Re: starship-design: Power - T.E.M.I

["N. Lindberg" <nlindber@u.washington.edu>]

Jon,
	Do the leads touch the metal posts? if so, then i can guarantee
you that your friend's has built himself an extremely expensive, low power
wet cell.  if not, well....(shrug).  I'm afraid i have to agree with
Steve in his estimation of yr friend's physics skills, no offense.  Also,
what does this have to do with TEMI?  I mean, you never mentioned the
Peltier effect, and your friend gave no indication of a TE diode being
part of his apparat.
Best Regards
Nels



On Thu, 6 Aug 1998, Steve VanDevender wrote:

> Jonathan J Jay writes:
>  > He was not entirely sure how to answer ALL your questions but he answered
>  > what he could. Hopefully with the information provided you should be able
>  > to understand and possibly even answer the rest of the questions.
>  > 
>  > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>  > Q> Where does the energy come from, What is the theoretical basis of
>  > operation?
>  > A> He believes the energy comes from particles in the fluid
>  > making contact with the rods and being shoved around the tank
>  > constantly slamming into the rods making more energy. That is
>  > the basis of operation, he thinks.
> 
> Uh huh.  I still think it's a chemical battery; he seems to think
> it's some kind of thermal engine.  Either way it's not a useful
> power source for a starship drive, because it's not going to
> yield enough energy.  Nuclear fusion is barely capable of
> generating enough energy to accelerate a spacecraft to
> relativistic speeds, and then only with a very high
> fuel-to-payload ratio.
> 
>  > Q> Are the 'rods' consumed by the reaction?
>  > A> No. Not in the slightest bit. The rods are still the exact
>  > measurements they started at.
> 
> Uh huh.  What measurements are these?
> 
>  > Q> How many watts does the thing put out?
>  > A> He is unsure about watts, but it makes 15 to 30 volts at 1.2 amps
>  > constantly.
> 
> Oooh, this is a bad sign.  If he doesn't know enough about
> physics to calculate wattage from those figures, I'm not going to
> be particularly trusting of his other claims.  W = V * A.  It
> puts out 18-36 watts.  "Constantly?"  For how long?  It can't
> last forever.
> 
>  > Q> Are the 'rods' changed any when the reaction starts?
>  > A> They heat up about 11 degrees centigrade but that's it.
> 
> Yet another sign that it's probably no more than a chemical
> battery.
> 
> I really think this is not something we should be discussing on
> starship-design.  I didn't set up this list to be a "kook
> science" forum or a place to discuss proprietary battery designs.
>