this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 11 months ago (5 children)

All of humanities technological advancements can be summed up in ever more complex ways to boil water

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's why photovoltaics need much more R&D. They are the only true advancement in electricity production since the inception of broadly adopted electrification.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Exactly why we should ditch them. We shall not break tradition. Praise be the turbine

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Anoint me in condensate

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

It doesn't rotate to generate electricity? Must be blasphemy.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Blessed be the holy turbine, we seek guidance in its rotation. Long may it spin and bring forth a bounteous current.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Also fuel cells.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hey we burn things just for heat too.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

We heat homes, smelt ore, many industrial things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

We heat homes by heating water and putting the hot water through pipes into wall mounted iron tanks so that the water cools down again...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Not everyone uses radiators. My system is a forced air furnace.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

We heat water molecules in air.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

I think to be more general it boils down to just oxidate stuff.

/pun intended

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Boil shit, burn shit, and blow shit up. Humans in a nut shell.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Most of the biggest advances in technology is just about moving liquids. Rocket science is really just large scale HVAC.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago

Oh boy just wait till you hear how fossil fuels work

[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago

That's just steam power with extra steps!

I've got bad news for ya bruv

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Wait till you find out how nuclear fusion makes electricity

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You mean, how it will in 20 years?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

Perpetually so

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

It's like Musk time. In 20 years it'll only be 20 years away.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Helion's approach is actually different. They are attempting to capture energy directly through induction. I hope it pans out for them, seems like a really interesting approach.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Here's a video I saw a few months back you might find interesting:

https://youtu.be/_bDXXWQxK38?si=7XooWphajO6OlRB5

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We can do it now, just haven't found a way to scale it and make it economical yet.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

ITER is doing a great job on that front

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

There's actually two (at least that I know of) ways for fusion to generate electricity, this is a newer one https://youtu.be/uRaQLZaaHWo?si=DTwV26inm1pyrYn8

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Our entire society* has been based on burning things. Then we progressed to... burning atoms.

(*Exceptions I can think of is solar, wind, hydro.)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Then we're leaching off the sun burning atoms.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Solar farms did start out as using the sun to boil water. Basically mirrors redirecting light to a central point to super-heat a pipe flowing with water.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Theres actually been a major increase in solar thermal power stations in the last few years

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

ACKSHUALLY you're not burning atoms in a nuclear reaction. You're creating a chain reaction of neutrons colliding with Uranium isotopes. No combustion.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wind and hydro still have to spin a turbine. Solar is the one true stand out advancement in electricity production since we started using electricity.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They spin it directly though, not via steam.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

To be fair, the atoms were going to burn anyhow. We just clumped them together to make better use of them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

They can't all be photonic inversion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I like RTGs way more

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Well Rotating a rotor on a generator is the most convenient way to make electricity with parts that last a long amount of time. Also doesn't help that we use AC power while other sources like photovoltaic produce DC power which needs to be converted to be used.

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