Floating islands

Non-Newtonian flow may result if the monolayer array consists of molecules that interact by specific Coulombic or dipole interactions to form floating islands , which in turn may interact by van der Waals forces around their peripheries (Joly, 1956). Non-Newtonian flow may also be a property of collapsed films. The resulting differences in viscosity over a range of flow rates may then reflect film-component segregation or partial monolayer collapse. 

In order to determine the solar plant area requirement for the above described power plant if it is located in southern California, one can assume that Figures 1.28 and 1.29 accurately give the average yearly insolation as about 2,600 kWh/m2/year. If the efficiency of the solar collectors is 20%, the collectors could be arranged on a square with 2.5 mi sides (6.5 mi2 or 16.6 km2). Naturally, if the plant is located in the equatorial zone (such as the Sahara or on a floating island), the area requirement would be less. For example, if the insolation in the selected area is 3,000 kWh/m2/yr and the solar plant efficiency is 30%, the radius of a circular plant would be about 1 mile, while in the temperate zone, with 1,500 kWh/m2/yr insolation and a 15% efficient system the required radius would be about 2.0 miles. 

The State of Hawaii and NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) have funded studies of city-sized floating islands. These studies indicate it is technically feasible to construct large floating stmctures with adequate safety and stability. 

Construction costs for artificial floating islands will quite different when compared to onshore or natural island locations. The floating island structure costs will be balanced against the high cost of land and environmental protection for shore and island locations. On balance, for most locations the use of the floating islands may be no more costly than other options. 

The major innovation of the fluid mosaic model, was to propose that the integral proteins were not scattered at random in the lipid bilayer, but formed specific, floating islands , which will here be called tesserae by analogy with a mosaic. The particular combination of proteins, including glycoproteins, in any tessera will determine its functional capacities and a given protein may form a part of several different tesserae. By this means, a relatively modest number of polypeptides could generate a wide diversity of biochemical functions. Individual tesserae can be linked to the cytoskeleton at their inner cytoplasmic face, by way of internal peripheral proteins and, probably, a hierarchy of filamentous proteins. At their outer faces they can be similarly... 

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