They just found rocks that are naturally hot and boiled water with it... Engineering is a scam.
this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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We have rocks that do math, transmit electricity, and fly us through the sky.
When you get reductive about the natural sciences it all just boils down to applied physics which is applied mathematics.
But engineering and technology? Applied geology.
(/s because I’m not going to acknowledge that geology is applied chemistry and so on)
You have to engrave special runes on these rocks for them to work.
I heard that some wizards on the remote island of Tayouan far east are very good at it.
Reminds me of https://xkcd.com/435/
Haha exactly.
I remember thinking about science hierarchy or levels of abstraction way back in high school, but I’m glad that (like so many things) xkcd perfectly documented it.
In a sense, you're right. And there's a bit of magic involved. If you cut a certain special rock into slices, engrave runes on one side of it, and inject lightning, the rock starts to think. I don't see how you can describe that as anything other than magic.
The nuclear batteries small enough for handheld devices that we've been reading about recently don't use any water.
Those have been researched and tested for decades and the tech still hasn't caught on. They just don't put out enough power to be useful for much more than a clock circuit (not even enough to power a full watch, just keep the time).
I have serious doubts they're going to suddenly become viable anytime soon.
Any useful energy production from nuclear is basically just making steam to run turbines. Same with coal but you know.
I believe they have been used in pacemakers, for example. They are becoming practical for more applications over time and are seemingly on the verge of appearing in consumer electronics. We shall see.
RTGs also do not use water. I suppose the watch batteries are essentially just tiny RTGs.
Conceivably you could use bimetallic strips to produce mechanical energy from the heat generation.
So a nucler reactor is just a kettle with an extra spicy heating element?
Yes. Water + spicy rocks. Everything else is solar power, which is also nuclear power, but with the spiciness in the sky instead.
Fun fact. Coal plants release more radioactive materials than nuclear plants.]
Except the ones that blew up. Those ones were extra spicy.
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Reminds me of the meme using the Donnie Darko psychologist template.
Donnie: I made a new form of power generation.
Psychologist: New or steam?
Donnie: Steam...
The only truly new method of power generation we've made in the last 100 years has been photovoltaic cells. Everything else is just finding new ways to make turbines spin.
That's just boiling water with extra steps
That’s wrong statement
I've actually seen this same meme used in the opposite way where they did discover a new way but I don't remember enough information to find it. And I don't think it was talking about solar.
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It was interesting realizing that a lot of our power is still, at its core, a steam engine
We discovered a banger like 400 years ago and have held on tight until right about now with wind/solar/hydro.
Still going to be using them geothermal/fission/fusion for at least another 100 years though.
Hydro is just more dense steam, wind is less dense steam, it's steam engines all the way!
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This is reminds me of a quote from one of the Encased loading screens.
To paraphrase it "Power generation before was about turning a turbine with steam. Under the Dome we have this fancy technology that we use to.....turn a turbine with steam."
[Encased mentioned] I love that game
I have a play through of being a certified idiot. I have never laughed harder at things my character has done.
Nearly all power generation comes down to boiling water to steam which spins a turbine.
I can only think of two common exceptions off the top of my head. Solar is an exception and Hydro power is an exception ironically, that usually uses the vertical difference and gravity to spin the turbine.
Wind turbines also.
But some solar does focus it on a tower to make steam to drive a turbine.
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