The Political Thread

[von Boom]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3427891/free_energy_how_to_build_magnetic_power_generator_for_home/

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

No-one is saying coal is clean or limitless but I am amazed that people consider nuclear to be the 'green' alternative.

As long as the waste (which is admitedly horribly dangerous and toxic stuff) is correctly managed (and there are many ways to do that) it has practically no impact on the environment. They are constantly finding ways of making nuclear reactors safer and more efficient, I believe breeder reactors (which produce more fissile material as a by-product) are the big thing now. And of course, there's fusion. Once we crack that we'll be set up for billions of years of completely clean energy.

We're running out of fossil fuels, so we need alternatives. The carbon tax is bullshit as long as the government hands out permits for petrochemical companies to cause half a dozen natural disasters at once. I believe "fracking" is the technical term. We can't keep digging deeper and deeper. Just ask the dwarfs in Moria. OH YOU CAN'T, THE BALROG ATE THEM ALL!

[Recrewt]

We can't keep digging deeper and deeper. Just ask the dwarfs in Moria. OH YOU CAN'T, THE BALROG ATE THEM ALL!

  Best environmental argument, ever!

[The Legendary Shark]

Yes - but the Earth's magnetic field can cause a trillion compass needles to twitch. Got to be some energy in a trillion twitches, I guess.

[JOE SOAP]

THE WORLD SAYS GOODBYE TO THE NEWLY EXTINCT BLACK RHINOS

[Zarjazzer]

I wish it was those that buy rhino horn and sell it on to gullible fools were the ones going extinct.

I'm sure they'll carry on regardless, some other creature will be found to meet the "demand".

[Professor Bear]

Tonight I'm pouring a forty on the curb of my crib.  Although by "on the curb" I mean "into my belly" - I might be saddened by their passing but I'm still an alcoholic.

[Emp]

That's drinking enthusiast Prof Bear....

[The Legendary Shark]

Limbering up for next month's Alcohlympics in the Sector Seven Ian Holm Pukeatorim (and later at Resyk) - judges permitting, of course.

[Spikes]

This may make them think twice....

[JPMaybe]

Yes - but the Earth's magnetic field can cause a trillion compass needles to twitch. Got to be some energy in a trillion twitches, I guess.

But then you can't get those needles *back* to twitch again without putting more energy in than you got out in the first place- the earth's magnetic field is to all intents and purposes static, you can't extract energy from it.

[The Legendary Shark]

Hmmm... I was under the impression that the Earth's magnetic field was a dynamic thing; created by a spinning core, squeezed and pumped by the sun's magnetosphere and deformed by the charged particle solar winds and such. Sure, wiring up a trillion compasses and keeping them in motion by sellotaping them to windmills to keep the needles twitching might be impractical by today's standards and understanding but who knows about tomorrow? My point about the compasses was to show the scale of the field - and with a field of such size and power it may be possible to exploit its smallest fluctuations to generate or extract electricity.  I have no idea how but I believe it can be done.

[TordelBack]

My point about the compasses was to show the scale of the field - and with a field of such size and power it may be possible to exploit its smallest fluctuations to generate or extract electricity.  I have no idea how but I believe it can be done.

The issue, as I understand it, is that you are dealing with a very weak field with respect to each of your compasses, and the variations that would actually create energy even tinier, such that the intrinsic constraint of the amount of energy lost per compass (through heat mainly), would roughly equal the amount generated.  And that's ignoring the energy input into the construction of trillions of the thingsm and the infrastructure for carrying power away from so many individual components.

As to taping compasses to windmills, well you'd do a lot better just using them as ordinary turbine generators since the energy generated will be vastly greater than the twitching compasses, which at best would be acting to retard the turning of the blades, as with the orbitally-based electrodynamic tether, where it's the wire moving through the Earth's magnetic field rather than being moved by it.

Why am I always trying to piss on your chips, Sharky?  I love you and your wacky schemings really.

[JOE SOAP]

My point about the compasses was to show the scale of the field - and with a field of such size and power it may be possible to exploit its smallest fluctuations to generate or extract electricity.  I have no idea how but I believe it can be done.

I think it would be more energy-productive to harness energy from the Earth's rotation in a similar way to tidal power. Not sure if the magnetosphere would produce anything particularly useable or much more than the equivalent of static electricity spread over a wide area.

[JOE SOAP]

Why am I always trying to piss on your chips, Sharky?  I love you and your wacky schemings really.

Think of it as showering his fries with gold.