I invented a new power generation method!
Amazing, is it actually new, or is it steam again
… it’s steam again.
Science is iterative
Submitted 1 week ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/8d810f02-85a8-4b6a-9bb5-a18ac04bc81d.jpeg
Comments
TheFogan@programming.dev 1 week ago
rockerface@lemmy.cafe 1 week ago
“It’s a good power generation method, sir”
looks inside
boiling water
lime@feddit.nu 1 week ago
> ask if new generator is spooky or wet
> they don’t understand > show the diagram > “it’s a good generator mx”
> go inside
> it’s wet
Blackout@fedia.io 1 week ago
It's like how evolution's perfect form is a crab. Energy's perfect form is spicy water bois
rockerface@lemmy.cafe 1 week ago
Fun fact: crabs are only the underwater peak of evolution. Land mammals seem to converge into anteaters, and plants into trees.
ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
If mammals want to survive the next 100 million years we need to see the writing on the wall and evolve into crabeaters
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 days ago
drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 6 days ago
I mean theres been like 15 things that are dolphin shaped throughout history.
sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Land mammals seem to converge into anteaters
Hold on, let’s give it some time to see if sea mammals will, too.
kittenzrulz123@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 days ago
Its like transportations perfect form is trains
Blackmist@feddit.uk 6 days ago
blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
Do solar panels operate in this way?
WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 1 week ago
Depends on the type of solar panel. PV, no. Otherwise, yes.
oxideseven@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Solar, wind, tidal, RTG, DEC fusion are all options without steam
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Does hydropower count as cold steam?
Well I guess all wind power is also steam at a very low concentration heated by a fusion reaction.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 1 week ago
Wind and tidal is still just turbines.
fullsquare@awful.systems 6 days ago
technically pv panels are also heat engines. this is why they need cooling
jpablo68@infosec.pub 6 days ago
I don’t know why we don’t do this with internal combustion engines (Gasoline or Diesel) all that heat generated by the motor, wasted, it could be used to generate more electricity…
xthexder@l.sw0.com 6 days ago
We actually do. F1 engine’s have something called the MGU-H that recovers exhaust gas energy and turns it into electricity that can be used to recharge the hybrid system: racecar-engineering.com/…/tech-explained-formula-…
Technically any turbocharger is doing the same thing except it’s hooked up to a compressor for the intake air instead of a generator.
EddoWagt@feddit.nl 6 days ago
They don’t have that anymore as it was deemed not relevant enough for road use
Emi@ani.social 6 days ago
There were some cars that used Stirling engine instead of internal combustion ones.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
I’m aware of some large ships that do that, using either a sterling engine or maybe even a steam engine to put waste engine heat to use.
I have heard of a 6-stroke engine. The idea is, intake compression power exhaust steam exhaust. The four strokes of the Otto or Diesel cycle happen, and then hot high pressure water is injected directly into the cylinder which flashes to steam and expands, pushing the piston, and then another exhaust stroke lets it out. This puts much of the waste heat out through the crankshaft rather than wasting it via radiator. It’s not without its problems though.
megopie@beehaw.org 5 days ago
Thermo dynamics, in short.
In long, because adding some heat recovery system to the engine block would mean decreasing the cooling efficiency of that block, thus making the block hotter, and decreasing the efficiency of the engine. Since the engine makes power based on the differential of heat/pressure from the top of the stroke and the bottom of the stroke. If you make the system hotter, then less energy can be extracted per unit of heat produced from burning fuel. Any energy generation from the waste heat of the block would be offset by efficiency losses in the engine it’s self.
Now, most engines don’t actually extract all the energy they could from that differential, which is why turbo chargers are a thing. They use excess heat in the gas exhausted out of the block, expand it to ambient pressure and temperature over a turbine, that turbine then runs a compressor, and that compressor raises the pressure at the air intake. More air entering the engine in the same volume allows for more fuel, thus increasing the energy density of the charge, increasing the differential in heat between the top and bottom stroke, increasing power and/or efficiency depending on it’s tuning. But that’s not utilizing heat from the engine block, but heat in the exhaust.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 days ago
You’d think with all the rats used for labratory testing, we’d have power generated by mice running on wheels.
xep@discuss.online 6 days ago
Still kinda using water to turn a turbine, if you squint really hard.
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
How many calories does a rat burn everyday though? Instead lets outfit humans with exoskeletons, and instead of assisting the human, it will do the opposite. Their extra energy gets fed into the suit to create electricity. Could also sell it as weight loss thing simultaneously.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 6 days ago
most FTL in scifi surpassed the use of fusion to power thier ships and only used a supplemental power, they went with anti-matter, and vacumn energy
NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 6 days ago
Gawd I love this meme.
wrinkledoo@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Space ship science works differently. You don’t need “power” except for the computers, you just need “thrust” and any fuel you use is likely insufficient for long term travel.
So we sailing the solar seas bois.(Literally, solar sails) unless warp drives are somehow real.*
*Am not space boat science man.
janus2@lemmy.zip 6 days ago
ok i can see the steam turbine powering onboard electrical but explain me how the fuck you’re doing space propulsion with steam
BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 6 days ago
Ion thrusters are an example of electricity used for space propulsion.
In ion thrusters electricity is used to create a magnetic field that accelerate the propellant particles at very high speed. This way the propellant of used much more efficiently.
janus2@lemmy.zip 6 days ago
ooooooh
well that’s pretty neat.
DahGangalang@infosec.pub 6 days ago
So skimming through the wiki article, it sounds like it it’s still “throw something out the back” to generate thrust, which is largely the same problem as the Wall-E with a fire extinguisher problem another commenter made.
Ion Thrusters sound significantly more efficient (in terms of velocity change vs fuel), but do I have the right idea on that?
huf@hexbear.net 6 days ago
you use the steam to turn a spacetime-fabric-propeller which can gain traction on vacuum itself and propel the ship. simple stuff.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
So we figured out the most efficient way to generate electricity 100 years ago, and you guys just whinge and want something new.
Sabata11792@ani.social 5 days ago
most efficient
Ehhh, good enough.
Kowowow@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
2026 we put a helicopter on mars and still no power crystals
Folstar@lemmus.org 5 days ago
We’re already well on the way to having supercritical CO2 generators. Sure, it’s still a steam engine, but supercritical CO2 makes it sound so much sciencier.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
It’s to boil water again, isn’t it
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 6 days ago
it is always a steam turbine :)
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 days ago
Go to 8:56 here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=_bDXXWQxK38
There’s still hope we can move past steam generation.
call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
Pssh, you guys are still on gravity-fusion? My ship has magnetically-bottled antihydrogen, which is carefully fed into a specialized reaction vessel that annihilates it with ordinary hydrogen to produce incredible amounts of heat…
…which is then used to boil water and force the steam through a turbine.
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
I just put some saddles on this bacteria that eats photons.
Kellenved@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Discworld ftl tech right here
Chakravanti@monero.town 6 days ago
Antitron
VinegarChunks@lemmus.org 5 days ago
Antïron