Information Madness

Houses will get earthquake resistant cloak in the future. This is bordering on vivid imagination and fantasy but British scientists are claiming that it will soon be possible to create a Harry Potter like invisibility cloak that could be used to protect buildings from earthquakes. How is this possible? A team of scientists at the University of Manchester says that the prospects are high of making objects invisible to certain wavelengths in restricted circumstances and this has become very much possible in recent years. This technique will defend structures against earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Cloaking devices make objects appear invisible by deflecting light around them. The scientists feel that in the same fashion, pressurised rubber could be used to hide structures from shock waves produced by earthquakes. The shock waves will go around the structures rather than through them.

This technique will be able to protect nuclear power plants, electric pylons and government buildings from natural disasters and even terrorist attacks. A lot of progress has been made in the field of cloaking, theoretically and practically. Theoretically, pre-stressing a natural material like rubber leads to a cloaking effect from a particular type of elastic wave.

The team of scientists is now working hard on more general theories and in finding how such theories could be applied and put into practice. The team feels that controlling body waves will be a little too complex for now but controlling surface waves is within the ability of conventional engineering. It is the surface waves that are more destructive.