|
Post by Ian1732 on Aug 3, 2009 15:08:30 GMT -5
Not so much as a scientific discussion thread as it is for thoughts and humor, what do you guys think could be harnessed to generate electricity, solving the energy crisis? I was thinking that, if we could harness the earth's magnetic field, it could potentially do... something. If only I knew more about it...
|
|
|
Post by MaybeNever on Aug 3, 2009 15:38:01 GMT -5
If we could turn sexual frustration into energy, nerds alone could power the Earth indefinitely.
Or if we could convert someone's mass to energy at 100% efficiency, that would be awesome.
|
|
|
Post by Angel Kaida on Aug 3, 2009 17:24:28 GMT -5
If we could convert baffled incredulity and loss of faith in humankind to energy, the pharyngulite outing to the creo museum could probably power several large cities for a few years...
|
|
King Leopard
Full Member
The ORIGINAL douche canoe
Posts: 201
|
Post by King Leopard on Aug 3, 2009 17:56:47 GMT -5
Dude, windmills in Mexico.
I've always said if you strapped a meter to my son after enchiladas or some such, he could power Seattle for a weekend.
|
|
|
Post by lumberjackninja on Aug 3, 2009 18:34:05 GMT -5
Not so much as a scientific discussion thread as it is for thoughts and humor, what do you guys think could be harnessed to generate electricity, solving the energy crisis? I was thinking that, if we could harness the earth's magnetic field, it could potentially do... something. If only I knew more about it... I know this is tongue-in-cheek, but.. The Earth's magnetic field is already being used. It's what allows us to have this nice thick atmosphere that we enjoy so much. Also, all things being equal a magnetic field of constant magnitude cannot do any work. It can only re-direct momentum, but the total amount of energy of the system remains the same. </physics_student>
|
|
|
Post by Sigmaleph on Aug 3, 2009 18:59:13 GMT -5
Hatred. If pure hatred could actually be felt by people in the vicinity like many cartoons and new age woos tell me, I could probably move a turbine just by standing near it and thinking of... well, there's a long list.
|
|
|
Post by Jedi Knight on Aug 3, 2009 19:23:03 GMT -5
This is obvious, but if we could convert human stupidity to other forms of energy, we'd have an infinite source of energy. You realize a stupidity converter could accelerate a space ship to the speed of light, right?
|
|
|
Post by banjaxed on Aug 3, 2009 20:39:54 GMT -5
If we could turn sexual frustration into energy, nerds alone could power the Earth indefinitely. Or if we could convert someone's mass to energy at 100% efficiency, that would be awesome. DRILL BABY DRILL!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Maryland Bear on Aug 4, 2009 6:30:57 GMT -5
Something by Nikola Tesla. I don't know what, but we need to implement ideas from someone who was probably the closest thing to a genuine mad scientist humanity has ever produced.
(okay, some of the Nazi researchers probably qualify as mad scientists -- Mengele, for instance. But they were evil, Tesla was cool.)
|
|
|
Post by HarleyThomas1002 on Aug 4, 2009 11:16:53 GMT -5
Urine. It's being tinkered with and used in small batteries. The south alone with their crappy beer that does nothing but make you piss like a pregnant woman alone could power God knows what.
|
|
|
Post by lumberjackninja on Aug 4, 2009 12:47:34 GMT -5
Urine. It's being tinkered with and used in small batteries. The south alone with their crappy beer that does nothing but make you piss like a pregnant woman alone could power God knows what. If we could harvest "everything that makes America bad", and figure out trans-continental power lines, the whole region south of the Mason-Dixon and east of the Mississippi could power the world.
|
|
|
Post by Ian1732 on Aug 4, 2009 13:54:08 GMT -5
I think this picture deserves mentioning in this thread. Anyway, now for something at least a bit serious. What if we equipped exercise machines with electrical generators, essentially turning a gym into a literal powerhouse? Does anyone think that could work?
|
|
|
Post by lumberjackninja on Aug 4, 2009 14:22:58 GMT -5
Anyway, now for something at least a bit serious. What if we equipped exercise machines with electrical generators, essentially turning a gym into a literal powerhouse? Does anyone think that could work? No. You might could power a significant portion of the gym, but not produce net power, unless it was a very minimal building (no air conditioning, no electronics, little to no artificial lighting, etc). If I recall correctly, a human body in good shape is capable of producing a sustained output of maybe 2kW. Factor in generator and inverter inefficiencies, and you really don't produce that much power. However, if you were to take human fat, render it into a usable fuel form, and burn it in a diesel or otto engine, you'd get decent output. I remember reading that fat and gasoline have roughly the same energy-to-mass ratio. You could even make a movie out of it. Soylent Electricity is people!
|
|
|
Post by Vypernight on Aug 5, 2009 5:36:47 GMT -5
Portable fans that can be placed anywhere along the east ot gulf coast. When a hurricane blows through, they can collect the energy and store it. Florida would definitely become a summer state then.
Not really a humorous idea, but a pretty implausible one, though it'd bring down electric bills down big time if they could figure out how to get it to work.
|
|
|
Post by Dragon Zachski on Aug 5, 2009 13:45:23 GMT -5
Anyway, now for something at least a bit serious. What if we equipped exercise machines with electrical generators, essentially turning a gym into a literal powerhouse? Does anyone think that could work? No. You might could power a significant portion of the gym, but not produce net power, unless it was a very minimal building (no air conditioning, no electronics, little to no artificial lighting, etc). If I recall correctly, a human body in good shape is capable of producing a sustained output of maybe 2kW. Factor in generator and inverter inefficiencies, and you really don't produce that much power. However, if you were to take human fat, render it into a usable fuel form, and burn it in a diesel or otto engine, you'd get decent output. I remember reading that fat and gasoline have roughly the same energy-to-mass ratio. You could even make a movie out of it. Soylent Electricity is people! Actually, if people could volunteer their fat in free liposuction surgeries, you'd have people rushing to donate. Myself included.
|
|