In rec.arts.sf.science message <g075i6$1v8$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Sun, 11
May 2008 16:06:30, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> posted:
> How many uses can you think of for a multiple gigwatt generator
>that has no waste heat or radiation issues, that is smaller than a block
>of butter?
That depends on the size of a block of butter; one cannot assume that to
be constant world-wide. I'll take it as being approximately equivalent
to a kilogram for the device mass. From E = MC^2 and C ~ 3e8, one Watt
corresponds to about 1e-17 kg/s. A gigawatt is about 1e-8 kg/s; a year
is about 3e7 seconds.
So don't plan on anything that needs more than about a three-year life,
unless there is some sort of refuelling going on.
Note that fusion releases at best under 1% of the mass as energy; so if
it runs on fusion, the life reduces to around a week. Fission is less
effective still.
Postulating one type of device incompatible with presently-known
physics, one must necessarily expect other types of incompatible device.
The utility of the stated device must depend on what those other devices
can do. One perhaps does not need it to power present-type air
trans****t if, in a similar package, one has a controllable inertia
damper.
--
(c) John Stockton, nr London UK.
*@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/>
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