Today's Interesting Engineering

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Kjeragbolten Boulder

The Kjeragbolten boulder is a huge rock wedged more than 1000 meters up between two cliff faces. The boulder is situated in the Kjerag mountain, in Norway.



Rumours say that the rock got stuck there sometime during the last ice age. Today, it’s one of the most popular places to get your picture taken. Even though the boulder hangs more than a kilometer above the water below, and there’s no hand rail or safety net, people walk (in some cases, crawl) out onto the rock for a photo shoot. Evidently the rock’s surface is flat enough that walking out onto it is relatively easy. Just mind your steps and don’t look down. If you get dizzy, you lose your balance and fall into the chasm below.



This area of Norway is absolutely gorgeous! Kjeragbolten is reachable from the Kjerag plateau, a peak that towers above all others in the Lysefjord area. The plateau has become a popular BASE jumping site. But several BASE jumping accidents happen here each year, and BASE jumping from the plateau may eventually become illegal. But if you don’t plan to jump from the plateau, you can simply take in an incredible view of the blue fjords below, the surrounding mountain cliffs, and, weather permitting, an azure sky. The climb to the plateau isn’t easy. The hike is a short 3.6 miles (6 kilometers), but it’s a vertical one; there’s an elevation change of 1,500 feet (500 meters) between start and finish.

To add to the intrigue of the Kjerag mountain, there’s a place near the summit where you’ll hear the sound of a pistol and even see smoke. It’s not a ghost shooting at you. It’s just the wind, blowing in from the east.


via:[ Howstuffworks ]

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[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

4 Ways to remove rust using household items

We tend to think that when an object starts getting rusty, there’s no turning back and its eventually gonna end up in the trash. However, there are some really good homemade tricks to remove those stubborn rust stains that end up growing worse over time. We are gonna some you some of these techniques that are not only very easy, but quite cheap because chances are you already have all the ingredients at home already.

White vinegar

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It is the strongest of all types of vinegars. The composition of this kitchen ingredient used to spice up salads, is able to react with the rust, removing it from metals. In order to remove the rust stain, put the rusty object in a bowl, drizzle it with white vinegar and let it work it’s magic while you go through with your day – the time will depend on the metal and how bad the rust is. After you notice the rust clearing up, scrub and wash off the object and it will be as good as new.

Lemon and salt

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The combination of these two elements can also remove the rust. Start by putting the rusty object in a flat, ventilated surface. Then coat the rust stain entirely with a think layer of salt. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the salt, making sure to cover the entire portion you want to clean. Allow the solution to react with the rust for one to three hours. Finally, use the lemon peel as a cloth to wipe the object clean and remove the stain.

Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate)

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Mix baking soda with a little bit of water in a bowl making a thick paste. Take the object you want to clean and cover the stain with the baking soda mixture and let it sit until it dries. You can then remove the larger pieces of the dough with your hands and brush off the rest. Then, scrub the object to remove all of the rust.

Potatoes and salt

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Yes. Potatoes. It is not a widely known fact, but potatoes have about the same amount of oxalic acid as most commercial products to remove rust (that also contain toxic chemicals and ingredients). To remove rust stains cut the potato in half, take one of them and simply rub the rust on the surface the object you want to clean. Then sprinkle a little salt on the rusty surface. Use the other half of the potato to rub the stain again on top of the salt. When the rust is gone, simply clean and dry your object.

Besides being easy to do, these homemade “recipes” to remove the rust, are simple, economical and effective. All that remains for you is you choose one you like best and begin to recover those old objects that have been hiding in the garage.

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[CarlS]

I did not know about the potato. I did know about the others.

 

[triumph david]

I would like to try out the Thync, i am always in a bad mood when i wake up.

 

[hemibee]

The tater was new to me too.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Building a safer, cleaner nuclear reactor| Molten Salt Reactor


A bunch of young engineers at NASA, pursuing the next heavy lift space vehicle, made an interesting discovery recently; they found that, in order to go forward, they needed to look back – They’re now designing the next gen rocket motor by revisiting the venerable F1, the heart of the Apollo program’s Saturn V. In that same vein, nuclear engineers are reaching back in an effort to come up with a 21st century reactor. What they’ve found is know as a molten salt reactor.

When we talk salt, we mean salts in the chemical sense; these are simple, stable compounds, most of which are ionic. Table salt, or sodium chloride, is a perfect example. Separately, both sodium and chlorine are seriously reactive elements. Sodium looks for any and every opportunity to drop an electron, while chlorine wants nothing more than to lose one – Yet put them together, and you get a remarkably stable compound. Heat table salt up to about 1475° F, and you have a molten, aka liquid salt. The versions used for controlled nuclear fission reaction are able to what they do at quite high temperatures; when they cool off, they contract and solidify. That’s advantageous, to say the least.

In the aftermath of World War II, a fair share of the scientists who’d worked on the atomic bomb went in pursuit of gentler uses for nuclear energy. With the military still firmly at the reins of the research train, thoughts turned to nuclear propulsion for things like ships, submarines, and even airplanes. A team from Oak Ridge National Laboratories began looking at what became known as molten salt reactors with those airplanes in mind. While nuke powered aircraft never got off the ground, (sorry, couldn’t resist…), a test reactor called the Aircraft Reactor Experiment did. By 1954, a graphite moderated reactor using a combination of uranium, sodium, and zirconium flourides, (the molten salt fuel), with beryllium oxide as a moderator, (chosen for its unparalleled thermal conductivity and insulating attributes), ran for over a week and performed quite well. With that success in their pocket, Oak Ridge began a study in 1956 to ascertain the viability of molten salt breeder reactors. Twenty years down the pipe, they’d successfully operated an 8 megawatt molten salt reactor, finding that “the salt is stable under reactor conditions, and corrosion is very low.” And then – Research just stopped. Funding was reduced to a trickle because of light water reactors – it was a situation kinda like 8 track versus cassette, VHS and Beta, or DVD against Blu-Ray – The fact is, the best technology didn’t win, and molten salt reactors faded into the sunset. Why did that happen, if the former was a better option? The answer is… Politics, my friends.

In a nutshell, light water won out because the navy chose that version to stick into its vessels. The first General Manager for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, MIT professor Carroll Wilson, put it this way: “The pressurized water reactor was peculiarly suitable and necessary for a submarine power plant where limitations of space and wieght were extreme. So as interest in the civilian use of nuclear power began to grow, it was natural to consider a system that had already proven reliable in submarines. This was further encouraged by the fact that the Atomic Energy Commission provided funds to build the first civilian nuclear power plant … using essentially the same system as the submarine power plant. Thus it was that a pressurized light water system became the standard model for the world.”

Molten salt reactors uses uranium salts heated to at least 950° F, (in various combinations with other salts), as the fuel, with molten fluoride salts as the coolant, at relatively low pressures. The fissile fuel can vary, depending on reactor design. In essence, a MSR design still employs a sealed loop for the fission reaction, which is then used to generate steam in a linked loop, which then powers turbines and produces power – Pretty much the same as a light water system, with the fundamental advantages we discussed earlier.

Naturally, your next question is, why was molten salt technology better? Potentially, there are a bunch of reasons. For starters, the fuel is a liquid, not a solid, and a such, it’s significantly less prone to melt downs. Secondly, the technology is far more efficient than light water reactors; where the latter wastes over 95% of the stored energy in its solid fuel, the former utilizes roughly 96% of the energy from its liquid fuel. Third, the price of molten salt reactors should be quite a bit lower than light water. Add the facts that fuel changeover in a molten salt reactor is far less frequent than in light water technology, and that the spent byproducts are far less to is than light water fuel rods. Finally, consider that you can, in fact, use spent fuel from light water reactors to power molten salt reactors. Tally all that up, and you’ve got a pretty attractive option.

There are far more outfits than just TransAtomic working on reviving this technology, and that’s a good thing. Competition breeds innovation, and that’s what the world needs right now. nuclear power isn’t a panacea, but it is a viable, necessary element to an overarching plan to supplant fossil fuel energy production. Factor in the consideration that this is proven, known stuff, and you have a winning bridge technology.

The post Building a safer, cleaner nuclear reactor| Molten Salt Reactor appeared first on Interesting Engineering.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Images from Rosetta reveal a spooky and rugged landscape

History was made when the European Space Agency deployed the Philae lander to the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and now seven months later they have revealed an extensive set of photographs from Rosetta that give us an insight into the spooky and rugged landscape of the comet.

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[Image Courtesy of ESA]​

The photos were taken by the NavCam of the spacecraft between September and November of last year when the craft went as close as 8km from the comet’s surface. A total of 1,776 photos were taken and the lander plunged down towards the surface of the comet and during the days after.

[Image Courtesy of ESA]​

Flybys have revealed images of the Imhotep region taken in February when the spacecraft came within just 6km of the surface and these showed large rocks along with jagged eerie landscapes jutting out from the surface. The surface was also covered with dust on the flatter regions.

[Image Courtesy of ESA]​

The new and astonishing set of photographs reveal the terrain from many different angles. It shows cliff edges that are harsh and which cut deep into the blackness of the space surrounding it. There are large boulders along with rocky hillsides that spread out into smoother dusty plains. The images of the alien landscape many miles away are spooky in black and white.

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[Image Courtesy of ESA]​

The Rosetta departed in 2004 and went into orbit of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August of last year. It made three flybys of Earth along with one of Mars and then headed towards Jupiter and picked up enough speed for it to catch the comet. The Philae lander made history when it became the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the surface of the comet.

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[Image Courtesy of ESA]​

A malfunction on landing caused the probe to land where sunlight could not reach the solar panels and this means that the spacecraft along with mission control were left in the dark when its battery was exhausted. While all attempts to re-establish contact with it have not been successful, the ESA believe that once it comes closer to the Sun it should begin to draw in solar power and be able to boot again. It should then be able to continue on exploring the comet and its surface.

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[Image Courtesy of ESA]​

Via [ESA]

The post Images from Rosetta reveal a spooky and rugged landscape appeared first on Interesting Engineering.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Labyrinth Marble Maze set given go-ahead by Lego

Lego fans just love coming up with ideas for new Lego sets and one submission has been based around the Lego Labyrinth Marble Maze. This is a tilting platform that the player can move with the aim of guiding a marble right to the end of the maze while at the same time avoiding the holes.

[Image Courtesy of Lego]​

Lego Ideas was launched by Lego so that fans could submit their ideas for new sets. Providing the idea gets a lot of votes, 10,000 or more, then it is reviewed. The review board look for such things as safety, playability, whether it would be feasible for them to produce it and if it would fit in with the branding. Providing the idea meets the criteria then it goes into production.

[Image Courtesy of Lego]​

If an idea is chosen from ideas uploaded to Lego Ideas the person gets a percentage of sales from that kit. The Labyrinth Marble Maze is among nine ideas that have qualified for the 3rd Lego Ideas Review 2014, with the qualifiers having just been recently announced.

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[Image Courtesy of Lego]​

As you might expect the idea for the Labyrinth was built entirely from Logo, with a frame or base, simple tilting mechanism which is made up of beams and axles that the player operated with two wheels. There are different mazes for slotting into the base and this means that they can be swapped in and out quickly without having to rebuild the whole thing.

[Image Courtesy of Lego]​

It comes with a container built into it in which to store balls along with a travel lock which keeps the whole thing in place when carrying or storing. There are holes located in strategic positions on the board which the ball can fall into if you don’t have a steady hand.

[Image Courtesy of Lego]​

Lego will now be looking into working out a final design, but at the moment the availability of the kit and the price tag has yet to be announced.

Via [Lego]

The post Labyrinth Marble Maze set given go-ahead by Lego appeared first on Interesting Engineering.

 

[CarlS]

Now that I have the instructions, I will build my own nuclear reactor. Dave, do you have any spare uranium lying around?

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Convertible Futon Bunk Bed

This is very practical sofa-to-bed furniture transformer which allows you to turn your living room into sleeping room with at least two places for sleeping. With just a few quick adjustments, the futon easily transforms into a fully functional bunk bed which will save you lots of space in any room of the house. It is highly appreciated in narrow homes such as student flats, small digs and rooms.



The futon bunk bed is very much like the transformer of the furniture world. On the exterior, it appears like an ordinary futon, capable of providing sleeping accommodations to one person at best. But you will be very surprised when you see its full functionality – it is actually a bunk bed capable of accommodating two guests (or more, depending on your creativity). Transforming the convertible futon into two-level bed is remarkably simple and takes just a few minutes to turn your living room into place to sleep.





Since this multi-use futon is likely to see a lot of action from all the sitting and people sleeping over, all covers are completely removable for easy washing and maintaining that fresh smell so your friends aren’t grossed out next time they stay over.

via:[thisiswhyimbroke.com]

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[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Tempescope physically simulates the weather forecast in a box

Before leaving the house you most likely wonder things like: “Should take a jacket? What about an umbrella? Will it rain?”. And there’s definitely nothing worse than leaving the house without an umbrella, then it starts to rain on your way to work. That is why most of us have gotten used to the habit of checking weather forecast apps on a daily basis in order to avoid getting caught in the rain. But sometimes you might forget to check the weather, right? Well, not if you have a Tempescope at home – it’s the weather “crystal ball”, but in a glass box, which provides an ambient physical display of the weather outside.

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Developed by Japanese designer Ken Kawanmoto, the device simulates the weather inside your living room. The gadget is controlled via wireless and creates meteorological aspects, such as rain, fog, humidity, lightning, sunny days, among others. With Tempescope you can check out how the weather is going to be the next day, therefore knowing exactly what to wear and not be unpleasantly surprised the next day.

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Kawanmoto decided to make Tempescope an open source project, providing online guidelines so that any one with technical programming skills can make their own box of weather. However, for those who know nothing about programming and still want a Tempescope, a team is currently preparing for a crowd funding campaign starting sometime in 2015, in order to make a commercial version of it.

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Source: Tempescope

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[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

26 miles of tunnel completed for Crossrail link

One of the biggest construction projects in Europe is the Crossrail link, an 118 km rail route that includes 42 km of tunnels that have been freshly dug and which go to the center of London.

[Image Courtesy of Crossrail]​

Tunneling has been taking place since 2012, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. To create the 6.2 m diameter tunnel a total of eight tunnel boring machines were used on the project. The end of digging means that the project is now around 65% complete.

[Image Courtesy of Crossrail]​

In total about 250,000 concrete segments were used in the Crossrail link project and around 7 million tons of material were excavated, with around 98% of it having been recycled. 3 million tons of material was taken to the Wallasea Island nature reserve and it helped to restore the habitat. The focus is now being put on the fitting of the new tunnels and stations, including putting up signs, lighting and wall panels.

[Image Courtesy of Crossrail]​

When the Crossrail link is completed it will connect Heathrow and Reading to Shenfield and Abbey Woods and in total there are 40 stations along the route. It is thought that the rail link will see around 200 million passengers travelling along it each year. This will boost the current amount by as much as 10%.

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[Image Courtesy of Crossrail]​

When the new line begins to operate it will become the busiest rail hub in the UK and will change the way passengers travel not just in London but also in the South East. It will also add on direct connections to international rail services along with three out of five of London’s airports. Services will begin in central London by December 2018.

[Image Courtesy of Crossrail]​

Via [Crossrail]

The post 26 miles of tunnel completed for Crossrail link appeared first on Interesting Engineering.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

NASA 50 year spacewalk history revealed in photos

In 1965 Edward H. White II stepped out of the spacecraft into space and set the way for many astronauts to follow him. Now to mark 50 years of spacewalks NASA revealed photos that will take your breath away.

[Image Courtesy of NASA]​

White spent a total of 20 minutes outside the Gemini spacecraft and then two decades later Bruce McCandless made another leap. He departed the spacecraft and made the first ever untethered spacewalk using a nitrogen-propelled, hand controlled jetpack.

[Image Courtesy of NASA]​

Since then, astronauts have made many walks including 21 on the Moon, 184 walks outside of the International Space Station, 82 walks outside of the airlocks of space shuttles and around 166 performing servicing on the Hubble Space Telescope.

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[Image Courtesy of NASA]​

Today NASA is focusing more on the development of advanced spacesuits to allow astronauts to travel deeper than ever before into space, with the possibility of a trip to Mars. The photos released to mark the 50th anniversary are astonishing, check them out.

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[Image Courtesy of NASA]​

Via [NASA]

The post NASA 50 year spacewalk history revealed in photos appeared first on Interesting Engineering.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Albert Einstein

Probably the most famous scientist was born on March 14, 1879, at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany. Very soon after that his family moved to Munich, where the young genius started school at Luitpold Gymnasium. Later Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics and he graduated 5 years later, in 1901. At the same time he acquired Swiss citizenship and, unable to become a teacher, he became technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor’s degree.





1908 was a key year in his carrier starting a series of appointments during the following 6 years. First, the same year he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in 1912 for a similar position. In 1914 he became Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He took German citizenship in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933. Then he left Germany due to political reasons and travelled to America, where he became a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton University. He took United States citizenship in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.



After World War II, he collaborated with Dr. Chaim Weizmann in establishing the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Einstein declined the offer for the Presidency of the State of Israel at the same time.

During his scientific work, Einstein worked hard on the Newtonian mechanics, solving some inadequacies in this theory. He also solved some classical problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which successfully explained the Brownian movement of molecules.

In 1916 he published a paper on the general theory of relativity, where he explained that a theory of gravitation is required for the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity.

In the 1920‘s, Einstein worked on the construction of unified field theories, along with his work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory. He continued his development of the quantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology.



After his retirement he continued to work towards the unification of the basic concepts of physics, taking the opposite approach, geometrisation, to the majority of physicists.

The most significant of his scientific works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement (1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Some of his other works like About Zionism (1930), Why War? (1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950) reveal that he was not only scientist, but also a socially active person.

Albert Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the 1920‘s he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East and he was awarded Fellowships or Memberships of all the leading scientific academies around the world. He gained several awards for his work, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935.

He married Mileva Maric in 1903 and they had a daughter and two sons. They divorced in 1919 and in the same year Albert married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, who died in 1936. Professor Einstein died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey.

via: [nobelprize.org]

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[CarlS]

A brilliant man.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

China will use drones to catch cheaters taking the world’s most stressful exams

The Chinese city of Luoyang will use drones to patrol exam rooms in an attempt to prevent students from cheating. The new surveillance method started being used this weekend during the National College Entrance Exam.

The exam, aka “the gaokao” is taken every year by up to 10 million students across the country and determines whether the student will have access to higher education and if so, to which universities they can attend.

This exam become known as “the most stressful examination in the world”, and for obvious reasons since about a quarter of the students get cut off annually and can’t attend university. So Luoyang is now going to use drones to strengthen their security measures and try to prevent students from receiving external help during the tests.

Local authorities tested this system last Friday in order to make sure it’ll work perfectly during the two days of exams. These drones can detect radio waves emitted by electronic devices – banned in the examination venues – that allow locating its source and notifying the staff where the offender is.

In previous years, the Chinese authorities have confiscated transmitters and other devices – which students used to cheat – hidden in clothing, glasses, pens and even inside the ears. China pretty much paralyzes every year during the “gaokao” since most of the traffic stops in cities across the country and in Beijing, for example, they set up anti-terrorism schemes, so that nothing interferes the exams.

The Chinese authorities have made the students well aware of the cheater-catching drones in hopes that the fear of being caught will reduce drastically the incidence of cheating. In case a student is caught cheating, not only are they prosecuted under Chinese law, they are also banned from the exams for three years.

Via: Wired

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[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

Sin City Hustler monster truck costs $1 million

If you had $1 million pound to spend what would you spend it on? Perhaps a luxury holiday home in the sun or what about a yacht? Well car lovers my want to spend it on a stretched out version of a Ford Excursion monster truck by the name of the Sin City Hustler from Big Toyz Racing.

[Image Courtesy of Automobilemag]​

The Sin City Hustler was a Ford Excursion when it first began life. It was then lifted, stretched and fitted onto the chassis of a monster truck that was custom built. The vehicle runs on tires that are 66 inches tall along with being 44 inches in width. It has the V8 engine of Ford and it offers 700 horses and has a hydraulic system that can automatically open the back door along with lowering down a ladder for access. It has been stretched out so that it can carry a dozen passengers.

[Image Courtesy of Automobilemag]​

The floor of the Sin City Hustler has been lowered by 18 inches so that there is plenty of room inside for the passengers to stand up inside it without bagging their heads. The floor is made from aluminium diamond-plate with the remainder of the vehicle being surrounded with clear Lexan allowing passengers a close up view of the suspension of the huge truck and the how the four wheels deal with the rough terrain.

[Image Courtesy of Automobilemag]​

Via [Automobilemag]

The post Sin City Hustler monster truck costs $1 million appeared first on Interesting Engineering.

 

[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

A drone that can fly forever revealed from Boeing

James J. Childress and John J. Viniotis from Boeing have been given approval from the US Patent and Trademark Office for their autonomous drone that is able to recharge without even having to land.

[Image Courtesy of USPTO/Boeing]​

Drones have a limited amount of time that they can fly as they are limited by the electricity or fuel they can carry. However this is a limitation that will soon be a thing of the past. The patent describes a system that has battery-powered dirigibles or drones that deploy a tether that is retractable. This tether can connect up to a power source while the drone is hovering. Once it is fully charged it then flies off and completes the task that it has been programmed to do and another drone will then take its place at the charging point.

Depending on the application of the drone its tether can connect to many sources and these include power supplies that are based on land or the ocean. It can also tether to moving vehicles and this means that it is able to charge while it is flying.

[Image Courtesy of USPTO/Boeing]​

Boeing filed the patent in March 2013 and it was given approval this week. The concept is a reasonable one for being effective when it comes to managing and charging fleets of drones. As the drones are able to fly without having to land to be recharged there is no need for storage and landing space. This doesn’t do away with the need of them having to land periodically so that they can be maintained.


At the moment the system is on the drawing board and we have no idea if Boeing is going to build the drones or not.

Via [Businessinsider]

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[DaveM]

In today's Interesting Engineering we have the following

The Dutch Windwheel houses apartments, a hotel and even a giant coaster ride

One of the major sources of energy in the Netherlands are windmills, but a conceptual project aims to give other uses to the construction. The Dutch Windwheel project made for the city of Rotterdam idealizes a windmill which is also an apartment building, a hotel and has many tourist attractions. Lennart Graaff of the Dutch Windwheel Corporation said the project will be sort of a Dutch equivalent of the London Eye in England.

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Designed by the South African architect Duzan Doepel, the establishment is 174 meters tall with a highly modern design, consisting of two rings. The first wheel has 160 hotel rooms, 72 residential apartments, a panoramic restaurant and a rooftop deck, all in a total area of 28,000 m². The outer circle houses a coaster ride with 40 cabins that run on rails, where visitors can enjoy a fantastic view of the city while receiving tourist information from a hologram virtual guide. The turbine that fills the inner ring of the structure, is a silent electrostatic wind energy converter developed by the Delft University of Technology.

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The project calls for a steel and glass structure and its underwater foundation gives the impression that the Windwheel is floating. In order to become a reality, however, some technologies still need further developing, but once its built, the creators estimate that the Dutch Windwheel will attract 1.5 million visitors a year.

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Via: Inhabitat

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[Rocky]

Stunning stuff!
Why couldn't I have been born brilliant instead of ravishingly handsome