2 of tops

Of hearts ; of aspects of the female form, of tops.

This double funnel is designed to use a vortex to bring liquid carbon dioxide into a geometry where an electric arc can peel away chains of carbon atoms, hopefully into a single long thread, or tube, which would coil in the lower heart ; aspect or top .

To attempt this, liquid carbon dioxide would be fed under pressure into the upper heart, through the band around its center .

This ported zone, which can be shown open, (middle figure), is where the top section of the (cylindrical) insulating block, (the upper part of the playing card), meets the middle section .

When shown closed, (in the card and the figure directly above), the 'ring-nipple' surface represents the inner limit of braces, (not shown), holding these sections apart .

A very thin passage would connect the hearts .

As the lower one is evacuated, the CO2 should form a slender, intense vortex as it drains from the upper .

My hope is that by maintaining a high pressure but low temperature, the carbon dioxide would, within a powerful enough vortex and under the influence of an electric field, form a liquid crystal ; as proposed in the letter-diagrams at center .

The first of these imagines compressed, laminar layers of (standard) double-bonded CO2 : as close and as orderly as i hope the vortex will be able to hold them along its inner wall ; (rotational flow being left-right, progressive flow being down) .

The second imagines what i hope will be the effect of the electric field : that bonds would realign .

The carbon and oxygen atoms would loosen their hold on one-another, allowing the carbon to form single-linked chains across layers, aligned with the electric field ; while the oxygen formed single-links across molecules .

Assuming the carbon chains will conduct electricity better (in their direction) than the oxygen :

i expect that as the vortex is relaxed in the lower heart, these chains will be drawn toward the cathode, (receiving electrode) ; distorting the shape of the crystal so that the carbon chains are closer to center than the oxygen .

The twisting action of the vortex could then spin these chains together like fibers, encouraging them to cross-link or bond as a stable tube or thread .

As the tube or thread was wound, the oxygen on its outside would be brought, i hope, within its double-bond radius ; forming molecules .

Centrifugal force and the electrical field traveling through the tread or tube would, i again hope, separate the oxygen molecules from the thread's surface as a free gas .

Unused CO2, together with oxygen, (ozone if formed), carbon monoxide, (maybe, hopefully not), and other gasses, (if introduced),

would be drawn from the lower heart through its central band / gap, (structurally the same as the upper one's) ; to be separated, and reused or stored .

As modeled, the cathode is a ring around the lower heart's sharp central peak .

This is done so that the carbon tube or thread will anchor off-center, encouraging the spinning action of the vortex to coil it in the bottom like a rope ;

( if the design works as intended, the lower heart could be deepened to hold more coils. )

The playing card represents a cylindrical three-piece ceramic casting into which the hearts are molded .

The vertical passage at top accepts the anode, (emitting electrode), which forms the spike anti-peak of the upper heart .

The vertical passage at bottom accepts the cathode, together with its ceramic center .

Issues that could arise with the design might include :

1) Failure of the liquid crystal to form, or to form in the expected way ...

Perhaps feeding a carbon tube through the center of the vortex as a field and current carrier, (and seed-stock), could help .

Also of interest is work by Takahiro Fukuda, Toru Maekawa and team at Toyo University, Japan ; as published in the New Journal of Physics (Sept. 2007) ; (http://www.njp.org) .

They found that near-critical carbon dioxide could be dissociated in the presence of an electric field by (UV) laser, yielding amorphous carbon .

This design provides opportunity to place lasers which would strike the inner layers of the vortex .

The ceramic centerpost of the cathode could be modified to do so .

The anode, too, could be reconfigured as a ring around a laser-window .

As well, the wall of the lower heart, below its central band, seems a possibility .

Otherwise, hydrogen could be added : to go (instead) for a yield of mixed hydrocarbons and carbohydrates .

2) Carbon dioxide gas flooding the center of the vortex, preventing the electrical field from reaching the liquid crystal layer without the application of so much force that its effects disrupt that layer ...

Argon gas might address this, (as might neon and helium), as each is lighter than CO2, and could ride on top of its layers, (in the vortex), holding them down .

If the carbon atoms chain up as shown, the field might be able to fish them out through the lighter gas, which being noble would not chain .

The carbon-tube feed could be applied here as well, possibly in combination with argon, (neon or helium) .

3) Rapid deterioration of the electrodes ...

The design allows these to be replaced easily, but it may be the anode will need to be rounded .

It is based on the cardioid, which forms an abstract 'perfect point', and to apply it there will be some rounding ;

but there are also variations that are mathematically less sharp .

If the device works as intended, or can be made to do so, it will offer a method of 'spinning' carbon dioxide into carbon tubes and/or fibers.