0 to 100 TPD in a Blink

TPD stands for Theories Per Decade. Because I said so. Google says it could be Temporary Partial Disability or Tampa Police Department. I better try some other acronym. 

You've heard of atoms? Did you know that before Einstein, the atom was a theory with little or no evidence? Einstein found a proof in 1905 when he was only 25 years old. He showed that atoms must exist even if they are too small to see. We have learned more since then, (some of us) and we keep learning faster. Even scientists have trouble keeping up.

Fifty years ago or thereabouts, a professor at the University of Guelph, parent of one of our chemistry students, came to the school asking us to explain why we had taught his son that atoms could be seen with the right equipment. Impossible. We referred him to the Funk and Wagnals Yearbook of Science, an article that described how atomic imaging had been first accomplished in 1955, and the technology had improved by 1968. You can read the history in this 2005 article  in Chemical & Engineering News. The professor was about 15 years out of date. Must have graduated before 1955 and was too busy telling people what he knew to find out what he didn't know. He went away, still angry, but called back later to apologize after checking our sources. Even the professionals can't keep up. I know. Me too.

It is now 68 years since that first discovery making atoms visible. Ever heard of ptychography? That isn't one of my DIY words. Click the link and see for yourself. It's in Scientific American, June 2021. The latest imaging technology promises, among other things, to help improve the design of batteries by making atoms visible on the electrode surfaces.

We are way past Einstein and accelerating. I am having trouble reading and writing fast enough to keep up. When I arrived on scene, Gram and Poppy had a windup Gramophone, Dick Tracy's two-way wrist radio was science fiction, there was a whole shelf taken up by an encyclopaedia (that's how we used to spell it), and it was years out of date. Now we can't make up new words fast enough, and you have to Google them to see if someone beat you to it.

That's what it will take to get us past the climate emergency. Hold on to your seat. Progress is happening while I type this note. Oops, it's out of date.

Click below to see Dave Borlace explore the explosion of knowledge about electric vehicle batteries. Come on. Keep up.

EV Batteries and the Electrical Grid: Just Have a Think, March 12, 2023