PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 9 June 2008 http://focus.aps.org/

PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 9 June 2008 http://focus.aps.org/
David Ehrenstein, American Physical Society

Introductions to the Focus stories of the past week;
visit http://focus.aps.org for the complete stories.

THERMAL EXPLOSIONS ON FILM
Some explosions begin with a bang, and some begin with a
whimper. Unlike the triggered explosions used in mining or
bombs, a thermal explosion occurs at an unpredictable time,
after an explosive is heated gradually--as in a munitions
factory fire. In the 6 June Physical Review Letters, a research
team reports on the first direct, real-time look at how a thermal
explosion unfolds and releases its energy. The team synchronized
the explosion with pulses from a proton accelerator and made a
high-speed movie of the blast. They hope their new technique will
result in more accurate modeling and safer explosives.
L. Smilowitz et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 228301
Link to the paper: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v100/e228301
COMPLETE Focus story at http://focus.aps.org/story/v21/st19

Also from the Physical Review journals (via AIP's Physics News
Update):

NEW FORM OF ARTIFICAL RADIOACTIVITY
Story at http://www.aip.org/pnu/2008/split/865-2.html
G. Raciti et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 192503

ON VERY THIN ICE
Story at http://www.aip.org/pnu/2008/split/866-1.html
Konrad Thurmer and Norman C. Bartelt, Phys. Rev. B 77, 195425

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