The flow of Dry Water: A Gauge Theory of Froth Flotation

Martin Harris has been employed, principally as a researcher, in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town since 1986. From the outset, his position has been supported by industry, and has focussed on research collaboration with industry, in terms of technology development, technology transfer and the development of human resources via undergraduate and postgraduate research projects and the development and delivery of industry courses and workshops. Martin’s main research focus is the modelling, simulation and control of industrial-scale flotation circuits. Martin completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) at UCT in 1983, and an MSc (Engineering) at UCT in 1987.

The seminar will provide a guided tour through a completely novel theory that can be used to generate a closed analytical solution to the physics of froth flotation, in a manner that is completely fundamental, yet robust and simple to use. It represents a mesoscale integration of two of the best known gauge theories in physics, Einstein’s theory of gravity with Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. The first half of the seminar title refers to the tongue-in-cheek title of a famous lecture by Richard Feynman in 1964. The theory shows how the aqueous phase in a flotation process can actually manifest this apparently contradictory state.