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16th Jul 2006

Sun Tans, Fission and Fusion


Kat Arney

Chris Smith

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory astrophysicist Dr Chris Davis joins us to shed light on the structure and workings of the sun and the newly-launched STEREO mission, Cambridge University engineer Dr Jeffery Lewins talks about nuclear energy and the differences between fusion and fission power, and Dr Anna Nicolaou from the University of Bradford asks why do some people burn whilst others turn brown? On a practical level, in Kitchen Science, Derek and Dave lift the lid on how suncream works.

 

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News

 

Atomic Tweezers

Scientists from the University of Bonn have constructed the world's smallest pair of tweezers which are capable of moving atoms around one by one and might hold the key to superfast "quantum computers" of the future. In this week's Nature, Arno Rausc...


Questions

 

I'd like to know if putting lemon juice on your hair really helps to bleach it, and if so, why?


 

Why is a chilli called a chilli when it's hot?


 

Generally speaking, is the Sun really shrinking at a speed people should be worried about?


 

Are we any closer to working out how geomagnetic fluctuations in the Sun affect our climate?


 

What's the deal with fusion as a power source? Is it ever going to be economically possible? Is cold fusion the answer, or a pipe dream?


 

Sitting in my kitchen which faces west, I can see the sun well up in the sky and I can also see the moon. But the moon still had a shadow on it. Where did the shadow come from if I can see the whole disk of the moon?


 

When I was training to be a nurse, it was drummed into us that vitamin D comes from the sun. If we're all neurotic about putting sunblocks on, will we not have a lot of people suffering from SAD (seasonal affective disorder)?


 

I know that there is a wide range of frequencies in the electromagnetic radiation that comes from the sun. But exactly how many discrete frequencies are there, and what determines the frequency radiated?


 

It's my understanding that you can send electricity wirelessly. Although microwaves are apparently the best way, even radio waves contain small traces of electricity. So if the Sun emits a huge and powerful spectrum of radio waves and other kinds of electromagnetic waves, would it not be possible to pick up this free energy using a big antenna?


 

How does light actually propagate? I know that there are perpendicular electrical and magnetic fields and that they can induce other fields in space and this keeps going on so that light travels. Is this correct? Are there any differences between these magnetic fields?


 

Does the Sun move and what impact could the movement of the Sun and changes in velocity have on things like other planets?


 

Why do you sneeze when you look at the Sun?




Kitchen Science

 

How does sun cream work?

With the summer holidays approaching, Derek and Dave head off to Hinchingbrooke School to find out why wearing the white stuff is the cool thing to do.    


Fact or Fiction

In 1992 2500 Americans were hospitalised by house plants
TrueTrue
Europe is the only continent without a desert
TrueTrue
You can calculate the distance to the horizon in miles by multiplying 1.22 by the square root of the height of your eyes above the ground
TrueTrue
Human fingernails grow about 4 centimetres per year
TrueTrue



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