this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
1087 points (99.2% liked)

Science Memes

11021 readers
4598 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] dalekcaan@lemm.ee 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

~~Nuclear~~ power is just boiling water

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I bet there is a way more efficient way to harness it that we are just missing too lol

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago

I'm kinda surprised that nobody has harnessed our magnetic field to build a power source. Or at least tried. I have no idea how it could work, and I may be dumb as shit for this. But I feel like it could be possible if we had another 500 years left of society.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago (8 children)

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.

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wind turbines also.

But some solar does focus it on a tower to make steam to drive a turbine.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

There are gas turbine generators that directly use shaft power to generate electricity

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 12 points 1 day ago

Yeah, who would have guessed that modernity was invented by someone who stuck magnets to a fidget spinner and strapped it to a boiler.

[–] subtext@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

One could even argue that hydro power is just boiling water, letting it condense, and then letting it spin a turbine

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I've never heard of Hydro power boiling water. Usually hydro power is natural or pumped storage.

You're just taking water from an upper reservoir and dropping it to a downstream river. Either a naturally-filled reservoir/lake, or a pumped storage reservoir where you use other cheap power during low usage periods to pump that water to a higher reservoir to utilize later. The pump doesn't heat the water, it just moves it uphill to utilize later, like the Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station in Missouri.

[–] hunter@sh.itjust.works 6 points 22 hours ago

They were speaking of the water cycle. It's the naturally-filled part. Not necessarily boiled, but evaporated.

[–] subtext@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

I know that… I was taking liberties to take hydroelectric power to its furthest logical extension by saying that the sun is evaporating (boiling) the water, it goes through the water cycle, it is deposited atop mountains or further upriver, and it then flows back down through the hydroelectric stations.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (4 children)
[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Errich, is the refrigerator running? This is Mike Hunt, and he's a rich.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago

Eric Bachman, this is your mother. You are not my son.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

"This is you as an old man. I'm ugly and dead alone."

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

There are some fusion designs that use direct energy conversion.

Some work went into fission designs as well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_energy_conversion

[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Nuclear power is the refining distilling and enriching of uranium into unstable isotopes and higher elements, boiling water is one small step in converting nuclear energy into electrical energy.

[–] Rolder@reddthat.com 7 points 1 day ago

But it’s one of the most important steps because it’s where the actual electricity comes from.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] unlawfulbooger@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I heard that somewhere in the US there were parts of a nuclear power plant being delivered by steam train. So that’s basically one steam engine supplying another! (^^,)

I can’t seem to find an article about it anywhere, so it might be an urban legend :(

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Big Steam is playing us for suckers!

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] uis@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

And then there are thermonuclear generators

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›