22 Interesting "22"-Related Items for August 22 - An Engineer's Aspect

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Saturday, August 22, 2009

22 Interesting "22"-Related Items for August 22

1. V-22 Osprey


The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is the first aircraft designed from the ground up to meet the needs of the Defense Department's four U.S. armed services. The tiltrotor aircraft takes off and lands like a helicopter. Once airborne, its engine nacelles can be rotated to convert the aircraft to a turboprop airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight. Source: Boeing.




2. Chromosome 22
"Humans normally have 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) in each cell. Two copies of chromosome 22, one copy inherited from each parent, form one of the pairs. Chromosome 22 is the second smallest human chromosome, spanning about 50 million DNA building blocks (base pairs) and representing between 1.5 percent and 2 percent of the total DNA in cells.

In 1999, researchers working on the Human Genome Project announced they had determined the sequence of base pairs that make up this chromosome. Chromosome 22 was the first human chromosome to be fully sequenced.
Identifying genes on each chromosome is an active area of genetic research. Because researchers use different approaches to predict the number of genes on each chromosome, the estimated number of genes varies. Chromosome 22 likely contains between 500 and 800 genes.

Many genetic conditions are related to changes in particular genes on chromosome 22. This list of disorders associated with genes on chromosome 22 provides links to additional information.

Changes in the structure or number of copies of a chromosome can also cause problems with health and development.

Geneticists use diagrams called ideograms as a standard representation for chromosomes. Ideograms show a chromosome's relative size and its banding pattern. A banding pattern is the characteristic pattern of dark and light bands that appears when a chromosome is stained with a chemical solution and then viewed under a microscope. These bands are used to describe the location of genes on each chromosome (Genetics Home Reference)."

3. 22 Degree Halo
"The familiar 22° halo around the Sun or Moon occurs because of refraction in tiny hexagonal ice crystals in the air. With the 60° apex angle of the prism formed by extending the sides of the crystal and the index of refraction of ice (n=1.31) one can calculate the angle of minium deviation to be 21.84°.

Image: The 22° halo around the Sun. Source: WW2010.

The familiar separation of the colors of white light in a prism is a result of dispersion, the variation of the index of refraction of light with wavelength. Since hexagonal ice crystals make up a section of a a 60° prism, they separate the colors of white light. This gives the rainbow hues of the parhelia.

At the points on the 22° halo which are on a horizontal line with the sun, the arc commonly broadens to two bright spots, reputedly referred to by artic people as the sun's dogs. The refracted light at these points is so much more intense than the remainder of the 22° halo that they are often seen when the remainder of the arc is not. The parhelia often show rainbow colors from the dispersion in the ice crystals. While appearing on the 22° halo when the sun is at the horizon, they appear to be slightly outside it at higher altitudes and will flare into a white tail leading away from the 22° halo. Under appropriate conditions the tail may extend far outward on the horizontal "parhelic circle". This extension of the sun dogs is reflection from the vertical sides of the flat hexagonal ice crystals (hyperphysics)."

4. Messier 22
"Messier 22 (M22, NGC 6656) is one of the brightest and remarkable clusters in the sky, and in paticular of those observable from mid-northern latitudes. It was the first of these objects to be discovered.

This was probably the first globular cluster discovered, by Abraham Ihle in 1665. According to Kenneth Glyn Jones, it is supposed (e.g. by Admiral Smyth) that Hevelius may have seen it even earlier, but Halley, De Chéseaux and Messier commonly acknowledge Ihle's original discovery. This globular was included in Halley's list of 6 objects published 1715, and observed by De Chéseaux (his No. 17) and Le Gentil as well as by Abbe Nicholas Louis de la Caille, who included it in his catalog of southern objects as Lacaille I.12. Charles Messier, who cataloged M22 on June 5, 1764, states that it is also included in John Bevis' English Atlas.

M22 is a very remarkable object. At 10,400 light years, it is one of the nearer globular clusters. At this distance, its 32' angular diameter, sligtly larger than that of the Full Moon, corresponds to a linear of about 97 light years; visually, it is still about 17'. It is visible to the naked eye for observers at not too northern latitudes, as it is brighter than the Hercules globular cluster M13 and outshined only by the two bright southern globulars (not in Messier's catalog), Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) and 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) - this is the ranking of the four brightest in the sky.

While Shapley and Pease counted 70,000 stars in this great stellar swarm, only the relatively small number of 32 variables has been identified, half of them already known to Bailey in 1902, among them a long-period Mira variable which is probably not a member. The brightest stars are about mag 11. The stars are spread over a region roughly 200 light years in diameter, and receding from us at about 149 km/sec.

This cluster is notable because it contains a weak planetary nebula, discovered by the infrared satellite IRAS and cataloged as IRAS 18333-2357 or GJJC 1. This planetary was the second discovered in a globular cluster after Pease 1 in M15, and one of only four known planetary nebula in Milky Way globular clusters.

Recent Hubble Space Telescope investigations of M22 have led to the discovery of a considerable number of planet-sized objects which appear to float through this globular cluster; these objects may have masses of only 80 times that of Earth, and were discovered by so-called micro lensing effects, i.e. bending of light of background member stars of the cluster.

For the observer, it is of interest that M22 is less than 1 degree of the ecliptic, so that conjuctions with planets are frequently conspicuous (maa.clell.de)."


5. Stahl House, Case Study House No. 22







"Stahl House, a Case Study House. Powerful minimalist forms with steel construction orchestrated with sublime elegance. Linear forms connecting visually with the LA street grid visible below (greatbuildings.com)."








6. Windows 7 arrives on October 22

"Those waiting anxiously for the next version of Windows now have a date to anticipate. Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 will be launched on October 22, 2009. This date, which is referred to as General Availability (GA), is in line with Microsoft's previous statement saying that it would have Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 ready by the holidays. After the software giant unleashed the official Release Candidate on May 5, it became apparent that development on the follow-up to Vista was close to wrapping up (ars technica)."




7. Total Solar Eclipse of 2009 July 22

"On Wednesday, 2009 July 22, a total eclipse of the Sun was visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. After leaving mainland Asia, the path crosses Japan's Ryukyu Islands and curves southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality reaches 6 min 39 s. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean (NASA)."


8. The Atomic Number of Titanium is 22

Titanium is a strong, low-density, highly corrosion-resistant, lustrous white metallic element that occurs widely in igneous rocks and is used to alloy aircraft metals for low weight, strength, and high-temperature stability.

The name Titanium originates from the Greek word titanos meaning Titans from Greek mythology.

Titanium is classified as a "Transition Metal" which are located in Groups 3 - 12 of the Periodic Table. An Element classified as a Transition Metals is ductile, malleable, and able to conduct electricity and heat.

The Properties of the Titanium Element
  • Name of Element : Titanium
  • Symbol of Element : Ti
  • Atomic Number of Titanium : 22
  • Atomic Mass: 47.867 amu
  • Melting Point: 1660.0 °C - 1933.15 °K
  • Boiling Point: 3287.0 °C - 3560.15 °K
  • Number of Protons/Electrons in Titanium : 22
  • Number of Neutrons in Titanium : 26
  • Crystal Structure: Hexagonal
  • Density @ 293 K: 4.54 g/cm3
  • Color of Titanium : lustrous white
(Source: Periodic-Table.org)

9. HCFC-22, R-22
"Chlorodifluoromethane or difluoromonochloromethane is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC). This colorless gas is better known as HCFC-22, R-22. It was once commonly used as a propellant and in air conditioning applications. These applications are being phased out due to ozone depletion potential and status as a potent greenhouse gas. R22 is a versatile intermediate in industrial organofluorine chemistry, e.g. as a precursor to tetrafluoroethylene.

Chlorodifluoromethane has a global warming potential that is 1700 (1700 times that of carbon dioxide). HFCs such as R-410A have high global warming potential, whereas that of propane (R-290) is only 3.

Beginning in 2010 in the U.S., the production and no importing of HCFC-22 will be limited to 25% of each country's 1989 consumption level. New and imported HCFC-22 will be available only for use in equipment manufactured before 1/1/2010.

On January 1st, 2010, it will be illegal to import, produce, or sell R-22 for use in new equipment or pre-charged in new equipment. In 2015, the production and no importing of HCFC-22 will be limited to 10% of each country's 1989 consumption level and in 2020, production and importing of HCFC-22 will be illegal. Re-use of recovered HCFC-22 will be permitted until 2030.(Wikipedia)."

10. F-22 Raptor

"Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney and the U.S. Air Force to produce the F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter. The Raptor's unique combination of stealth, speed, agility, precision and situational awareness make it overwhelmingly effective in its combined air-to-air and air-to-ground mission capability. In its expanding role as an ISR asset, the F-22 is making the entire joint force more effective by collecting timely information about the forward reaches of the battlespace and relaying it to other aircraft and command/control nodes. Ongoing modernization efforts -- including integration of the Small Diameter Bomb, electronic attack capability, synthetic aperture radar and the Coordinate Seeking Weapon -- will ensure the Raptor's relevance throughout its 40-year service life (Boeing)."



11. Top Five 22-Inch Wide-Screen LCD Monitors According to PC World

  1. Lenovo L215p
  2. HP LP2275w
  3. NEC P221W 22-inch Widescreen Monitor
  4. HP 2009m
  5. Dell G2210


12. TwentyTwo by Jaime Hayón for Ceccotti

This is a cool chair. There are photos of the manufacturing process if you click on the de zeen link below.

"Spanish designer Jaime Hayón launched TwentyTwo, a chair for Italian brand Ceccotti, in Milan.

The solid maple chair is so named because it is made from twenty-two pieces of timber.

It also features an upholstered seat and back, and has a leather-covered tray beneath the seat (de zeen)."

13. X-22 IRONS

From Callaway Golf: "The goal of our X-Series Irons has always been lofty: Set the performance standard for the industry. We’ve done it again with the X-22 Irons, the best X-Series Irons we’ve ever made. The perimeter weighting of the X-22s has been maximized for a moment of inertia (MOI) that’s 10 percent higher than their predecessors, meaning you get more forgiveness on off-center strikes. The ideal center of gravity position has been preserved, generating optimal ball-flight trajectories. We’ve also incorporated the Modified Tru-Bore design, dampening vibration for enhanced feel. The tour-inspired head shape has a slightly thinner topline and sole with a large sweet spot for improved aesthetics and forgiveness to boost your confidence."

14. Santana 22

Image: Santana 22. Source: W.D. Schock Corp.

A little history of the Santana 22 from W.D. Schock Corp.:
"Retro is in! the V W Beetle, the PT Cruiser, the Santana 22. Classic designs with updated styling for the new millenium.

The 22-foot Santana was Gary Mull's very first sailboat design and is still one of the best boats in its size range, especially for sailing in heavy air. The basic design sprouted from sketches on a cocktail napkin at the Chart House in Alameda. (Tools of the trade were much more basic in those days.)

The Santana 22 quickly became one of the most popular one-design sailboats on San Francisco Bay and soon found its way to other windy venues such as Monterey, Oklahoma, the Columbia River, Houston, Dallas, and Lake Dillon, Colorado. A total of 747 boats were built in the first production run, and many of them still sail actively today."
Also check out: Santana22.com

15. Opto 22

Description from the Opto 22 Website:
"Opto 22 manufactures hardware and software products that link all kinds of electrical, mechanical, and electronic devices and machines to networks and computers.

Opto 22 controllers, I/O (input and output modules), solid-state relays, and software are used for industrial automation, remote monitoring, data acquisition, and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.

Our products make it possible for you to use your normal business computer systems to monitor, control, and get data from all the devices and machines that are important to your business.

Our products translate the data between computers and other machines. This translation works easily and inexpensively because we design Opto 22 products to run on non-proprietary communication standards like Ethernet and the Internet Protocol (IP)."



Check it out! http://www.opto22.com/

16. 22 Engineer Regiment of the British Royal Engineers

Image: Based at Swinton Barracks in Perham Down, near Tidworth, 22 Engineer Regiment provides Engineer Close Support to 1 Mechanized Brigade. Source: British Army.

The Regiment consists of the following units:
  • 6 Headquarters and Support Squadron.
  • 3 Armoured Engineer Squadron.
  • 5 Armoured Engineer Squadron.
  • 52 Armoured Engineer Squadron.
  • REME Light Aid Detachment.
Capabilities
Each Armoured Engineer Squadron provides close engineer support with Titan and Trojan Armoured Engineer vehicles and Combat Engineer sections. More specialised capabilities are held in the Headquarters and Support Squadron, such as Reconnaissance, Design and Survey, Diving and Automotive Bridge Launching Equipment for the General Support Bridge.

Deployments
The Regiment deployed to Iraq on Operation TELIC 4 and more recently TELIC 10, providing engineer support not only to its brigade but also to other coalition troops. This included force protection in Basra Palace, camp infrastructure in Baghdad and many other tasks. More recently the Regiment has deployed squadrons to Gibraltar on ceremonial duties and to Belize for trade training and construction tasks.

17. NMCB-22 SEABEES

"Naval Construction Battalion Twenty Two (NCB-22) was initially commissioned on September 2, 1942 at the Seabee Training Center, camp Allen, Norfolk, Virginia. After advance military and technical training at Port Hueneme, California, NCB-22 arrived at its assigned duty station at Sitka, Alaska on November 28, 1942. While there, the battalion completed a total of 28 projects in seven months."

Read more history of the Naval Construction Battalion Twenty Two on The Official Website of the U.S. Naval Construction Force.

18. 1968: London, England--22-Story Apartment Building, Ronan Point, Collapses

Image: The aftermath of the collapse of the corner of Ronan Point following a gas explosion. Source: Wikipedia, originally published in "The Daily Telegraph," 1968.

On May 16, 1968, early in the morning, 56-year-old cake decorator Ivy Hodge of apartment 90 on the 18th floor of the Ronan Point apartment tower lit a match for her stove to brew her morning cup of tea. There was a gas leak and the resulting explosion, knocked her unconscious.

The pressure of the small gas explosion blew out the walls of her apartment and initiated a partial collapse of the 22-story structure that killed four people and injured seventeen. Miss Hodge and her gas stove were blown across the room by the explosion. She took her stove to her new address after the explosion.

According to the proceedings of the 3rd ASCE Forensics Congress, "The force of the explosion knocked out the opposite corner walls of the apartment. These walls were the sole support for the walls directly above. This created a chain reaction in which floor nineteen collapsed, then floor twenty and so on, propagating upward. The four floors fell onto level eighteen, which initiated a second phase of progressive collapse. This sudden impact loading on floor eighteen caused it to give way, smashing floor seventeen and progressing until it reached the ground."

The ASCE Forensics Congress concluded:
"The investigations found that the Ronan Point apartment tower was deeply flawed in both design and construction. The existing building codes were inadequate for ensuring the safety and integrity of high-rise precast concrete apartment buildings. In particular, the design wind pressures were too low and did not account for the height of the building. The Larsen Nielson building system, intended for buildings with only six stories, had been extended past the point of safety.

The tower consisted of precast panels joined together, without a structural frame. The apartment tower lacked alternate load paths to redistribute forces in the event of a partial collapse. When the structure was dismantled, investigators found appallingly poor workmanship of the critical connections between the panels. The already shaky structure had been further weakened by the inadequate construction practices. The result was described by Levy and Salvadori (1992) as a “house of cards.”

The relatively low overpressure from the gas explosion should have led to localized damage at most, not a partial progressive collapse and the loss of four lives. The evaluation also found that the building was unusually vulnerable to ordinary wind and fire loading."



19. Raduga Kh-22

According to Wikipedia:
"The Raduga Kh-22 (Russian: Х-22; AS-4 'Kitchen') is a large, long-range anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union. It was intended for use against US Navy aircraft carriers and carrier battle groups, typically with a nuclear warhead. The missile is considered a very powerful weapon, even when armed with a conventional warhead. Australian Air Power magazine describes it as 'a formidable weapon by any measure.'

Image: A Raduga Kh-22 anti-ship missile under a Tupolew Tu-22M. Source: Wikipedia.

The Kh-22 used an Isayev liquid-fuel rocket engine, fueled with hydrazine and IRFNA (inhibited red fuming nitric acid), giving it a maximum speed of nearly Mach 4 and a range of up to 400 km (220 nmi). It could be used in either high-altitude or low-altitude modes. In high-altitude mode it climbed to an altitude of 27,000 m (88,580 ft) and made a high-speed dive into the target, with a terminal speed of about Mach 4. In low-altitude mode, it climbed to 12,000 m (39,370 ft) and made a shallow dive at about Mach 1.2, making the final approach at an altitude under 500 m (1,640 ft). Guidance was by gyro-stabilized autopilot, with a radio altimeter.

It is claimed that when using a shaped charge 1000 kg warhead, it blew a hole 5 meters (15 feet) in diameter and penetrated 12 meters (38 feet) deep during Soviet tests."


20. Number 22 Sightings

There exists a contingency of people who are always on the lookout for the number 22. They think there is something mystical or maybe some "22" conspiracy out there somewhere...hmmmm....



Not really related to engineering unless you count the fact that we run into the number 22 during the normal course of calculations from time to time--and 22 is on the calendar once a month. It was just so oddly interesting...moving on...

21. Type 22 Frigate

"Originally designed as specialist anti-submarine platform, the Type 22 Frigates have evolved into a powerful surface combatant with substantial anti surface, anti submarine and anti aircraft weapons systems. They also possesses excellent command & control and communication facilities, making them ideal Flagships. On patrol they have an efficient cruising speed of 18 knots, but have a sprint capability of over 30 knots (The Royal Navy). "



22. And finally...Bush's Final Approval Rating: 22 Percent.

Image: President Bush gives his farewell speech, Jan. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Source: CBS News.

Love him or hate him...his final approval rating was 22 percent. Check out the story by CBS News.