"Wisdom begins in wonder" – Socrates
Electric Power Quality
08/26/26
“How can we define the quality of AC electric power supply?”
AC electric power quality is the backbone of most global electricity supplies. However, its quality depends on a few factors. Electric Power Quality is determined by how much the voltage level doesn’t stray from its expected value and how stable its frequency is. Providing high-quality electric power quality is of the utmost importance for electric infrastructure operators.
Why Data Centers Are Causing The Grid to Go Out Of Sync
08/25/26
“Why are data centers causing the grid to go out of sync?”
Data centers take up gargantuan amounts of power for their computational needs. However, they don’t do it all at once. Instead, their operations fluctuate with the computation at hand. These extreme fluctuations cause rapid grid load changes, which in turn can throw the electricity grid out of sync. The degradation of a consistent AC electricity frequency can be so severe that it damages nearby household electrical appliances. This is Why Data Centers Are Causing The Grid to Go Out Of Sync.
Community Land Trusts
08/24/26
“How can we establish nonprofits to hold and manage land for affordable housing?”
Land trusts allow nonprofits to hold and manage land. Community Land Trusts (CLTs) hold and steward land specifically for affordable housing. The Community Land Trust purchases land and leases it out to tenants or other organizations that own and manage the buildings and improvements. The land trust protects residents from housing market price increases by separating building ownership from land ownership. Community land trusts may have governance structures that allow residents to take part.
Land Trusts
08/23/26
“How can people create nonprofit organizations that own and manage land?”
Land is typically managed by private individuals as a consequence of global Western European colonization. However, nonprofit organizations called Land Trusts are also able to own and manage land. Land trusts can serve a variety of functions, from conserving natural landscapes to providing affordable housing.
Zoning Ordinances
08/22/26
“How can municipalities create local laws to regulate zoning?”
Municipalities can institute ordinances, or local laws, to govern their own town. Zoning Ordinances are zoning laws set up by cities to regulate how different portions of a municipality are zoned for specific uses. These can range from permitted land use to bike lane regulations to greenspace minimums.
Steep Slope Ordinances
08/21/26
“How can municipalities limit disturbance of their steep slopes?”
Disturbing steep slopes can lead to a myriad of issues such as erosion, landslides, and subsidence. Municipalities can implement Steep Slope Ordinances that regulate steep slope disturbance. These ordinances can include quantitative thresholds, zoning overlay districts, and supplemental regulations.
Lean Clay
08/20/26
“How can we describe clays that are less sensitive to moisture?”
Fat clays are famous for their volumetric sensitivity to moisture. At the other end of the spectrum are Lean Clays. Lean clays have a higher composition of silt and sand particles and therefore have lower Atterberg limits compared to fat clays. Consequently, lean clays are less volumetrically sensitive to moisture. To determine if a clay sample is fat or lean, fat clays have liquid limits greater than 50, and lean clays have a plasticity index greater than 7 or plot above the “A” line.
Sand Columns
08/19/26
“How can we improve an area’s drainage and load-bearing capacity by replacing the soil with compressed sand?”
Fat clays and similar soils drain poorly and have weak load-bearing capacity. This makes them poor candidates for serving as building load support. Wouldn’t it be great if we could replace them with strong, fast-draining compacted sand? Well, it turns out that’s the exact idea behind Sand Columns. Sand columns are long vertical columns of compacted sand that replace soils to optimize civil support. Sand columns are used all over the world where the soil requires it.
Image credit: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40703-019-0106-6
Fat Clays
08/18/26
“What type of clay soils are very sensitive to moisture?”
Clays are one of the fundamental soil types in the world. Some clays have a very wide Atterberg limit, so they exhibit plastic behavior most of the time. These so-called Fat Clays are highly moldable and will change size with water applications very sensitively. Because the pores in fat clays are very small, water will move out slowly under applied loads. It’s not recommended to build basements in areas with fat clay soils, such as in Houston, Texas, because the changing volume from water will cause structural damage.
Isaac's Science Blog 