Clipped from: "Sound Bullets" to Zap Off Tumors?

"Sound Bullets" to Zap Off Tumors?

A prototype acoustic lens for generating "sound bullets."

A new machine inspired by a common office toy could one day allow doctors to zap cancerous tumors using "sound bullets," scientists say.

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The design is based on the Newton's cradle, which features several identically sized metal balls suspended so that the balls barely touch each other.

Due to Newton's laws of motion, when an end ball is pulled back and released, the ball at the other end swings outward with the same speed, even though none of the middle balls move.

Clipped from: Newton's cradle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Newton's cradle, named after Sir Isaac Newton, is a device that demonstrates conservation of momentum and energy. The device is also known as an executive ball clicker, newton's balls or balance balls.

Clipped from: Observations: Acoustic lens generates bullets of sound that may lead to sonic scalpels

Acoustic lens generates bullets of sound that may lead to sonic scalpels

The ability on the part of researchers to manipulate sound waves has led to the development of critical technologies, for example, enabling ultrasonic transducers to image the interior of the human body (aka "ultrasound"). A team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena think they've found a way to make sound waves even more powerful with the help of a new type of acoustic lens. Caltech researchers Alessandro Spadoni and Chiara Daraio describe how they create "sound bullets" in a study published in the April 5 issue Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

Clipped from: Sound bullets could treat cancers and replace ultrasound (w/ Video)

Sound bullets could treat cancers and replace ultrasound (w/ Video)

The new acoustic lens is made of a metamaterial and uses the Newton’s cradle principle, which is familiar to many people from a toy with identical metal balls suspended on strings, designed to demonstrate the conservation of energy. When the ball at one end is pulled out and released, the ball at the other end swings out at the same speed. The metamaterial comprises 21 parallel chains, each containing 21 stainless steel spheres, but instead of channeling motion, the balls channel sound waves, which are converted to a shock wave called a “solitary wave”. The energy leaving the lens does not bounce back through the chains because of the length of the chains, and instead is focused on a spot a few centimeters in front of it.

Combined DP/FE model. (A) Arrays of spheres interact with a baffle (orange lines) which in turn interacts with the adjacent fluid. (B) The interaction of granular media and baffle. Image: Spadoni et al. 10.1073/pnas.1001514107

Clipped from: Daraio Home Page

CHIARA DARAIO

California Institute of Technology, Aeronautics and Applied Physics

Daraio’s lab interests reside at the interface of materials science, condensed matter physics, and solid mechanics, particularly in the design, development, and testing of multi-scale metamaterials; phononic crystals; responsive soft matter; tunable acoustics; highly nonlinear solitary waves; mechanical and electronic properties of nano and biomaterials; advanced characterization of materials (high resolution TEM, in-situ analysis, FIB, AFM); synthesis, fabrication and assembly of nanomaterials and composite nanostructures …more…

Ongoing Projects:

Clipped from: Generation and control of sound bullets with a nonlinear acoustic lens — PNAS

Generation and control of sound bullets with a nonlinear acoustic lens

Alessandro Spadonia, Chiara Daraiob

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2010-04-08

Generation and Control of Sound Bullets may lead to Sonic Scalpels

"Sound Bullets" to Zap Off Tumors?

Acoustic lens generates bullets of sound that may lead to sonic scalpels

Sound bullets could treat cancers and replace ultrasound (w/ Video)

Generation and control of sound bullets with a nonlinear acoustic lens