Posted on 08/13/2011 7:13:31 PM PDT by Oiao
No grid means they can’t turn your power off if you misbehave.
Where’s the flux capacitor?
Yes, it took Detroit weeks or at most months to convert from passenger cars to tanks.
A thorium laser used to heat water to run a steam driven turbine. I wonder how much pressure will be present?
I don’t believe thorium is currently cheaper than uranium! It needs to be processed to make it usable in a way that is still very expensive.
Yabbut, have you driven a vehicle from that era? They were tanks.
Detroit would have to learn how to work with metal again.
“The key to the system developed by inventor Charles Stevens, CEO and chairman of Connecticut-based Laser Power Systems, is that when silvery metal thorium is heated by an external source, it becomes so dense its molecules give off considerable heat.”
Not a scientist or engineer here, but doesn’t that mean that they’re getting more energy out than they put in, without a nuclear fission or fusion chain reaction?
I thought that one of the basic laws of physics says you can’t do that.
“Small blocks of thorium generate heat surges that are configured as a thorium-based laser”
Arf a mo, there, mate. How does one “configure” heat into photons? I didn’t know if that could be done, so I went looking. Found this on the NASA site:
Converting heat waves to light waves is a bit more difficult for the same reason it is more difficult to go from the bottom of a building to the top than the other way around. This is because it is easier to go from a higher energy state (the top of a building, or visual light) to a lower energy state (the bottom of a building, or heat radiation) than from a lower to a higher state. To convert heat waves into a higher-energy wave (like visible light or even X-rays) you need to store them up until you have the energy of the wave you want to produce.”
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how, if you put in the energy required to convert heat waves into a higher-energy wave like laser light, how are you going to get more energy out than you put in?
“These create steam from water within mini-turbines, generating electricity to drive a car.”
I thought you had to generate the steam under pressure separately from the turbine, then focus the HP steam onto the turbine blades with a nozzle.
Is it possible that this really makes sense somehow, but the reporter got everything wrong? Or did I get everything wrong?
Touché!
When they start talking about density and potential energy (irrelevant if you are using the material for nuclear fuel) the alarm bells go off. Unless they intend to use it to make flywheels...
M means thousand, sometimes.
It’s archaic and confusing though.
Well if those measurements are right, then that person is only about three feet tall.
Possibly, but just as likely
Deliberate misinformation and confuscation
The ‘reporter’ is out of his element here (no pun intended).
Great discussion.
If something even remotely (you might want to check out NASA for research in CA on energy conversion under a current Space Act Agreement) close to allowing the decentralization of (off the regulated and highly taxed grid) were to be going on, the Gov is already controlling it until it is put into a taxation model that will fit funding Gov. Keep digging on the NASA front = you are very warm (no pun intended).
It's feared by the public and hyped by the media, but NASA blew up the engine on purpose and there was no release of radioactive material. The real problem was Nixon and other politicians wanted to cut NASA funding, but any success like the nuclear engine would have required a lot more funding such as for a Mars mission.
When you park your car(s) in the garage at home you might as well plug them into the grid and generate your own home electricity.
I believe thorium is cheaper for nuclear power than uranium or plutonium and that comes from discussing with a nuclear power researcher at Oak Ridge. That is not the price of fuel but reflects the cost of the electricity generated.
I am not a nuclear engineer but based on everything I have read thorium has numerous advantages over current fuels for nuclear power generation.
This is an article about thorium last month and I believe the assertions in the article are correct. It’s posted by a greenie but it is worth a read.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/04/thorium-nuclear-power
Metric vs English measure. Damn good glider pilot. Fortuitous location of an old WW-II Training Airport.
Something like that .................................. FRegards
Very Good! Spot on. (I had a cousin on that plane, so it has always fascinated me.)
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