this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 2 years ago (5 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 years 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 2 years ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Anoint me in condensate

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years 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 2 years ago

Also fuel cells.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Hey we burn things just for heat too.

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

We heat homes, smelt ore, many industrial things.

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

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

We heat water molecules in air.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

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

/pun intended

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years 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 2 years ago

Oh boy just wait till you hear how fossil fuels work

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 years ago

That's just steam power with extra steps!

I've got bad news for ya bruv

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Wait till you find out how nuclear fusion makes electricity

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

You mean, how it will in 20 years?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago

Perpetually so

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

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

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years 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 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years ago

ITER is doing a great job on that front

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years 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 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years 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 2 years ago (1 children)

Then we're leaching off the sun burning atoms.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years 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 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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

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[–] dangblingus 8 points 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years ago (1 children)

They spin it directly though, not via steam.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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 2 years ago

They can't all be photonic inversion.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I like RTGs way more

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years 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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