Vacuum

From Phys.org: ephemeral vacuum particles and the fluctuating speed of light

Do I understand this? No. But this is a blog called Vacuum, and this is my service to that task.

Two forthcoming European Physical Journal D papers challenge established wisdom about the nature of vacuum. In one paper, Marcel Urban from the University of Paris-Sud, located in Orsay, France and his colleagues identified a quantum level mechanism for interpreting vacuum as being filled with pairs of virtual particles with fluctuating energy values. As a result, the inherent characteristics of vacuum, like the speed of light, may not be a constant after all, but fluctuate. Meanwhile, in another study, Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. Sánchez-Soto, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, suggest that physical constants, such as the speed of light and the so-called impedance of free space, are indications of the total number of elementary particles in nature. 

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-03-ephemeral-vacuum-particles-speed-of-light-fluctuations.html#jCp

lego vacuum, patent 6048249 : Plastic building block toy cleanup vacuum attachment

if you have too many legos on the floor, here's the patented design for picking them up:

A toy cleanup vacuum attachment which can be used easily by attaching to household vacuum hose for the quick and efficient clean up of a plurality of different size and shape plastic building block toys. The toy cleanup vacuum attachment compromises: a curved suction channel for sucking up plastic toy building blocks; a convex plate guide with vent holes which guides the plastic building block toys within a suction channel into a drop channel while allowing the passage of vacuum current and dust; a rectangular drop channel through which plastic building block toys pass from the force of vacuum momentum and gravity; a transparent collection container for housing the plastic building block toys during cleanup and an air-tight bottom, hinged lid for conducting quick and simple dropping of plastic building block toys back into a toy box; a spring loaded push/twist thumb button agitator for dislodging clogged or stuck plastic building block toys; a grip handle for ease of use and...

See the whole thing on wikipatents.

This cat does not abhor a vacuum

World Test Systems - vacuum, pneumatic, mechanical and RF test fixtures

For your vacuum text fixture needs:

“World” Test Systems, Inc (WTS) is a manufacturer of vacuum, pneumatic, mechanical and RF test fixtures for the Automated Test Industry(ATE). During our 30 year history WTS has manufactured in excess of 48,000 test fixtures. We have developed years of experience and are familiar with all phases of the test fixture industry. Products tested with our fixtures range from a bare printed circuit board, loaded boards to assembled cell phones and many other applications.

Some nice photos of test benches on the site.

(as seen on Google Ads)

(for my Vacuum category)

Technorati Tags: vacuum