General Science Discussion Thread!
- Thread starter Dr. Javelin
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Yeah, Yahoo does that shit a lot. It's right up there with linking to articles/videos that don't exist and giving videos transcripts, thus negating the need to watch the video.
Clickbait when it comes to science articles or pretty much anything that's factual and could be affected by shit opinions is kinda really fucking awful.
Speaking of clickbait, The Onion's clickbait parody site is up now at http://www.clickhole.com/ and it's gr8 fun
Speaking of clickbait, The Onion's clickbait parody site is up now at http://www.clickhole.com/ and it's gr8 fun
ernesth100
The Traveler, The Genius, The Scholar
So I know exactly what humans will use teleportation for when it becomes a reality...space travel.
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ernesth100 said:
Space travel is already a reality. One of the Voyager probes is even entering interstellar space as we speak
Besides, teleportation is a VERY convenient thing. I doubt space travel will be its first application, honestly.
ernesth100
The Traveler, The Genius, The Scholar
Yes, but just imagine being able to teleport to mars. And explore and come back in the blink of an eye. Too tempting. Plus we'd save hundreds of gallons of fuel wasted on rockets.Baby Luigi said:
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Actually, we're starting to deviate from rockets. Have you heard about space planes? They're supposed to be the next gen way to travel to outer space. Instead of using dangerous and fuel consuming rocket power, we use space planes to go to outer space.
Teleportation is about as feasible as light travel speed, or near it, however.
Teleportation is about as feasible as light travel speed, or near it, however.
Dr. Javelin
Nathan Latsk
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take a wild guess at what these "space planes" are powered byBaby Luigi said:
Toad Eightyfive
used to be here but peaced out
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solar panels produce fuel
solar fuel, whatever, but still fuel.
solar fuel, whatever, but still fuel.
Dr. Javelin
Nathan Latsk
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No, no they're not powered by solar panels.
If we can't power a car with just solar panels, you think a space plane can be powered with just solar panels?
Someday, maybe, but solar panels currently don't have a high enough conversion rate of PV energy to electricity. Even then there's only a set amount of energy you can gain from light, because you only have so much space on the surface of your vehicle to put PV cells on.
I guess you could put tons of batteries on a space plane, charge it up, and then power the engines, but that takes up lots of space and makes it much less efficient than powered with fuel. Which is why planes still use jet fuel and not solar power.
tl;dr solar isn't as strong as fuel
If we can't power a car with just solar panels, you think a space plane can be powered with just solar panels?
Someday, maybe, but solar panels currently don't have a high enough conversion rate of PV energy to electricity. Even then there's only a set amount of energy you can gain from light, because you only have so much space on the surface of your vehicle to put PV cells on.
I guess you could put tons of batteries on a space plane, charge it up, and then power the engines, but that takes up lots of space and makes it much less efficient than powered with fuel. Which is why planes still use jet fuel and not solar power.
tl;dr solar isn't as strong as fuel
Viridi said:
We can but we don't on a mass scale because 'murica.
Solar sails are a thing. Maybe they're not enough to launch the damn thing into space, but once it's there it's sure a thing.
Also solar is stronger than fuel if you're measuring by efficiency but if you're measuring by propulsion then duh of course the thing that fucking explodes is gonna propel something further.
I never took physics so I'm mostly talking in vague details of things I know so don't expect me to give you specifics. That's what google's for.
Dr. Javelin
Nathan Latsk
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Well, okay. You CAN power a car with just solar panels, however if you do then you're going to run out of power pretty quickly. Solar panels currently don't take in enough energy to make up for the amount of energy the car is using (although I guess that also depends on how fast the car is going, how aerodynamic it is, how much weight you're carrying, etc.). Not to mention the fact that you get zero energy at night time and reduced when there's cloud cover.
The closest thing we have to a solar car right now is a small, lightweight vehicle where then entire trunk (and also backseat if you want more) is taken up by batteries to give it more life before it dies out. There's no way you're taking in enough energy to power the thing while you're on the road, i.e. you will always be losing charge while you're driving because the solar cells simply don't make up for it fast enough.
And yeah, we do power things that remain in space with solar energy, but space planes only stay there for a brief time, not nearly long enough to recharge their batteries with solar.
I did do a big project on solar power. Photovoltaics is some complicated stuff.
Thermal solar power is also an option, but not really on cars (the standard solar panel you're thinking of is light energy to electricity, not heat to electricity). Unless you could somehow find a way to absorb the thermal energy in the roads and redirect it to cars as they drive over it? That would be cool.
The closest thing we have to a solar car right now is a small, lightweight vehicle where then entire trunk (and also backseat if you want more) is taken up by batteries to give it more life before it dies out. There's no way you're taking in enough energy to power the thing while you're on the road, i.e. you will always be losing charge while you're driving because the solar cells simply don't make up for it fast enough.
And yeah, we do power things that remain in space with solar energy, but space planes only stay there for a brief time, not nearly long enough to recharge their batteries with solar.
I did do a big project on solar power. Photovoltaics is some complicated stuff.
Thermal solar power is also an option, but not really on cars (the standard solar panel you're thinking of is light energy to electricity, not heat to electricity). Unless you could somehow find a way to absorb the thermal energy in the roads and redirect it to cars as they drive over it? That would be cool.
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Space planes are still less wasteful than rockets because I don't think they need to discard their components during launch.Viridi said:
Dr. Javelin
Nathan Latsk
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I get the feeling you guys are jumping behind some new technology, just like when you proclaimed the glories of automated cars despite knowing nothing about driving.
Space planes can not do everything the space shuttle/Russian Soyuz rocket can do.
Space planes literally just take you to the very edge of Earth's atmosphere, enough so that gravity has no effect on you (well, technically it still does, but it produces what's commonly known as a zero-G environment). To break out of Earth's orbit entirely, you need added propulsion - which is what the space shuttle's added components would give.
No, you cannot currently take a space plane to the International Space Station. That's much, much higher in orbit than space planes can reach.
Space planes can not do everything the space shuttle/Russian Soyuz rocket can do.
Space planes literally just take you to the very edge of Earth's atmosphere, enough so that gravity has no effect on you (well, technically it still does, but it produces what's commonly known as a zero-G environment). To break out of Earth's orbit entirely, you need added propulsion - which is what the space shuttle's added components would give.
No, you cannot currently take a space plane to the International Space Station. That's much, much higher in orbit than space planes can reach.
Dr. Javelin
Nathan Latsk
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- #694
well, if they do get to the point where they can fly reliably back and forth from the space station (without boosters, no less), then consider me in full support
until that point, they're just a distraction that only the super-super-rich can access
until that point, they're just a distraction that only the super-super-rich can access
ernesth100
The Traveler, The Genius, The Scholar
What happens when the sun goes down?Cosmo the Spacedog said:
ernesth100
The Traveler, The Genius, The Scholar
Or...maybe we make panels that can use any source of light what so ever and convert it to fuel!Baby Luigi said:
ernesth100
The Traveler, The Genius, The Scholar
Yay! I'm genoos!Morty said:
Dr. Javelin
Nathan Latsk
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- #700
it's not the solar panel, it's a battery attached to the solar panel. if the solar cell is not taking in any photovoltaic energy, then there is literally no way they would be putting out any energy. rather, what you're referring to is a simple system where the solar cell is hooked up to a battery during the daytime, and you can switch to battery power at nighttime (or when there's cloud cover)Baby Luigi said: