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User: Neil+Boekend

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Comments · 2,395

  1. Re: Warp drive? on No, NASA Did Not Accidentally Invent Warp Drive · · Score: 1

    To generate tachyon beams.

  2. Re:Price won't come down on Tesla's Household Battery: Costs, Prices, and Tradeoffs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For home batteries the mass doesn't matter that much. Price/kWh is where the ball is at.
    Assuming what you say is correct it still is irrelevant for this discussion.

    Mass of a lithium atom is approx 7 by the way. You forgot the neutrons for lithium, and they weigh in approximately similarly to the protons. You did count the neutrons for aluminium which is dodgy to say the least.

    AFAIK what matters in the end is the weight divided by the number of electrons you can store in an atom. Aluminium can be oxidized to 3+ easily. This comes out to 9 atomic weight per electron.
    Lithium can go to +1. This comes out to 7 atomic weight per electron. Still better than aluminium but the gap isn't as big as you claim.

  3. Re:Price won't come down on Tesla's Household Battery: Costs, Prices, and Tradeoffs · · Score: 2

    Yeah that that would deprive all the fish from their antidepressant. They'd commit mass suicide.

  4. Re:Bullets are OK, but... on Breakthough Makes Transparent Aluminum Affordable · · Score: 1

    1) Depends on the thickness.
    2) Probably not. Neither is this the case with normal bullet proof glas

  5. Re:The new definition of Diplomacy on The United States Just Might Be Iran's Favorite New Nuclear Supplier · · Score: 2

    Yes, Nuclear bomb owning Pakistan would love a country being nuked upwind from them. The prevailing winds in the altitudes above 3km would give them all that precious nuclear fallout.

  6. Re:let it grow organically on Ask Slashdot: How Should I Build a Maker Space For a Liberal Arts College? · · Score: 1

    ABS does not contain chlorine. The vapors of heated ABS are carciogenic but that has nothing to do with chlorine.

  7. Re:camera shake? on Seeing Buildings Shake With Software · · Score: 1

    It's similar to moire pattern analyses. Moire patterns have been used in position sensors for over a decade. In an old job I worked with a Heidehain moire pattern sensor that gave reliable contactless sub micrometer position data.

  8. Re:Nature NEEDS batteries everywhere! on Why Our Antiquated Power Grid Needs Battery Storage · · Score: 1

    Indeed. However, when we increase the use of batteries the price of lithium will go up as a result. That almost inevitably causes investment in lithium battery recycling.
    No need to put the used batteries in landfills. Soon we'll be digging the ones already in there out to make new batteries.

  9. Re:Sterilization events on Why Our Antiquated Power Grid Needs Battery Storage · · Score: 1

    The fact that dear old Earth will keep spinning if all humans die does not mean I won't fight tooth and nail to prevent global man made catastrophes.
    Laziness means I won't fight tooth and nail to prevent global man made catastrophes.

  10. Re:Talk about creating a demand on Why Our Antiquated Power Grid Needs Battery Storage · · Score: 1

    Granted it takes a while. but over time electric cables wear out.
    Nope.

    Then you have the insulation materials which ear out faster, when those break you get shorts.

    Nope. Long distance high voltage lines are not even insulated. They last for ever unless they corrode.

    Long distance cables are insulated. Insulated by air.
    A cable that was designed to be insulated by PVC is not going to be useful once the PVC degrades. And PVC degrades. Granted it degrades extremely slowly but if you fast forward a couple of centuries air exposed PVC insulation will be mostly gone. Quicker if it is also exposed to sunlight or temperature swings.
    Much quicker if it is exposed to wind with some particulate in it (sand is always fun).

  11. Re:Talk about creating a demand on Why Our Antiquated Power Grid Needs Battery Storage · · Score: 1

    BTW Lithium processing is particularly environmentally nasty

    Do you mean that particular large dead area around the lithium mines? Yeah, that's there because the ground in that area has high levels of lithium in it. The levels are so high that plants can't grow.
    It is the reason the lithium mines are built there. Not the consequence.
    Now the process isn't particularly nice and in any other environment the current extraction method would be heavily polluting but since the areas were dead already I can't really care less.

  12. Re:Talk about creating a demand on Why Our Antiquated Power Grid Needs Battery Storage · · Score: 1

    That grid would need a really large diameter and length HVDC line. The cabling cost alone would be a fortune.
    2008 electricity global usage total: 143.851 TWh. It has probably gone up since then but that is the number I could quickly find.
    That means an average of 16 TW.
    Half of that needs to be transported to the other side of the planet. 8 TW.
    Let's assume the HVDC cable can handle 1 million volts, based on the Pacific DC intertie
    That means a current of about 8 Mega amps is running through that cable.
    Such currents require massive cables. Think big. Think 30 cm (a foot) across.
    Since I don't have the time to do the proper estimations I'll assume it is 30 cm.
    Volume of a 30 cm diameter cable around the equator is 19,793,200,000 m3
    An m3 of copper weighs approximately 9000 kg.
    That cable weighs approximately 0.178*10^15 kg. Single cable, we'll need 2, for a total of 0.356*10^15 kg.
    Buying that amount of copper is bound to get you into trouble. You see, the problem is that the world yearly production currently is around 17*10^12 kg. You need 21 years of our current production to build your cable. And current copper production is not because it's fun. It's because we need that copper.

    The network in the link you provided is even longer than that 40000 km.

    And I haven't even touched insulating, supporting or laying the cable. That Pacific DC intertie is over land, with air as insulation. Air is cheap, but much of the grid will have to be across oceans. Water doesn't easily support the steel constructions to carry the cable. Nor does water insulate.

    And there are the political issues. Not every country will allow laying your cable across their country for free.

    Global grid seems interesting for the uninformed, but calculate for it and you quite quickly see why it isn't done yet.

  13. Re:Talk about creating a demand on Why Our Antiquated Power Grid Needs Battery Storage · · Score: 1

    Do both: install solar panels and paint the solar panels white!

  14. Re:P.S. on University Overrules Professor Who Failed Entire Management Class · · Score: 1

    It's in the same shelf as the reactionless drive.

  15. Re:Fast track on University Overrules Professor Who Failed Entire Management Class · · Score: 1

    well as making the lines between the classes clearer.

    Wow, that is probably the smoothest way ever to promote income inequality.

  16. Re:Not self directed but able to compensate on US Successfully Tests Self-Steering Bullets · · Score: 1

    AFAIK a large part of sniper training is not getting detected before your shot. That skill will not become useless even with perfect aim for an apprentice.

  17. Re:Semantics on US Successfully Tests Self-Steering Bullets · · Score: 1

    With these the guiding laser could be included in the sniper scope. Just keep the target in your scope until the target is destroyed.
    Lase guided bombs require a plane to drop the bomb. With this the sniper can do everything himself.

  18. Re:Bullets are OK, but... on Breakthough Makes Transparent Aluminum Affordable · · Score: 1

    To decrease shards you only really need a film coating of something elastic. Simple 3mm glass coated in that way won't stop a bullet but the film will keep the glass shards in the frame and not flying in your face. That doesn't matter much if the bullet kills you but in this case a 1mm thick coating could probably prevent shards effectively while the Spinel stops the bullet.

  19. Re:Bullets are OK, but... on Breakthough Makes Transparent Aluminum Affordable · · Score: 1
  20. Re:let it grow organically on Ask Slashdot: How Should I Build a Maker Space For a Liberal Arts College? · · Score: 1

    With fiber glass/carbon there is a major problem: epoxy allergy. It doesn't seem to be similar to normal allergies, because most people will get it if they come in contact with enough epoxy fumes. If you have continuous epoxy fumes in your maker space one by one people will stop coming because they get sick once they are there.
    Now this does not mean you can't allow it. It just means that the ventilation system should be good and once the second or third project starts with it you should start considering getting a vacuum pump and only allow vacuum projects.
    Vacuuming will remove 99% of the fumes. For someone with a severe epoxy allergy this is not enough. However, it can stave off epoxy allergy. Thus you will need to switch over before people get the allergy.
    A quick Google gives me approx E450 for a simple pump, but that's not the only thing you'll need.

    Also, vacuum removes air pockets in the laminate and thus it improves the strength of the final product.

  21. If they want to get HL3 working with next gen systems they must figure out what that looks like. They assume it'll be VR.

  22. Re:image lightning? you mean seed lightning on Cosmic Rays Could Reveal Secrets of Lightning On Earth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hardly. The field strength between thunder clouds and the earth alone is not enough for lightning.
    Yes there are a million volts present. No that is not enough to arc over 1,5 km (1 mile) (distance bottom of an average thunder cloud to the ground). It is approximately enough for 100 meters (1/15th of the required distance) according to the 1 kV/cm rule of thumb.
    Current theory states that high speed cosmic particles ionize the air so the lightning can arc.

  23. Re:Dumb question on POS Vendor Uses Same Short, Numeric Password Non-Stop Since 1990 · · Score: 1

    Apparently play games and download porn on the PoS.
    In theory an american PoS has access to credit card numbers. Since the PoS apparently is a fully fledged Windows machine with internet access these cc numbers could be stolen.

  24. Re:So, it's a leech... on New Sampling Device Promises To Make Blood Tests Needle-Free · · Score: 1

    A leech pierces the skin. This is further from a leech than a needle is.
    Also, most leeches lead with a painkiller to mask their work.

  25. Re:Garbage for diabetics on New Sampling Device Promises To Make Blood Tests Needle-Free · · Score: 1

    Then this isn't for you, since once you get the sample it has to be "mailed off to a lab for analysis". You could be in a coma by the time you get the results back.

    The mail back to the lab version doesn't need to be the only version. Once this is approved there will probably be one with a built in glucose sensor.