In the Jan/Feb 1996 Newsletter (No. 124) I wrote a President's Message titled "A Pencil, a Piece of Paper, a Magnet and You." In that message I asked if you would jot down on a piece of paper your list of electrostatic phenomena and the resulting useful electrostatics applications that have occurred from these phenomena over the past 100 years. I suggested you might keep your list under a magnet on your refrigerator. As to who should make up that list, I posed the question "Why us?" and gave the answer "If not us, then who?"
The technical and non-technical magazines are just now starting to get into the Year 2000 nostalgia regarding what has happened over the past 100 years. Least we be left out, we need our list. Within that list we need to be sure are listed those phenomenon each of us as ESA members have studied along with the uses that we as individuals enjoyed because of the development of electrostatics.
I know I can count on you to contribute your part in making this list a long and memorable one. Please send your input to ESA Newsletter Editor Bill Smart (address and e-mail on back of this Newsletter) or to me. We will collect your input and update the list in a future Newsletter. The list as it now stands is inside this Newsletter. If it does not cover your areas of electrostatics, then please let us know what you want added.
ESA joins Ed Law in his sorrow over the loss of his wife who died of cancer on January 15th at their home in Athens, Georgia. Sue accompanied Ed at many international electrostatic conferences and several ESA Annual Meetings and her presence will be missed.
For the Friendly Society,
Al Seaver
By now you have probably received a mailing indicating that your ESA dues are due and payable. Remember, our new Secretary Treasurer is Dr. Tim Erin, and your dues should be sent to him. His address is on the back page of this Newsletter.
Be sure to include this all important ESA function in your schedule in June. It promises to be a very interesting joint venture with the Institute of Electrostatics Japan. It will be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA on June 23 to June 26, 1998. Specific details will be coming to you in ample time to make detailed plans. You can contact Dr. Joe Crowley at 408-779-7774 or electro@electrostatic.com if you need immediate details.
Science News (Vol. 153, No.2) has a two and one half page spread devoted once again to the possible effects produced on the human body by exposure to Electromagnetic Fields. You are certainly aware of the fact that this subject has been a great bone of contention for many years and that as of recent date the subject was seemingly settled. Such is actually not the situation. The Science News article now opens the subject again reporting on the researches of a number of people who are looking at the effects of pulsed or varying fields as opposed to fields of constant strength. The researchers report that pulsed fields have been found to produce some influence on the growth of tumors. Supposedly this effect is explained by suggesting that the exposure to the pulsing EMF reduces the effects of certain materials which the body's immune system produces to control the growth of tumor cells. This approach now reopens the entire question of EMF exposure and shifts the study from the effects of large or small fields to the actual nature of the field itself. Many past studies centered upon the amount of melatonin (a naturally produced deterrent to tumor cell growth) when the body was exposed to EMF and these studies showed no increase or decrease of this upon exposure. These newer studies are centered upon the concept that the exposure, while leaving the amount of melatonin produced unchanged the exposure actually alters the ability of the melatonin to do its growth-retarding function. Charles Graham, an experimental physiologist at Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, MO is quoted as saying, "It is beginning to appear as though the field's magnitude matters less than its intermittency or other features, such as power surges called electrical transients."
So here we go again on this very interesting aspect of environmental studies. We can't expect to have an answer in the near future since this new aspect to the investigation comes at a time when the two major funding programs dedicated to research on EMF effects on health are slated to shut down in October and that program funded by the Electric Power Research Institute comes to an end with the years end. If as has been suggested, EMFs can be considered in this new light as acting on and through hormones rather than as hormones then it may be possible to obtain research funding under other governmental programs aimed at reducing pollutants. Further studies are certainly indicated.
Emery Miller
Think of a grisly murder scene - the policemen, the sirens, the flashing lights, All too clear, thanks to television and our never ending search for thrills. But now think of the next day. Much quieter. A dead body lying in a stainless steel tray and a medical examiner picking at the remains.
Why do I paint such a scene for you? It's all about education. You always want to help educate the younger generation, and you probably want to push a little hard in the science direction. What better place to start, than with a book?
And my recommendation. Dead Men Do Tell Tales , W. R. Maples and M. Browning, Doubleday, 1994. This wonderful volume is filled with science and encouragement to enter into the scientific lifestyle. Give it to a youngster, maybe between 12 and 17. Judge carefully their maturity, because they will hear blunt stories from a master forensic anthropologist. It's exciting stuff. Full of mystery and suspense. Maybe it will nudge them toward science. And after you see it, you might want one for yourself! Glenn Schmieg
ESA member Sam Hawk, who sent us a copy of Science News Vol. 151 containing an article with this title, describes it as "far out". Well, at least the location of the phenomenon described deserves that description. Callisto, the outermost of Jupiter's four large satellites, was photographed in December, 1996 with high resolution equipment and found to have no small craters, only large ones. Bombardment by asteroids and comets normally produce craters of all sizes. They found evidence that material from disintegrating craters has been moved distances over three miles, blanketing and smoothing over other pockmarked features of the surface. Traditional means for such migration are absent on Callisto since there is no atmosphere to blow the debris, no liquid to foster movement, nor any volcanic activity which might erase craters.
Planetary scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA propose that debris from some of the craters disintegrates as ices evaporate and then develops an electric charge. These charged particles repel each other, rise above the surface, and travel a significant distance before settling back down. They note that evidence of electrostatic levitation has been found on the moon and on asteroids.
In 1977 the American Institute of Physics established an award for industrial applications of physics. The winner of a $10,000 prize for 1997-1998 was ESA member, Dan Hayes of Xerox. He was cited "for contributions to the physics of xerography resulting in three generations of innovative new copiers and printers". This work has been highly praised. His name has been associated with very strong work in triboelectricity, magnetic brushes, and toner charge adhesion. Congratulations Dan!
ESA member Dr. M. Aldissi is conducting a seminar on The Technology Of Inherently Conductive Polymers on March 2 to 4, 1998 at Hilton Head Island, SC. For details contact Dr. Aldissi at 617-943-9076 or conductivepolymers@mail.com