Fusion and fission are the most common forms of matter to energy conversion. Neither, however, are REQUIRED. Radioactive decay is a perfect example. The interior of the earth is primarily heated by the decay heat of radioactive isotopes. Neither fission or fusion contribute to this conversion. The three damaged reactors in Fukushima, Japan as well as the spent fuel pools must also be continually cooled because of the Matter to Energy conversion of radioactive decay. No Fusion or Fission is taking place (well, at least that's what Japan tells us - I have other beliefs, but that's for another discussion)..
Good news ! The technology in energy and batteries are so archaic it desperately need huge scientific research, the thing that is blocking the evolution is the oil based economic system.
Thanks for quoting wikipedia. Bill Nye the Science Guy, for the record, is equally frowned upon for quotes when talking about things more interesting and complicated than why solid water generally floats on liquid water.
fission is defined as the splitting of an atom into two smaller atoms. Uranium 235, for instance, after being struck by a free neutron commonly fissions into xenon and strontium. It can fission into many different things, but xenon and strontium are some of the most common.
Decay, on the other hand, does not create two atoms. A single atom releases a Beta or Alpha particle, and sometimes one or more gamma photons. It remains a single atom, but changes to a different isotope or a completely different element. Iodine-131, for instance, typically decays by emitting a Beta particle and a gamma photon to become Xenon-131.
According to information on Wikipedia, a gallon of gas weighs 6.073 US pounds.
20 gallons of gasoline weighs 121.46 pounds US. (assume 15mpg)
Each electron has weight (very little, = 7.93×10−36 lb ) but some weight.
Electrons move down copper wires (Very little) but it’s a pretty good theory they move.
(Someone guy did the math on this in Tesla’s blog, can’t find it now, but until proven wrong, I’ll agree with him)
Come to think of it, maybe this explains how the new battery test works:
Lol
Us pounds, gallons and electrons walking inside a battery, and this video to proof it…. :bigsmile: :party: :bigsmile:
Borts mistake was that he used the standard unit for density but not standard unit for mass. I hope that sometime a scientist gets president of the US and that he forbids those weird units
Does Tesla seriously think sales will ever hit this, it’s a joke, same as a certain low volume UK sports car maker stock piling cars in the USA pre registered to get the government grants for export from the UK gov!!
I would seriously love a affordable clean electric car, but in the UK at least that would mean the gov would find some way of taxing the “fuel” you put into the car, same as with gas/petrol.
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I suspect that they’ll shift to custom li-polymer packs. Unless… there’s a major uptick to 18650 cell production. If so, might be a good idea to start buying stock of those companies. Tesla is producing stellar cars and if they make great strides in infrastructure support (like restaurants and hotels providing compatible charging ports for parked cars), and a more affordable quality car model for the masses, this company is going to take off like a rocket and give a major boost to partner companies. That is, of course, if they can get their finances in order!
Nice link big wood.
I like the euphorism about electric cars, we burn the coal to make steam, transform it to electricity, charge up a car and then we have a co2 friendly electric car which is super clean and nice
I agree electric is the way to go…eventually. Non plug-in hybrids are a basic introduction but temporary gap-fillers until fossil fuel prices really rocket up; despite govt subsidies. By then probably only govts can afford fuel for generators. Hopefully alternative energy system developments would have matured sufficiently by then. We’ve been working in transport consultancy for several years and there’s been many studies of electric car grid systems taking off in several continents. The barrier for human interface is still range anxiety. Unlike cellphones, cars aren’t as portable to lug to a wall socket and many countries still lack infrastructure for easily accessible car charging ports. Portable rechargeable vehicle battery packs have been proposed but are heavy. So meanwhile plug-in electric cars will perhaps gain wider acceptability when backed up with a range extender system (100-200cc internal combustion fuel engine to recharge electric batteries) like the Chevrolet Volt and Audi A1 e-tron. Initial costs will have to be made affordable; as it’s currently prohibitive however much practicality they offer for our future.
I don’t think they’re using Panasonic 3400 batteries. As far as I know, they’re using a LiCoNiAl battery rather than just a straight LiCo. But I agree that it is not so much the fact that Tesla is light years ahead of everyone else when it comes to batteries. Rather, it is their different approach to building battery packs (ie widely available commodity batteries rather than expensive proprietary batteries) that has allowed them to keep costs down. 5-10 years from now, they might find something that leaves Li-Ion in the dust.