The Science and cool stuff thread!

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Paradox, Nov 10, 2016.

  1. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    Since we've been going very very off topic in the united states poll thread I propose we move to this thread to speak about science and technology.

    We're actually super lucky/coincidence cause just 45 minutes ago kurtzgesagt released a video about the same topic we've been discussing, nuclear fusion!



    Kurtzgesagt has really great videos about other sciency topics too.
    Definitely check him out if you have time
     
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  2. Xyaminou

    Xyaminou Member

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    I think we're closer to achieve it than your video suggests.

    They already have a small scale prototype, but they trick is to make it self-sustaining and for that you need to make it bigger, they are actively working on it. My brother actually went to visit Iter at Cadarach, I would have gone too if it wasn't 250€ for the whole thing...
    https://www.iter.org/
     
  3. Donald Trump

    Donald Trump Member

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    I think people should look at the EM drive, if it works space travel has become absolutely revolutionized.
     
  4. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    I agree it's closer to achieve than the video suggests, it's actually way closer if they had more funding.
    There are 3 big steps they need to take before we get there.
    1. Towards 2020 ITER needs to achieve net energy profit from their reactor
    2. Make a bigger better version that is self sustainable
    3. Convince government and public that we wont die from 1 explosion of a fusion reactor
     
  5. Donald Trump

    Donald Trump Member

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    To do this, do we need to explode 1 fusion reactor to prove we wont die from a fusion reactor?

    Edit: I retract that edit, they disproved it, but it was a legitimate concern that put the A bomb on hold.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2016
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  6. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    Fukushima got fucked over and noone died from it. Does that mean fission accidents are safe? ( I'm making a shitty point here, but Im pretty sure a large number of people would use these arguments or that a fusion bomb is way stronger than a fission bomb etc )
     
  7. Xyaminou

    Xyaminou Member

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    Being faster is nice but, is it more efficient? Logically it would be, but gotta ask.
     
  8. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    I'll give you a short summary of how efficient it is -> breaks the laws of physics.
     
  9. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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  10. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    its actually FAR slower, but sure

    It would only be good for repositioning satellites or whatever and keeping them in orbit without the use of fuel... but the theoretical implications are more profound
     
  11. Donald Trump

    Donald Trump Member

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    Well, it did irradiate large parts of the ocean and land in Japan if I recall correctly. Maybe no one died, but it was a big disaster.
     
  12. Donald Trump

    Donald Trump Member

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    Essentially, it uses no rocket fuel. It uses electricity only, so a fusion reactor on board would mean it could be powered for as long as the reaction takes place. It works by using microwaves in an enclosed capsule and produces thrust in an unknown way. If it works, it means we could almost reach the speed of light since it could continually speed us up. It could take us to Mars in 70 days, or the closest star in half a human life.

    This is most likely the biggest breakthrough out there, and to think its been around for 30 years but NO ONE took it seriously.
     
  13. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    that's dumb, you just moved the fuel to the reactor...

    Yea, but really fucking slow though, this thing has a theoretical impulse of almost nill... Like literally an electromagnetic-reactive engine or a HET drive (already used today in some satellites under construction) has a deltav of hundreds of times this thing... the point is those still need very very tiny amounts of fuel (mass) to be discarded during use and the EM drive doesn't... that is the only advantage it has over anything, it does not need fuel/mass, just energy.

    So to list

    pros;
    Does not need to expel mass, so using solar panels it can pretty much work for as long as it does not break down without changing the crafts weight.

    cons;
    It sucks at everything else, incredibly low thrust, no vectoring, low efficiency, weighty and bulky etc etc etc

    conclusion;
    This thing is really neat for satellites, especially for cheap small ones or really expensive big ones that need to last a long time without refuelling or maintenance. It could work on solar power and thus the lifespan of the satellite only becomes limited to the time it can be kept operational, and not the point the fuel runs out and the orbit starts degrading.

    This will never be on a space ship, its like saying we found a new way to make a row boat more efficient and people talking about building aircraft carriers with rowing paddles.

    The reason people freak out about it is how it works, its defying (or at least putting extreme stress on) the way we understand the universe works, and there are definitely some weird and unexplained things going on here that could be perfected once understood, but a rowing paddle is a rowing paddle no matter how advanced you make em, this thing simply cant produce enough thrust ever to compete with the stuff we already have other then very niche applications.

    hahaha, no.

    hahaha, no.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2016
  14. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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  15. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    Im not going to say it was not a big disaster, but its a disaster in a way that the entire city is not inhabitable for 40-60 years by guesstimation of the japanese government BUUUUTTTTT-> radiation didnt kill anyone or harm anything in the ocean cause it just got dilluted. The radiation only affected the regions closeby.

    So its a disaster but not a big one. It's way less bad than having a massive oil spill in the ocean by comparison.

    edit: I downplayed it cause I wanted to make a point, but the radiation hasnt hurt anyone, emphasis on hasnt cause radiation damage comes in the form of cancer long term.

    Japanese goverment is following up on the people that got evacuated and were in the area and a long term prospective study will be held to see if theres an increased incidence of cancer in that population. They suspect there will be, but not a very large number. -> 1 percent more of 1.500 evacues.

    tldr 15 people are probably going to die long term from the radiation which stil isnt a fucking big deal
     
  16. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    Like barely detectable above background radiation once you got in international waters, h2o is really good at absorbing radiation.
    It was a big disaster in PR
     
  17. Donald Trump

    Donald Trump Member

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    Well the whole point is that this engine is a first generation ones. Once we figure out how it works, we might be able to come up with very specific ones that are much much better at producing thrust, or even just increasing it's size to produce thrust. First we have to confirm it does produce thrust, then the world will most likely invest heavily in figuring out how it works to create more efficient versions.
     
  18. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    The thing is, in times like these were the economy is only getting back on its feet, noone is investing in space engines, especially those that only work in deep space and dont have a scientific explanation on how it works.
     
  19. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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    the problem is that the engines inherent limitations are so big and problematic its probably not for this century...

    I mean it produces so little thrust NASA had to do a 6 year study on it to determine if it really was producing thrust and if it wasn't some subcomponent heating up a bit and the radiating warmth was affecting the experiment... Now think an ion engine and how it can easily produce a couple kilojules of thrust on a reasonable energy budget while this thing needs a fucking power plant on itself just to make a needle move.

    This is not the next big thing in space travel, this is a neat little experiment with big theoretical ramifications but almost no practical ones...
     
  20. blizzerd

    blizzerd Member

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