Life in Digits
atomic, consistent, isolated, and durableModel T? with Alan Kay
“There are some concepts that are like the constellations: you can use them to understand and navigate the world, solve problems, invent new stuff– ideas like geometric progression, proportion and scale,change over time,etc. All have heuristic power, and many go beyond this to provide real methods for stronger thinking. Some can be learned via “guided insight” and some require real practice.
http://www.ted.com/talks/alan_kay_shares_a_powerful_idea_about_ideas.html
“Engineers should read a book about how the Empire State building was done. Including the demolition of the building on the site before, the Empire State building was built in 11 months by 3000 people. We don’t know how to do this in computing. Whatever we think engineering is, it can’t mean the modern use of the term. I don’t know of a single computing system that is attached to you that if it fails it will almost certainly kill you. That’s what happens with jet engines. That’s engineering”
http://www.windley.com/archives/2006/02/alan_kay_is_com.shtml
“UCLA has one computer science department, but 25 full departments of biology (not counting medical school stuff). Why? Biologists are smarter then we are. When things are bogging down, the best thing to do is to go create a new department. To do creative work in computing, you must get past what you think is normal. Write down the 20 things you think are true of computing and try to demolish them.”
The future five years out is easy to predict because all of the forces acting on computer science are trying to keep it the same as it is now. Likely, the future will be more of what we have now. “
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AlanKaysDefinitionOfObjectOriented
Novum Organum
İnsan, doğanın yöneticisi ve yorumcusu olarak, doğa düzeni üzerindeki gözlemlerinin izin verdiği kadar eylemde bulunabilir ve nedenleri anlayabilir. Daha ötesini ne bilir, ne de bilebilir.”
Hiç kuşkusuz, Novum Organum’un bu cümleleri Bacon’un görüşlerini, deneyselciliğini, gözlemciliğini ve insan ile doğaya bakış açısını güzel bir şekilde özetlemektedir. Eserin adından da fark edilebileceği gibi, karşımızda yeni bir Organon vardır, Aristo’ya ve eski yöntemlere karşı, yeni bir yöntem, yeni bir bilim ve mantık sistemi.
Bilimin kılavuzu felsefenin gerektiği konuma gelebilmesi, ve insanın bilim ışığı altında yükselebilmesi için, Bacon’a göre zihnin “putları” yıkılmalıydı. “Put” ile Bacon’ın kastı, gerçeklerin yerine konulmuş, yanlış ve hatalı, akıl-dışı yöntemler ve düşüncelerdir. Bu yanlış yöntem ve düşünceler, sadece yeni yanlışlıkların doğmasına yol açar, böylece bilimin gerçek yolunun ve gerçeklerin üstünü örter. Eserde dört çeşit put ile karşılaşırız: Kabile (Oymak) putları, Mağara putları, Çarşı putları, ve Sahne (Tiyatro) putları.
Kabile (Oymak) putları, tüm putların en önemlisi ve en zararlısıdır. Gelenekten veya doğal yapımızdan gelen görüşleri araştırma yapmaksızın kabul etmeyi içerir. Oysa, Bacon’a göre düşüncelerimiz nesnelerden çok kendimizi, bakış açımızı yansıtır. İnsan olmasını istediği şeye kolaylıkla inandığı için birçok geri dönüşü olmayan yanlış kanılara sapar.
Mağara putları olarak adlandırılan ikinci grup putlar ise, yaratılışıntan ve doğadaki gelişim süreci yüzünden biçimlenen ve daraltılan (limitlenen) bakış açısını ve zihni tanımlar. Oysa gerçek ne dar bir alana sıkıştırılmıştır, ne de tarafgirdir. Mağara putları kişinin gelişmesini, daha geniş bir pencereden bakmasını engelleyen yanlışlıklar, dar bakış açılarıdır.
Çarşı putları ise “insanların birbiriyle ilişkilerinden ve alışverişlerinden meydana gelir”. Anlaşılacağı üzere dil ve insan ilişkileri ile ilgilidir. Dilin, kelimelerin ve insan ilişkilerinin zihni daralttığı noktaları ve doğurduğu yanlışları simgeler.
Son olarak Sahne putları, filozofların eski çağlarda ürettiği temelsiz, dramatik dogmalardır.
Bacon’a göre insan zihnini körelten bu putlar yıkılmadıkça felsefe ve bilim karanlıktan kurtulamazdı.
Kaynak : wiki
Effects of Climate Change
17 June 2010 – France flooding: Britons speak of ordeal
17 June 2010 – China rain storms and floods
Climate Change
Yorumlar kapalı
Dunning-Kruger Etkisi , Cahil Cesareti
New York Stern School of Business’te görevli psikologlar Justin Kruger
ve David Dunning’in tarihe geçmelerine vesile olan bulguları, yani
Dunning-Kruger Etkisi adıyla literatüre geçecek olan teorileri de,
Türk sağduyusunun yüzyıllardır “cahil cesareti” dediği şeydir aslında.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology’nin Aralık-99 sayısında
yayımlanan teorileri özetle, “cehalet, gerçek bilginin aksine, bireyin
kendine olan güvenini artırır” der.
Metin çözme, araç kullanma, tenis oynama gibi çeşitli alanlarda
yapılan araştırmaların sonucunda şu bulgulara ulaşılmıştır:
-Niteliksiz insanlar ne ölçüde niteliksiz olduklarını fark edemezler.
-Niteliksiz insanlar, niteliklerini abartma eğilimindedir.
-Niteliksiz insanlar, gerçekten nitelikli insanların niteliklerini
görüp anlamaktan da acizdirler.
-Eğer nitelikleri, belli bir eğitimle artırılırsa, aynı niteliksiz
insanlar, niteliksizliklerini n farkına varmaya başlarlar.
Değerlendirme zaafı
İki uzman daha sonra, bu teorilerini test etme fırsatı da buldular.
Cornell Üniversitesi’ nden 45 öğrenciye bir test yaptılar, çeşitli
sorular sordular. Ardından öğrencilerden “testin sonucunda ne kadar
başarılı olacaklarını tahmin etmelerini” istediler.
En başarısızların (yani sadece yüzde 10 ve daha az doğru cevap
verenlerin), testin yüzde 60′ına doğru cevap verdiklerine, ayrıca iyi
günlerinde olsalar yüzde 70′e ulaşabileceklerine inandıkları ortaya
çıktı.
En iyilerin (yani en az yüzde 90 doğru sonuç alanların) en
alçakgönüllü denekler olduğu (soruların yüzde 70′ine doğru cevap
verdiklerini düşündükleri) görüldü. (Not: Dunning ve Kruger bu
çalışmalarıyla 2000 yılında Nobel de kazandılar.)
İki uzman psikolog bu bilinçsizliği, “kronik kendi kendini
değerlendirme (auto-evaluation) yeteneksizliğ ine” bağlıyorlar.
Çalışan, kendi kapasitesini değerlendirmekten ve eksikliğini teşhis
etmekten acizdir. Ama asıl vahim olan, bu “yetersizlik + haddini
bilmeme” kokteylinin, mesleki açıdan, karşı koyulmaz bir itici güç
oluşturması. Kariyer açısından bir eksiyken, artıya dönüşmesi.
İşinde çok iyi olduğuna yürekten inanan “yetersiz”, kendini ve
yaptıklarını övmekten, her işte öne çıkmaktan ve haddi olmayan
görevlere talip olmaktan en küçük bir rahatsızlık duymayacaktır.
Aksine bunu bir “hak” olarak görecektir. “Uyanıklık” bilecektir.
Bu arada, gerçekten bilgili ve yetenekli insanlar ise çalışma
hayatında “fazla alçakgönüllü” davranarak kendilerine haksızlık
edecekler, öne çıkmayacaklar, yüksek görevlere kendiliklerinden talip
olmayacaklar, kıymetlerinin bilinmesini bekleyecekler (ve bilinmeyince
için için kırılacaklar ve kendilerini daha da geriye çekecekler) ve
muhtemelen üstleri tarafından “ihtiras eksikliği” ile suçlanacaklardı r.
Üstleri de zaten, genelde “aynı yoldan geçmiş” insanlardır.
Buna, insan kaynaklarının, iki benzer CV arasından, “kendine güvenen
ve iyi sonuç alma olasılığı yüksek” adayı tercih edeceği gerçeğini de
eklerseniz, Dunning-Kruger Sendromu’nun Peter Prensibi’nin (*)
yatağını yaptığı da ortaya çıkar.
Sonuçta, “kifayetsiz muhterisler” her zaman ve her yerde daha hızlı
yükselecekler ve daha yukarılara çıkacaklardır. Etrafınıza bir bakın,
uzmanlara hak vereceksiniz.
(*) Peter Prensibi: Her çalışan, iş ortamında yetersiz olduğu noktaya
kadar yükselir, der. Bunun doğal sonucu olarak, yüksek makamlar daima
yetersiz insanlar tarafından işgal edilir.
Kifayetsiz muhterisi nasıl tanırsınız?
1- Gücünü delegasyon bahanesinden alır. Ekibinin orkestra şefi havalarına girer.
2- Çok gürültü patırtı eder, çok şey yapıyormuş havası estirir.
3- Koridorlarda hızlı hızlı, düşünceli edayla yürür.
4- “Beşer şaşar” diye düşünür. Ama genellikle şaşan beşer başkası
değil, kendisidir.
5- Ne olursa olsun, hazırlıklıymış, olacakları önceden biliyormuş gibi davranır.
6- Üstlerine karşı son derece kibardır; altındakilere (özellikle de en
çok ihtiyaç duyduklarına) kötü muamele eder.
7- İktidar ilişkileri ve göstergeleri onun için çok önemlidir.
Astlarına kimin üst olduğunu hatırlatmayı sever.
8- İlk denemede başarılı olamazsa, başarısızlığının belgelerini yok
etmeyi unutmaz.
9- Talimatlarını post-it ile, e-postayla verir böylece astlarıyla
yüzleşmekten kaçar.
10- Toplantılarda son sözü mutlaka o söyler, gerekirse başkasının
sözünü tekrarlamak pahasına..
Food Inc.
A scene from the documentary “Food, Inc.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS on NYTimes
Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially buttered, nonorganic popcorn at the concession stand. That, at least, is one of the unappetizing lessons to draw from one of the scariest movies of the year, “Food, Inc.,” an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy. You’ll shudder, shake and just possibly lose your genetically modified lunch.
Divided into chapters dedicated to points along the commercial food chain — from farm to fork, to borrow a loaded agribusiness phrase — the movie is nothing if not ambitious. “There are no seasons in the American supermarket,” the unidentified voice intones in the opening scene, as the camera sweeps the aisles of one such brightly lighted, heavily stocked if nutritionally impoverished emporium. From there the director Robert Kenner jumps all over the food map, from industrial feedlots where millions of cruelly crammed cattle mill about in their own waste until slaughter, to the chains where millions of consumers gobble down industrially produced meat and an occasional serving of E. coli bacteria.
The voice in the opening belongs to the ethical epicurean and locavore champion Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” as well as a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine. (Somewhat confusingly, the movie uses voice-overs without clearly identifying who’s issuing forth on the soundtrack.) Mr. Pollan, who periodically appears on screen seated at a homey-looking table, is a great strength of “Food, Inc.,” as is one of its co-producers, Eric Schlosser, the author of “Fast Food Nation.” These two embodiments of conscience, together with Mr. Kenner, chart how and why the villains not only outnumber the heroes in contemporary food production, but also how and why they outbluff, outmuscle and outspend their opponents by billions of often government-subsidized dollars.
If you’ve read either “Fast Food Nation” or “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” you won’t be surprised by what the movie shows and tells about the killing floors and soybean fields. Chances are that you’ll still be appalled, which is to Mr. Kenner’s credit. Much as Mr. Schlosser does in “Fast Food Nation,” the movie takes a look at the animal abuse in industrial food production — including clandestine images of sick and crippled cows being prodded to join the rest of the ill-fated herd — but its main focus is on the human cost. It’s a cost visible in the rounded bodies of a poor family that eats cheap if filling fast-food burgers for breakfast and in the obscured faces of farmers too frightened to go on record about Monsanto, the agricultural biotech giant.
As Mr. Kenner marshals his prodigious evidence, including bushels of statistics, a veritable village of talking heads and too many dopey graphics, he makes the case that there’s something horribly wrong with a system in which a bag of chips cost less than a bag of carrots. It’s such a good case that you soon realize there are a dozen more documentaries tucked inside this one. The section on Monsanto is particularly eye-opening and could be spun out in more detail. And I could have spent more time with the philosophizing organic farmer Joel Salatin, who guts his chickens al fresco, hails his free-ranging livestock (“Hey, pig!”) and is a reality show waiting to happen. It could be called “Hello, and Goodbye, Pig!”
There is, in the end, something inherently frustrating about a movie that’s at once as fine, ambitious and, at a crisp 93 minutes, as abbreviated as “Food, Inc.” Time and again the movie stops short before it really gets started, as with the debates over the big business of organic food. The moment when an organic farmer cheerily tells a smiling Wal-Mart representative that her family has been boycotting the company for years is hilarious. But it’s also over before the issues have really been thrashed through. And while I appreciate the impulse behind the final checklist that tells what viewers can do for themselves and the world (er, eat organic), given everything we’ve just seen, it also registers as far too depressingly little.
Home
We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate.
The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.
For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.
HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Click Here to Watch on YouTube
HOME official website
http://www.home-2009.com
PPR is proud to support HOME
http://www.ppr.com
HOME is a carbon offset movie
http://www.actioncarbone.org
More information about the Planet
http://www.goodplanet.info
Tüm Yaşamın Demokrasisi
Vandana Shiva’nın, BGST Yayınları tarafından yayımlanan kitabı Yeryüzü Demokrasisi*, hem kadim, hem de modern toplulukların yarın için esin verici pratiklerinden hareketle, rehber bir dünya görüşü ileri sürüyor. Yeryüzü Demokrasisi (YD) hem geçmiş, hem yaşayan hem de gelecekte var olacak yaşayan ekonomiler, demokrasiler ve kültürler üzerinde yükselen bir gezegen vizyonu özelliği taşıyor. Bu vizyona göre, gıda ve su gibi, yaşamak için elzem olan en temel kaynakların dahi geniş insan topluluklarından koparıldığı, çalındığı ve devletler eliyle büyük şirketlere devredildiği günümüzde, yarınımızı geri kazanacak hak ve demokrasi mücadelesinin de bu en temel kaynakların savunusu üzerinden şekillenmesi gerekiyor. Bir tür olarak, diğer türlerle birlikte devamımızı savunan, tüm çeşitliliğiyle birlikte yerelden başlayıp, ortak insanlığımızın bilinciyle evrensele ulaşan YD, bir program değil, fakat gezegen kardeşliğini temel alan bir gelecek perspektifi sunuyor.
YD’yi anlayabilmek için, onu cisimleştiren üç sacayağına, yaşayan ekonomi, demokrasi ve kültürlere değinmemiz gerekiyor.
Yaşayan ekonomiler, yeryüzü kaynaklarının, yeterli rızk yaratmak üzere hakkaniyetle, diğer türlerin haklarını ve ekosistemin sınırlarını ihlal etmeden paylaşıldığı süreçlerdir. Günümüzde, dünya nüfusunun üçte ikisini oluşturan, rızkını doğanın sağladığı kaynaklardan dolaysız bir şekilde temin eden küçük köylülerin ve kırsal toplulukların ekonomisi, yaşayan ekonomilerdir. Yaşayan ekonomiler sadece kırsal olanla, doğrudan doğanın sunduğu kaynaklara dayalı faaliyetlerle sınırlı değildir. Ekonomik demokrasiyi, öz-yönetimi, demokratik katılımı temel alan, insanların rızk kazanmalarına ve hakkaniyetle paylaşmalarına hizmet eden tüm ekonomik evreni içermektedir. Buna göre, sadece geleneksel bilgiye dayalı tarımsal üretim yapan, tohumun, suyun ve bakım onarım işlerinin paylaşımında pazarın ve bürokratik kontrolün dışındaki mekanizmalara başvuran köylüler değil; rızkını temin etmek üzere evinde üretim yapan, ürünlerini pazara sunarken dayanışma ve hakkaniyet gözeten, şirketlere ve hiyerarşik denetim mekanizmalarına teslim olmayan kentli kadınlar da bu yaşayan ekonomik evrenin bir parçasıdır.
Yaşayan ekonomiler yaşayan demokrasilerden ayrı düşünülemez. Yaşayan demokrasiler, yeryüzünde yaşamı korumak, barışı ve adaleti güçlendirmek üzere temel özgürlüklerin iadesini talep edeceğimiz, temel haklarımızı savunacağımız, ortak sorumluluklarımızı ve görevlerimizi yerine getireceğimiz tüm evrendir. Şirket ve devlet partilerinin seçkinlerini belirli aralıklarla meclise yolladığımız, onları geri çağıramadığımız, aleyhimize pişkinlikle alınan kararları yalnızca seyretmek durumunda kaldığımız temsili demokrasiden farklı olarak, tüm halkın yaratıcı fikir ve enerjisini temel alan, adem-i merkeziyetçi, katılımcı karar ve yönetim mekanizmaları hakkındadır. Buna göre, örneğin geleneksel bilginin, tohum ve su kaynaklarının paylaşımında meclis yapılarını, bu meclislerin tesis ettiği kural ve uygulamaları temel alan kültürler, yaşayan demokratik evrenin bir parçasıdır. Keza, su hizmetlerinin özelleştirilmesine, su, orman, gen kaynakları üzerinde şirket kontrolüne karşı demokratik direniş örgütleyen, bu kaynakların kontrolünü öz-yönetimci mekanizmalara devreden hareketler de bu yaşayan demokratik evrenin içinde yer almaktadır.
Peki, yaşayan demokrasiler üzerinde yükselmeyen bir yaşayan demokrasi olabilir mi? İnsan topluluklarının ve türlerin çeşitliliğine saygı göstermeyen, dilsel, dinsel, cinsel, etnik çeşitlilikleri, farklı ritüel ve inanışları, bilgiye ulaşmanın farklı biçimlerini dikkate almayan bir yaşayan demokrasi olabilir mi? Bu soruların yanıtı hayırdır ve yaşayan demokrasiler ve yaşayan kültürler arasındaki zorunlu bağa işaret etmektedir. Yaşayan demokrasileri inşa eden topluluklar, rızk ve erk sahibi olmanın verdiği özgüvenle, kendi yerel çeşitliliklerini yansıtan pozitif kimlikler inşa ederler. Bu çeşitli kimlikler bir diğerini yadsımadığı için, ortak insani değerlerimiz altında buluşarak, gezegen bireyleri olarak hem karşılıklı hem de diğer türlerle bağlılığımızı temel alan evrensel bir kimlik inşa ederler. Yaşayan kültürler, çeşitliliği, yerel olanı, rızk ve erk sahibi birey ve toplulukların ürettiği pozitif kimlikleri temel alır ve asla parçalanmışlık, kopukluk ve gettolaşma anlamına gelmez. Aksine, çeşitliliklerin ortak insanlığımız ve diğer türlerle kardeşliğimiz altında buluşmasıdır.
Yaşayan ekonomiler, demokrasiler ve kültürler birbirini besler ve birlikte YD’yi kurarlar.
YD, klasik liberal, özgürlükçü sol ve anarşizan geleneğin kadim meselelerini, Hindistani kültürlerin şiddetten kaçınma felsefesini, Gandici antiemperyalizmi ve aşağıdan küreselleşme hareketlerinin son on ila yirmi yıllık birikimini bir gezegen bilinci altında bir araya getiriyor. Sürdürülebilir bir gezegen, adil bir yaşam ve kalıcı bir barış perspektifi sunan YD, bizleri ekonomik demokrasiyi inşa etmek, bunun için demokratik öz-yönetim kapasitemizi geliştirmek, diğer birey, topluluk ve türlerle barışık olmak, insanın ve doğanın çeşitliliğine karşı saygı göstermek gibi pek çok ödevle baş başa bırakıyor.
Yeryüzü Demokrasisi’ni okuyanlar, benim yukarıdaki değinmelerime ilaveten pek çok bilgi ve olguyla karşılaşacak, ve YD’ye dair kendi görüşlerini oluşturacaklar. YD’nin bakış açısıyla ekonomi, demokrasi ve kültür gibi konulara bir iki yazı ile değinmeye devam edeceğim. Fakat bu yazıyı bitirirken, YD’nin probleminin yalnızca şirketlerle değil, genel anlamda iktidarla ilgili olduğunun altını çizmek istiyorum. YD’nin insanları davet ettiği mücadele yalnızca şirketlere karşı değil, aynı zamanda içimizdeki, yerelimizdeki ve topluluğumuzdaki hiyerarşilere de karşıdır. YD bizleri, yaşamın her alanında, her türlü üretim faaliyetinde –mal, bilgi, kültür, sanat üretiminde– ve haklar mücadelesinin içerisinde, alternatif mülkiyet modelleri, geri besleme ilişkilerine dayalı katılımcı karar mekanizmaları, bireysel-grupsal farklılıkları tehdit değil zenginlik olarak gören ilişki kalıpları kurmaya davet ediyor.
SmartWork @IBM
Making our organizations as smart as our people.
You probably work a lot smarter today than you did twenty years
ago, or ten years ago — or even last year. The Internet and wireless
revolutions continue to transform the way individuals create, use
and share information; the way we build and maintain relationships;
the way we make decisions.
So why does it feel like we are working so much harder?
Unfortunately, the best work in many companies often happens
despite our processes and structures, rather than because of them.
Individuals and teams today are ready to collaborate, multitask and
cocreate — and yet, every week, businesses waste 5.3 hours per
employee because of inefficient processes. A full two-thirds of
employees believe there are colleagues who can help them do their
jobs better, but they don’t know how to find them — and 42% of people
say they are forced to make decisions with the wrong information
at least once a week. It’s no wonder that 91% of CEOs surveyed say
they need to restructure the way their organizations work.
To work smarter, we’ll need smarter organizations — enhancing and
benefiting from their people’s expertise, enterprise and creativity, rather
than inhibiting them. Transforming the collaborative infrastructure
and processes of our places of work will enable people to take
advantage of the full scope of an instrumented, interconnected and
intelligent planet. And the good news is that many organizations
around the world are showing the way.
Some are re-architecting their operations around the ability to capture
real-time data. For instance, planners for Danone, the world’s leading
maker of fresh dairy products, can adjust their production process
continually — and implement changes in hours that used to take
days. Insurance firm Celina uses collaboration tools to connect its
independent agents and underwriters, helping them to reduce policy
turnaround time from weeks to days. And Hannover Medical School
in Germany uses mobile and wireless technology to gather and
record trauma patients’ data in real time throughout their hospital
stay, enabling its system to communicate, “Patient X is waiting for
doctor Y in room Z.”
Some are working and collaborating in new ways across ecosystems,
supply chains and their own internal silos. Using in-car wireless
telemetry, auto-leasing services provider UBench International helps
cars alert drivers to scheduled maintenance checks and directs them
to a community of service providers. Moosejaw Mountaineering’s
social networking approach has increased its online customer
conversion rate by 50%. The Salvation Army’s Web-based collaboration
infrastructure across 118 countries connects volunteers, supplies and
relief coordination activities.
And some organizations are changing where and how decisions
are made, and are including input from employees, partners and
customers. Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson has tapped the
on-the-road insights of the worldwide Harley Owners Group to
shape its processes and product development. And IBM reached
out to clients, partners, employees and their families — more than
150,000 people from 70 organizations — in 2006’s InnovationJam.
They generated 46,000 ideas, and so far we’ve invested $70 million
in ten of them — generating revenues close to $300 million over the
past two years.
Organizations around the world are transforming themselves, not
only to manage their processes more efficiently, but also to help
their people work smarter, instead of just harder. Indeed, in a world
of smarter work, we may finally be able to make our organizations as
agile, as collaborative and as creative as the people within them.
For more information:http://twitter.com/ibmsmartwork
40 Inventive Principles With Examples
Principle 1 Segmentation
A. Divide an object into independent parts
- Different focal length lenses for a camera
- Gator-grip socket spanner
- Multi-pin connectors
- Multiple pistons in an internal combustion engine
- Multi-engined aircraft
- Stratification of different constituents inside a chemical process vessel
B. Make an object sectional – easy to assemble or disassemble
- Rapid-release fasteners for bicycle saddle/wheel/etc
- Quick disconnect joints in plumbing and hydraulic systems
- Single fastener V-band clamps on flange joints
- Loose-leaf paper in a ring binder
C. Increase the degree of fragmentation or segmentation
- Multiple control surfaces on aerodynamic structures
- 16 and 24 valve versus 8 valve internal combustion engines
- Multi-zone combustion system
- Build up a component from layers (e.g. stereo-lithography, welds, etc)
Principle 2 Taking out
A. Extract the disturbing part or property from an object
- Non-smoking areas in restaurants or in railway carriages
- Children-only areas in public places and home
- Sunday school
- Public bars and lounge bars in pubs
- Women or men only bars / waiting rooms
- Air Conditioning in the room where you want it with the noise of the
system outside the room
(The contradiction here is noise vs coolness- the cooler it gets the noisier it
gets- this solves the contradiction by putting the noise elsewhere )
B. Extract the only necessary part (or property) of an object
- Scarecrow
- Sound of a barking dog (with no dog) as a burglar alarm
- Economy class on planes (travel but no frills)
(This involves understanding all the functionality and selecting only what you
want- e.g. windows provide ventilation and light – with air conditioning you
may not need windows which open)
Principle 3 Local quality
A. Change of an object’s structure from uniform to non-uniform
- Reduce drag on aerodynamic surfaces by adding riblets or ‘shark-skin’
protrusions
- Moulded hand grips on tools
- Drink cans shaped to facilitate stable stacking
- Material surface treatments / coatings – plating,
- Erosion / corrosion protection, case hardening, non-stick, etc
B. Change an action or an external environment (or external influence) from
uniform to non-uniform
- Introduce turbulent flow around an object to alter heat transfer
properties
- Strobe lighting
- Take account of extremes of weather conditions when designing
outdoor systems
- Use a gradient instead of constant temperature, density, or pressure
C. Make each part of an object function in conditions most suitable for its
operation
- Freezer compartment in refrigerator
- Different zones in the combustion system of an engine
- Night-time adjustment on a rear-view mirror
- Lunch box with special compartments for hot and cold solid foods and
for liquids
D. Make each part of an object fulfil a different and/or complementary useful
function
- Swiss-Army knife
- Combined can and bottle opener
- Sharp and blunt end of a drawing pin
- Rubber on the end of a pencil
- Hammer with nail puller
Principle 4 Asymmetry
A. Change the shape or properties of an object from symmetrical to
asymmetrical
- Asymmetrical funnel allows higher flow-rate than normal funnel
- Put a flat spot on a cylindrical shaft to attach a locking feature
- Oval and complex shaped O-rings
- Coated glass or paper
- Electric Plug
- Introduction of angled or scarfed geometry features on component
edges
- Cutaway on a guitar improves access to high notes
- Spout of a jug
- Cam
- Ratchet
- Aerofoil – asymmetry generates lift
- Eccentric drive
- Keys
B. Change the shape of an object to suit external asymmetries
(e.g. ergonomic features)
- Human-shaped seating, etc
- Design for left and right handed users
- Finger and thumb grip features on objects
- Spectacles
- Car steering system compensates for camber in road
- Wing design compensated for asymmetric flow produced by propeller
- Turbomachinery design for boundary layer flows (‘end-bend’)
C. If an object is asymmetrical, increase its degree of asymmetry
- Use of variable control surfaces to alter lift properties of an aircraft wing
- Special connectors with complex shape/pin configurations to ensure
correct assembly
- Introduction of several different measurement scales on a ruler
Principle 5 Merging
A. Bring closer together (or merge) identical or similar objects or operations in
space
- Automatic rifle / machine gun
- Multi-colour ink cartridges
- Multi-blade razors
- Bi-focal lens spectacles
- Double / triple glazing
- Strips of staples
- Catamaran / trimaran
B. Make objects or operations contiguous or parallel; bring them together in
time
- Combine harvester
- Manufacture cells
- Grass collector on a lawn-mower
- Mixer taps
- Pipe-lined computer processors perform different stages in a calculation
simultaneously
- Vector processors perform the same process on several sets of data in a
single pass
- Fourier analysis – integration of many sine curves
Principle 6 Universality
A. Make an object perform multiple functions; eliminate the need for other
parts
- Child’s car safety seat converts to a pushchair
- Home entertainment centre
- Swiss Army knife
- Grill in a microwave oven
- CD used as a storage medium for multiple data types
- Cleaning strip at beginning of a cassette tape cleans tape heads
- Cordless drill also acts as screwdriver, sander, polisher, etc
Principle 7 Nested Doll
A. Place one object inside another
- Retractable aircraft under-carriage
- Voids in 3D structures
- Injected cavity-wall insulation
- Paint-brush attached to inside of lid of nail-varnish, etc
- Lining inside a coat
B. Place multiple objects inside others
- Nested tables
- Telescope
- Measuring cups or spoons
- Stacking chairs
- Multi-layer erosion/corrosion coatings
C. Make one part pass (dynamically) through a cavity in the other
- Telescopic car aerial
- Retractable power-lead in vacuum cleaner
- Seat belt retraction mechanism
- Tape measure
Principle 8 Anti-Weight
A. To compensate for the weight of an object, merge it with other objects that
provide lift
- Kayak with foam floats built into hull cannot sink
- Aerostatic aeroplane contains lighter-than-air pockets
- Hot air or helium balloon
- Swim-bladder inside a fish
- Flymo cutting blade produces lift
B. To compensate for the weight of an object, make it interact with the
environment (use aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, buoyancy and other forces)
- Vortex generators improve lift of aircraft wings
- Wing-in-ground effect aircraft
- Hydrofoils lift ship out of the water to reduce drag
- Make use of centrifugal forces in rotating systems (e.g. Watt governor)
- Maglev train uses magnetic repulsion to reduce friction
Principle 9 Prior Counteraction
A. When it is necessary to perform an action with both harmful and useful
effects, this should be replaced with counteractions to control harmful effects
- Make clay pigeons out of ice or dung – they just melt away
- Masking objects before harmful exposure: use a lead apron for X-rays,
use masking tape when painting difficult edges etc.
- Predict effects of signal distortion – compensate before transmitting
- Buffer a solution to prevent harm from extremes of pH
B. Create beforehand stresses in an object that will oppose known
undesirable working stresses later on
- Pre-stress rebar before pouring concrete
- Pre-stressed bolts
- Decompression chamber to prevent divers getting the bends
Principle 10 Prior Action
A. Perform the required change of an object in advance
- Pre-pasted wall paper
- Sterilize all instruments needed for a surgical procedure
- Self-adhesive stamps
- Holes cut before sheet-metal part formed
- Pre-impregnated carbon fibre reduces lay-up time and improves
“wetting”
B. Pre-arrange objects such that they can come into action from the most
convenient place and without losing time for their delivery
- Manufacture flow-lines
- Pre-deposited blade in a surgery cast facilitates removal
- Car jack, wheel brace, and spare tyre stored together
- Collect all the tools and materials for the job before starting
Principle 11 Cushion in Advance
A. Prepare emergency means beforehand to compensate for the relatively low
reliability of an object (‘belt and braces’)
- Multi-channel control system
- Air-bag in a car / Spare wheel / Battery back-up / Back-up parachute
- Pressure relief valve
- Emergency lighting circuit
- Automatic save operations performed by computer programs
- Crash barriers on motorways
- ‘Touch-down’ bearing in magnetic bearing system
Principle 12 Equipotentiality
A. If an object has to be raised or lowered, redesign the object’s environment
so the need to raise or lower is eliminated or performed by the environment
- Canal locks
- Spring loaded parts delivery system in a factory
- Mechanic’s pit in a garage means car does not have to be lifted
- Place a heavy object on ice, and let ice melt in order to lower it
- Angle-poise lamp; changes in gravitational potential stored in springs
- Descending cable cars balance the weight of ascending cars
Principle 13 The Other Way Round
A. Invert the action used to solve the problem
- To loosen stuck parts, cool the inner part instead of heating the outer
part
- Vacuum casting
- Rotary engines
- Test pressure vessel by varying pressure outside rather than inside
- Test seal on a liquid container by filling with pressurised air and
immersing in liquid; trails of bubbles are easier to trace than slow liquid
leaks
B. Make movable parts (or the external environment) fixed, and fixed parts
movable
- Hamster wheel
- Escalator
- Rotate the part instead of the tool
- Wind tunnels
- Moving sidewalk with standing people
- Drive through restaurant or bank
C. Turn the object (or process) ‘upside down’.
- Clean bottles by inverting and injecting water from below
- Turn an assembly upside down to insert fasteners
Principle 14 Spheroidality – Curvature
A. Move from flat surfaces to spherical ones and from parts shaped as a cube
(parallelepiped) to ball-shaped structures
- Use arches and domes for strength in architecture
- Introduce fillet radii between surfaces at different angles
- Introduce stress relieving holes at the ends of slots
- Change curvature on lens to alter light deflection properties
B. Use rollers, balls, spirals
- Spiral gear (Nautilus) produces continuous resistance for weight lifting
- Ball point and roller point pens for smooth ink distribution
- Use spherical casters instead of cylindrical wheels to move furniture
- Archimedes screw
C. Go from linear to rotary motion (or vice versa)
- Rotary actuators in hydraulic system
- Switch from reciprocating to rotary pump
- Push/pull versus rotary switches (e.g. lighting dimmer switch)
- Linear motors
- Linear versus rotating tracking arm on a record turntable ensures
constant angle of stylus relative to groove
- Screw-thread versus nail
D. Use centrifugal forces
- Centrifugal casting for even wall thickness structures
- Spin components after painting to remove excess paint
- Remove water from clothes with a spin dryer rather than a mangle
- Separate chemicals with different density properties using a centrifuge
- Watt governor
- Vortex/cyclone separates different density objects
Principle 15 Dynamics
A. Change the object (or outside environment) for optimal performance at
every stage of operation
- Gel fillings inside seat allow it to adapt to user
- Adjustable steering wheel (or seat, or back support, or mirror position…)
- Shape memory alloys/polymers
- Racing car suspension adjustable for different tracks and driving
techniques
- Car handbrake adjustable to account for brake pad wear
- Telescopic curtain rail – “one size fits all”
B. Divide an object into parts capable of movement relative to each other
- Bifurcated bicycle saddle
- Articulated lorry
- Folding chair/mobile phone/laptop/etc
- Collapsible structures
- Brush seals
C. Change from immobile to mobile
- Bendy drinking straw
- Flexible joint
- Collapsible hose is flexible in use, and has additional flexibility of crosssection
to make it easier to store
D. Increase the degree of free motion
- Use of different stiffness fibres in toothbrush – easily deflected at the
edges to prevent gum damage, hard in the middle
- Flexible drive allows motion to be translated around bends
- Loose sand inside truck tyre gives it self-balancing properties at speed
- Add joints to robot arm to increase motion possibilities
Principle 16 Partial or Excessive Action
A. If you can’t achieve 100 percent of a desired effect – then go for more or
less
- Over spray when painting, then remove excess
- Fill, then “top off” when pouring a pint of Guinness
- Shrink wrapping process uses plastic deformation of wrapping to
accommodate variations in vacuum pressure
- ‘Roughing’ and ‘Finish’ machining operations
- Over-fill holes with plaster and then rub back to smooth
Principle 17 Another Dimension
A. Move into an additional dimension – from one to two – from two to three
- Coiled telephone wire
- Curved bristles on a brush
- Pizza-box with ribbed (as opposed to flat) base
- Spiral staircase uses less floor area
- Introduction of down and up slopes between stations on railway reduces
overall power requirements
B. Go from single storey or layer to multi-storey or multi-layered
- Player with many CDs
- Stacked or multi-layered circuit boards
- Multi-storey office blocks or car-parks
C. Incline an object, lay it on its side
- Cars on road transporter inclined to save space
D. Use the other side
- Press a groove onto both sides of a record
- Mount electronic components on both sides of a circuit board
- Print text around the rim of a coin
- Paper clip – works by pressing both sides of paper together
Principle 18 Mechanical Vibration
A. Cause an object to oscillate or vibrate
- Electric carving knife with vibrating blades
- Shake/stir paint to mix before applying
- Hammer drill
- Vibration exciter removes voids from poured concrete
- Vibrate during sieving operations to improve throughput
- Musical instrument
B. Increase its frequency (even up to the ultrasonic)
- Dog-whistle (transmit sound outside human range)
- Ultrasonic cleaning
- Non-destructive crack detection using ultrasound
C. Use an object’s resonant frequency
- Destroy gallstones or kidney stones using ultrasonic resonance
- Bottle cleaning by pulsing water jet at resonant frequency of bottles
- Tuning fork
- Increase action of a catalyst by vibrating it at its resonant frequency
D. Use piezoelectric vibrators instead of mechanical ones
- Quartz crystal oscillations drive high accuracy clocks
- Piezoelectric vibrators improve fluid atomisation from a spray nozzle
- Optical phase modulator
E. Use combined ultrasonic and electromagnetic field oscillations
- Mixing alloys in an induction furnace
- Sono-chemistry
- Ultrasonic drying of films – combine ultrasonic with heat source
Principle 19 Periodic Action
A. Instead of continuous action, use periodic or pulsating actions
- Hitting something repeatedly with a hammer
- Pile drivers and hammer drills exert far more force for a given weight
- Replace a continuous siren with a pulsed sound
- Pulsed bicycle lights make cyclist more noticeable to drivers
- Pulsed vacuum cleaner suction improves collection performance
- Pulsed water jet cutting
- ABS car braking systems
B. If an action is already periodic, change the periodic magnitude or
frequency
- Improve a pulsed siren with changing amplitude and frequency
- Dots and dashes in Morse Code transmissions
- Use AM, FM, PWM to transmit information
C. Use pauses between actions to perform a different action
- Clean barrier filters by back-flushing them when not in use
- Inkjet printer cleans heads between passes
- Brush between suction pulses in vacuum cleaner
- Multiple conversations on the same telephone transmission line
- Use of energy storage means – e.g. batteries, fly-wheels, etc
Principle 20 Continuity of Useful Action
A. Carry on work without a break. All parts of an object operating
constantly at full capacity
- Flywheel stores energy when a vehicle stops, so the motor can keep
running at optimum power
- Constant output gas turbine in hybrid car, or APU in aircraft, runs at
highest efficiency all the time it is switched on
- Constant speed / variable pitch propeller
- Self-tuning engine – constantly tunes itself to ensure maximum efficiency
- Heart pacemaker
- Improve composting process by continuously turning material
- Continuous glass or steel production
B. Eliminate all idle or intermittent motion
- Self-cleaning / self-emptying filter eliminates down-time
- Print during the return of a printer carriage – dot matrix printer, daisy
wheel printers, inkjet printers
- Digital storage media allow ‘instant’ information access
- Kayaks use double-ended paddle to utilise recovery stroke
- Computer operating systems utilise idle periods to perform necessary
housekeeping tasks
Principle 21 Rushing Through
A. Conduct a process, or certain stages of it (e.g. destructible, harmful or
hazardous operations) at high speed
- Cut plastic faster than heat can propagate in the material, to avoid
deforming the shape
- Shatter toffee with a hammer blow
- Drop forge
- Flash photography
- Super-critical shaft – run through resonant modes quickly
- Bikini waxing (ouch!)
Principle 22 Blessing in Disguise
A. Use harmful factors (particularly, harmful effects of the environment or
surroundings) to achieve a positive effect
- Use waste heat to generate electric power
- Recycle scrap material as raw materials for another – e.g. chipboard
- Vaccination
- Lower body temperature to slow metabolism during operations
- Composting
- Use centrifugal energy in rotating shaft to do something useful – e.g.
seal, or modulate cooling air
- Use pressure differences to help rather than hinder seal performance
B. Eliminate the primary harmful action by adding it to another harmful
action to resolve the problem
- Add a buffering material to a corrosive solution (e.g. an alkali to an acid,
or vice versa)
- Use a helium-oxygen mix for diving, to eliminate both nitrogen narcosis
and oxygen poisoning from air and other nitrox mixes
- Use gamma rays to detect positron emissions from explosives
C. Amplify a harmful factor to such a degree that it is no longer harmful
- Use a backfire to eliminate the fuel from a forest fire
- Use explosives to blow out an oil-well fire
- Laser-knife cauterises skin/blood vessels as it cuts
Principle 23 Feedback
A. Introduce feedback to improve a process or action
- Automatic volume control in audio circuits
- Signal from gyrocompass is used to control simple aircraft autopilots
- Engine management system based on exhaust gas levels is more
efficient than carburettor
- Thermostat controls temperature accurately
- Statistical Process Control – measurements are used to decide when to
modify a process
- Feedback turns inaccurate op-amp into useable accurate amplifier
B. If feedback is already used, change its magnitude or influence in
accordance with operating conditions
- Change sensitivity of an autopilot when within 5 miles of an airport
- Change sensitivity of a thermostat when cooling vs. heating, since it
uses energy less efficiently when cooling
- Use proportional, integral and/or differential control algorithm
combinations
Principle 24 Intermediary
A. Use an intermediary carrier article or intermediary process
- Play a guitar with a plectrum
- Use a chisel to control rock breaking/sculpting process
- Dwell period during a manufacture process operation
B. Merge one object temporarily with another (which can be easily removed)
- Gloves to get hot dishes out of an oven
- Joining papers with a paper clip
- Introduction of catalysts into chemical reaction
- Abrasive particles enhance water jet cutting
- Bouquet garni in cooking
Principle 25 Self-Service
A. An object must service itself by performing auxiliary helpful functions
- A soda fountain pump that runs on the pressure of the carbon dioxide
used to carbonate the drinks. If it won’t fizz it’s empty!
- Halogen lamps regenerate the filament – evaporated material is redeposited
- Self-aligning / self-adjusting seal
- Self-cleaning oven / glass / material
- Abradable materials used in gas turbines such that initial running-in ‘cuts’
optimum seals into lining
B. Use waste resources, energy, or substances
- Use heat from a process to generate electricity: co-generation
- Use animal waste as fertilizer
- Use food and lawn waste to create compost
- Use pressure difference to reinforce seal action
Principle 26 Copying
A. Replace unavailable, expensive or fragile object with available or
inexpensive copies
- Imitation jewellery
- Astroturf
- Crash test dummy
B. Replace an object, or process with optical copies
- Do surveying from space photographs instead of on the ground
- Measure an object by scaling measurements from a photograph
- Virtual reality / Virtual mock-ups / electronic pre-assembly modelling
C. If visible optical copies are used, move to infrared or ultraviolet copies
- Make images in infrared to detect heat sources, such as diseases in
crops, or intruders in a security system
- Use UV as a non-destructive crack detection method
- UV light used to attract flying insects into trap
Principle 27 Cheap Short-Living Objects
A. Replace an expensive object with a multiple of inexpensive objects,
compromising certain qualities, such as service life
- Disposable nappies / paper-cups / plates / cameras / torches etc
- Matches versus lighters
- Throw-away cigarette lighters
- Sacrificial coatings / components
Principle 28 Replace Mechanical System
A. Replace a mechanical system with a sensory one
- Replace a physical barrier with an acoustic one (audible to animals)
- Add a bad smell to natural gas to alert users to leaks
- Finger-print/retina/etc scan instead of a key
- Voice activated telephone dialling
B. Use electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields to interact with the
object
- To mix 2 powders, electrostatically charge one positive and the other
negative
- Electrostatic precipitators separate particles from airflow
- Improve efficiency of paint-spraying by oppositely charging paint
droplets and object to be painted
- Magnetic bearings
- Field activated switches
C. Replace stationary fields with moving; unstructured fields with
structured
- Early communications used omni-directional broadcasting. We now use
antennas with very detailed structure of the pattern of radiation
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner
D. Use fields in conjunction with field-activated (e.g. ferromagnetic)
particles
- Heat a substance containing ferromagnetic material by using varying
magnetic field. When the temperature exceeds the Curie point, the
material becomes paramagnetic, and no longer absorbs heat
- Magneto-rheological effect – uses ferromagnetic particles and variable
magnetic field to alter the viscosity of a fluid
- Ferro-magnetic catalysts
- Ferro-fluids – e.g. Magnatec oil – stay attached to surfaces requiring
lubrication
Principle 29 Pneumatics and Hydraulics
A. Use gas and liquid parts of an object instead of solid parts (e.g.
inflatable, filled with liquids, air cushion, hydrostatic, hydro-reactive)
- Transition from mechanical to hydraulic or pneumatic drive
- Inflatable furniture / mattress etc
- Gel filled saddle adapts to user
- Hollow section O-rings
- Hovercraft
- Gas bearings
- Acoustic panels incorporating Helmholtz resonators
Principle 30 Flexible Membranes/Thin Films
A. Use flexible shells and thin films instead of three-dimensional
structures
- Use inflatable (thin film) structures
- Taut-liner trucks
- Tarpaulin car cover instead of garage
- Store energy in stretchable bags – accumulators in a hydraulic system
B. Isolate the object from its external environment using flexible
membranes
- Bubble-wrap
- Bandages/plasters
- Tea bag
- Shrink wrapping
Principle 31 Porous Materials
A. Make an object porous or add porous elements (inserts, coatings, etc.)
- Drill holes in a structure to reduce the weight
- Cavity wall insulation
- Transpiration film cooled structures
- Foam metals
- Use sponge-like structures as fluid absorption media
B. If an object is already porous, use the pores to introduce a useful
substance or function
- Use a porous metal mesh to wick excess solder away from a joint
- Store hydrogen in the pores of a palladium sponge. (Fuel “tank” for the
hydrogen car – much safer than storing hydrogen gas)
- Desiccant in polystyrene packing materials
- Medicated swabs/dressings
Principle 32 Colour Change
A. Change the colour of an object or its external environment
- Use safe lights in a photographic darkroom
- Use colour-changing thermal paint to measure temperature
- Plastic spoon which changes colour when hot – for baby food
- Temperature-sensitive dyes used on food product labels to indicate
when desired serving temperature has been achieved
- Electrochromic glass
- Light-sensitive glasses
- Camouflage
- Dazzle camouflage used on World War 1 ships
- Employ interference fringes on surface structures to change colour (as
in butterfly wings, etc)
B. Change the transparency of an object or its external environment
- Use photolithography to change transparent material to a solid mask for
semiconductor processing
- Light-sensitive glass
C. In order to improve observability of things that are difficult to see, use
coloured additives or luminescent elements
- Fluorescent additives used during UV spectroscopy
- UV marker pens used to help identify stolen goods
- Use opposing colours to increase visibility – e.g. butchers use green
decoration to make the red in meat look redder
D. Change the emissivity properties of an object subject to radiant heating
- Use of black and white coloured panels to assist thermal management
on space vehicles
- Use of parabolic reflectors in solar panels to increase energy capture
- Paint object with high emissivity paint in order to be able to measure its
temperature with a calibrated thermal imager
Principle 33 Homogeneity
A. Objects interacting with the main object should be of same material (or
material with identical properties)
- Container made of the same material as its contents, to reduce
chemical reactions
- Friction welding requires no intermediary material between the two
surfaces to be joined
- Temporary plant pots made out of compostable material
- Human blood transfusions/transplants, use of bio-compatible materials
- Make ice-cubes out of the same fluid as the drink they are intended to
cool
- Join wooden components using (wood) dowel joints
Principle 34 Discarding and Recovering
A. After completing their function (or becoming useless) reject objects, make
them go away, (discard them by dissolving, evaporating, etc) or modify during
the process
- Dissolving capsule for medication.
- Bio-degradable containers, bags etc.
- Casting processes – lost-wax, sand, etc.
- During firing of a rocket, foam protection is used on some elements; this
evaporates in space when shock-absorbance is no longer required
B. Restore consumable / used up parts of an object during operation
- Self-sharpening blades – knives / lawn-mowers etc
- Strimmer dispenses more wire automatically after a breakage
- Self-tuning automobile engines
- Propelling pencil
- Automatic rifle
Principle 35 Parameter Change
A. Change the physical state (e.g. to a gas, liquid, or solid)
- Transport oxygen or nitrogen or petroleum gas as a liquid, instead of a
gas, to reduce volume
B. Change the concentration or density
- Liquid soap
- Abradable linings used for gas-turbine engine seals
C. Change the degree of flexibility
- Vulcanize rubber to change its flexibility and durability
- Compliant brush seals rather than labyrinth or other fixed geometry
seals
D. Change the temperature or volume
- Raise the temperature above the Curie point to change a ferromagnetic
substance to a paramagnetic substance
- Cooking / baking etc.
E. Change the pressure
- Pressure cooker cooks more quickly and without losing flavours
- Electron beam welding in a vacuum
- Vacuum packing of perishable goods
F. Change other parameters
- Shape memory alloys/polymers
- Use Curie point to alter magnetic properties
- Thixotropic paints / gels etc.
- Use high conductivity materials – e.g. carbon fibre
Principle 36 Phase Transition
A. Use phenomena of phase transitions (e.g. volume changes, loss or
absorption of heat, etc.)
- Latent heat effects in melting / boiling
- Soak rocks in water, then freezing causes water to expand – thus
opening fissures in rock, making it easier to break
- Heat pumps use the heat of vaporization and heat of condensation of a
closed thermodynamic cycle to do useful work
- Volume expansion during water-to-steam transition
- Superconductivity
Principle 37 Thermal Expansion
A. Use thermal expansion, or contraction, of materials
- Fit a tight joint together by cooling the inner part to contract, heating the
outer part to expand, putting the joint together, and returning to equilibrium
- Metal tie-bars used to straighten buckling walls on old buildings
- Thermal switch/cut-out
- Shape memory alloys/polymers
- Shrink-wrapping
B. Use multiple materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion
- Bi-metallic strips used for thermostats, etc
- Two-way shape memory alloys
- Passive blade tip clearance control in gas turbine engines
- Combine materials with positive and negative thermal expansion
coefficients to obtain alloys with zero (or specifically tailored) expansion
properties – e.g. cerro-tru alloy used in the mounting and location of fragile
turbine blade components during manufacture operations
Principle 38 Accelerated Oxidation
A. Replace common air with oxygen-enriched air
- Scuba diving with Nitrox or other non-air mixtures for extended
endurance
- Place asthmatic patients in oxygen tent
- Nitrous oxide injection to provide power boost in high performance
engines
B. Replace enriched air with pure oxygen
- Cut at a higher temperature using an oxy-acetylene torch
- Treat wounds in a high pressure oxygen environment to kill anaerobic
bacteria and aid healing
- Control oxidation reactions more effectively by reacting in pure oxygen
C. Expose air or oxygen to ionising radiation
- Positive ions formed by ionising air can be deflected by magnetic field in
order to (e.g.) reduce air resistance over an aerodynamic surface
- Irradiation of food to extend shelf life
- Use ionised air to destroy bacteria and sterilise food
D. Use ionised oxygen
- Speed up chemical reactions by ionising the gas before use
- Separate oxygen from a mixed gas by ionising the oxygen
E. Replace ozonised (or ionised) oxygen with ozone
- Oxidisation of metals in bleaching solutions to reduce cost relative to
hydrogen peroxide
- Use ozone to destroy micro-organisms and toxins in corn
- Ozone dissolved in water removes organic contaminants from ship hulls
Principle 39 Inert Atmosphere
A. Replace a normal environment with an inert one
- Prevent degradation of a hot metal filament by using an argon
atmosphere
- MIG/TIG welding
- Electron beam welding conducted in a vacuum
- Vacuum packaging
- Foam to separate a fire from oxygen in air
B. Add neutral parts, or inert additives to an object
- Naval aviation fuel contains additives to alter flash point
- Add fire retardant elements to titanium to reduce possibility of titanium
fire
- Add foam to absorb sound vibrations – e.g. hi-fi speakers
Principle 40 Composite Materials
A. Change from uniform to composite (multiple) materials
- Aircraft structures where low weight and high strength are required
- Composites in golf club shaft
- Concrete aggregate
- Glass-reinforced plastic
- Fibre-reinforced ceramics
- Hard / soft / hard multi-layer coatings to improve erosion properties
Oxford Creativity
