following link is to a YouTube video that has had over 65 million views!
Srinivasan Chandrasekar is Professor in the Schools of Industrial Engineering and Materials Engineering at Purdue University. His research and teaching interests are in manufacturing, materials processing, fracture and tribology. His recent contributions all stem from the use of high-speed imaging techniques to characterize material flow and fracture phenomena at high spatial and temporal resolution. “Prince Rupert’s Drops” exemplifies this approach.
Hydrogen in Aviation – Potentials and Challenges
On February 28, Dr. Albert Moussa spoke about Hydrogen in Aviation – Potentials and Challenges. Decarbonization and advances in Urban Air Mobility are driving the introduction of new fuels, technologies, and requirements in aviation. He described the aviation segments where hydrogen can satisfy these requirements and its associated challenges. To obtain FAA certification, manufacturers must demonstrate that the risk to passengers and the public from new fuel is no worse than that from traditional fuels. Dr. Moussa discussed some of the safety issues with hydrogen, and drawing upon his 1982 study for NASA, compared quantitatively the crash fire hazards of aircraft fueled by liquid hydrogen vs. carbon fuels. He also commented on hydrogen use in ground transport.
Dr. Moussa is the founder and president of BlazeTech Corp., an R&D and engineering consulting firm that services the aviation and energy industries. Previously, he spent a decade as senior consultant at Arthur D. Little, Inc. For about four decades, he worked in innovations in the areas of energy, environment and safety. For example, he developed unique software on fire, explosion and toxic releases for the chemical, aerospace and defense industries. He developed also novel pulverized and fluidized bed coal combustors. His forte has been in technology development to proof-of-concept testing but now he is seeking also the commercialization of his innovations. He has received several awards including the William Lockwood Memorial Lecture Award; Engineer of the Year by the New England AIAA Section; AIAA Distinguished Lecturer; Best Papers by SAE and ASEI; and several ASME citations. He has served on three national committees and was Associate Editor of the Journal of Energy Resources Technology. He received his Bachelor’s from Stanford University and his PhD from MIT.
UPCOMING WILSON FORUM PRESENTATIONS:
On March 14, Dahlia Saba, the granddaughter of Lita and Don Nelsen and a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, will speak about her experiences from the Perspectives of a first-year PhD student.
And on March 28, Courtney Marshall, a teacher in the Fairfax (Virginia) County Public Schools, will speak about “AI in K-12 Education.” One of the goals of our Forum is to reach out to teachers and pre-college students.
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All Wilson Science & Technology Forum presentations are recorded and can be streamed free on demand at the Wilson Forum’s website.
WinCAM broadcasts recordings of Forum presentations at 3 pm on Mondays and Fridays. For the schedule, go to https://wincam.org/schedule/education/ and search for “Wilson.”
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The Wilson Forum’s meetings are via Zoom, at 10:30 am on the second and fourth Fridays of each month, with the exception of July and August.
To learn of upcoming Forum speakers, you can check the Jenks Center’s website https://www.jenkscenter.org/ (events > daytime > Wilson Forum).
Better yet, you can receive advance notification of upcoming talks by emailing a request to be added to the Forum’s roster to rlatanision@alum.mit.edu.
