A Bristol boffin has built a computer out of sodium
acetate the chemical which is called “hot ice”.
Sodium acetate is normally flogged in bags which releases
heat on a cold day. Andrew Adamatzky from the University of the West of
England in Bristol hit on a wizard wheeze to build a computer out of one. His cunning plan was to use the traveling wavefront of
crystallisation to perform calculations, rather in the manner of
reaction-diffusion computers and the slime mold computer he has also toyed
around with. The speed of the wavefront as it moves through a Petri
dish and the way it interacts with other wavefronts effectively performs
computations.
Data is imputed by triggering nucleation at multiple
points in parallel by immersing aluminium wires powdered with sodium acetate
into a supersaturated solution in a Petri dish. And or Gates are created using blobs of silicone to steer
them around the dishes. (Much like some women use blobs of silicone to steer wealthy men into marrying them. sub.ed.)
His computer has far solved several mazes and a number of
other computing problems although is yet to play a convincing game of
Counterstrike. It also has a tendency to hang but hell you get that on the big
jobs.
Published in
News
Hot Ice computer built
Crystals do the sums