Hail Cannons: Fiction?

This is an image showing the International Congress on Hail Shooting, which took place in 1901 in England.

In 2007, NPR broadcasted a short segment on the doubted practice of using loud cannons to prevent the formation of hail.  Many farmer’s use this technique to try to protect sensitive fruits and vegetables from damage.  It is true that creating a loud sound could send a shockwave through stormclouds, but whether this can disrupt the formation of ice is widely questioned.  A modern hail cannon, at that, costs no less than $40,000!

Click here for the story.

 

The Cloud Project – Zoe Papadopoulou and Cathrine Kramer

The Cloud Project is a thesis project completed at RCA‘s Design Interactions program  by Zoe Papadopoulou and Cathrine Kramer.

From Cathrine’s website:

“The Cloud Project is a modified ice-cream van that presents a series of experiments to make clouds snow ice-cream. Inspired by developments in nanotechnology and planetary-scale engineering, it points to new possibilities where we develop the means to conform the global environment to our needs.”

The Idea of a Tree – Thomas Traxler

The Idea of a Tree, is a project by Thomas Traxler using uncontrollable environmental input to create an object.  This machine uses a solar panel to power a winding mechanism, the object is built up from epoxy impregnated threads winding around a form.  Depending of the amount of sunlight, the machine moves faster or slower, creating thinner or thicker walls, and darker or lighter color.  The object then acts as a physical record of the local sun intensity and shadow activity for the day.

Thomas Traxler graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven Master of Design course in 2008.  The Idea of a Tree was his thesis project.

6 weeks in… latest project communication

These images above were shown for a progress presentation on November 2nd.

Thermochromic pigment

The first time I came across this stuff was in the early 90′s when my sister bought me a Hypercolor t-shirt as a gift.  I seem to remember my shirt being blue that turned to pink with body heat, a hair dryer, a fireplace.  Hmm, although I may have owned a mood ring before that.

Temperature sensitive liquid crystals or leuco dyes are suspended in a medium, be it paint, ink, paper, or polymer.  The materials change color according to change in temperature.  Leuco dyes are imprecise, essentially having an on or off position of color, one being invisible.   Bank notes and tickets often have hidden leuco dye patterns for security purposes. The dye also becomes exhausted over time and loses it’s sensitivity (chemical expiration date), so it’s more common in novelty or temporary items.

Liquid crystals are used in cases requiring accurate temperature readings, such as in baby bottles, kettles, battery indicators, and many different thermometers.

I’m interested in looking at the range of sensitivity in these pigments.  Can I control it in a new way? How can I use this material (in combination with another product?) to cleverly translate the temperature (what we feel) to color or pattern (what we see)?

Idea: iSky

Clouds have been observed by satellites for several decades.  The high resolution of images collected from geostationary satellites are making cloud mapping much more accurate, and increasing the possibility of focusing on small geographic areas on Earth.  Using the data collected, rough 3-D models of cloud fields can be created by combining observations of cloud base heights and cloud top heights, and vapor density.

In the near future, these tools will become so advanced, that we should be able to map and transmit in real-time what is happening in the sky above us.  Instead of having desktop gadgets showing us the temperature at an airport 15 miles away, or a partly cloudy icon, we’ll have exact information at our hands.  Even if we’re stuck inside at our desks, we can monitor what is happening outside through our screens.

This is an idea for an iPhone application that uses nowcasting.  The telephone’s GPS relays the exact latitude, longitude, and altitude of the user.  A mapping system will enable the person to see, through simulation of satellite data, the movement of weather occurring just overhead.

A collection of weather related products

Automotive rain-sensors

This is a precipitation-related technology that I might be interested to work with.

Modern automotive rain sensors use optical infrared sensors to detect moisture (I suppose it would also work for ash, if you were driving through a volcanic eruption…).  The  infrared light is beamed at a 45-degree angle into the windshield from the interior — if the glass is wet, less light makes it back to the sensor, and software cues the wipers to activate.  The heavier the rain or precipitation, the less light makes it back to the sensor, so the wipers increase speed to improve visibility.

For more information, see this video: Rain-sensing windshield wipers

Thesis theme and research

My general area of research is in weather and atmospheres.   I am starting with this very broad topic, with the intent on learning more about the specific facets and areas, hopefully to find good way to approach this as a designer. I’m fascinated, because the weather is so changing and ephemeral. However, weather systems are also extremely localized, changing from location to location and from minute to minute.  In built environments and large cities, the weather might be the only aspect of nature remaining.  Most architecture is a form of weather censorship, creating artificial and hermetic environments inside. It’s also an interesting political topic today, because of climate change, renewable energy, and so on.  As of  now, I’m reading about precedent in this area of study, how other artists and designers have used weather related topics…   I have a year of this research, and I’ll also be making things!   It’s a difficult task to reconcile academic research and method and intuition, and ultimately end up with something I will exhibit for my Master thesis in 2011.

Brand new blog!

Yes, hello dear world!  Finally I have created a blog to record my everyday events, work, research, interests, catharsis… etc!  I don’t intend to use this blog professionally, but rather to keep track of my thought trajectory.  However, I will also include portfolio and CV pages.