#dielectric

Floating device turns raindrops into electricity

A lightweight, floating system turns raindrops into renewable power using water itself as the key component.

Raindrops are more than a source of fresh water. They also carry mechanical energy that reaches the ground for free, and scientists have been exploring how to turn that energy into electricity for years. Traditional droplet electricity generators, however, often struggle with low efficiency, heavy components, and limited potential for scaling up. A research team from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics has now developed a new solution: a floating droplet electricity generator that uses natural water as part of its structure. The result is a lighter, more affordable, and more sustainable way to collect clean energy. The work is described in National Science Review.

Ask Ethan: Does Light Always Move At The Same Speed?

“Does light always move at the same speed? If it is slowed down by something, will is stay slower after it is no longer being slowed down? Will [it] speed back up to the speed of light?”

Throughout the entire Universe, there’s a fundamental law that governs the motions of all particles: Einstein’s relativity. It states that all particles with mass can never attain the speed of light, no matter how much energy you put into it. Additionally, all massless particles only move at the speed of light, no matter what you do to either them or to the device/person observing them. No matter what reference frame you’re in, the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant. But light isn’t always in a vacuum!  From air to quartz to acrylic to glass to many other media, light can pass through transparent material, and when it does, it slows down. Not only that, but light of different energy slows down by different amounts. In what ways is the speed of light always the same, and in what ways can it change?