CaptainPanic

Until the person who just knows exactly what you're talking about comes along, perhaps you can tell us what you are talking about? Sorry, but "superior" in doing what? Superior strength? Superior heat exchange capacity? And should that be "superior for a decent price", or "superior and money plays no role"? What do you need the tube for?

So, this laser is not very effective. The major benefit of the concept is that you can put the laser on earth, and point it at the space ship. Then you leave the engine at home, while you still generate acceleration. The major disadvantage is perhaps that it is a bit of a problem to decelerate (to turn around and go home). But perhaps fusion engines, as proposed in the opening post, can be generating thrust in the good old fashioned way. Make it hot, and blast it out of a nozzle. Now, I know that fusion generates a whole new kind of "hot" (the kind that vaporizes everything)... but it seems to me that we can also contain this heat with magnetic fields in a reactor nowadays. Wouldn't it be easy (conceptually at least) to make a fusion reactor including containment field, and include an opening to the backside to let out the helium and unconverted hydrogen? Alternatively, I read in a scifi book, and suprisingly also on wikipedia (people really considered this), this funny idea of building an enormous shield, connect that to a huge shock absorber, and put the actual space ship on top of that. Then detonate nuclear bombs on the other side of the shield. Those could also be hydrogen bombs, I'm sure

A surgeon, an engineer and an economist are sitting in the bar. They're all boasting about their achievements and their importance. Then the Surgeon says: "I have the most important job of us all". "Oh yeah? Prove it!" replies the engineer. "Well, when God created Eve from Adam, he used Adam's rib. Surely only a surgeon could do that!" The engineer smiles and replies: "Well... where do you think Adam came from? Adam was created from Chaos. And surely that is something that only an engineer can do!". The economist looks smugly and replies: "What do you think it takes to create that Chaos?"

If you get a warning the the thread is old (check = no new posts for 365 days?), it would be nice if you also get an easy (1-click) solution to open a new thread, which is linked to the old one. Reviving an old thread can be annoying, but starting to search for information that is already on the forum is just dumb.

It is their shape, and their polarity, and the hydrogen bonds that form. It is done by deposition, or desublimation. You can read more on wikipedia's website about... Water! [edit] I just realized that I probably answered your homework question.

It seems to me that the girl in the picture knows more about the bad weather? Generalizing, girls are therefore the cause of bad weather? I knew it! I knew it! More serious: a library is indeed a place where you can find books. Meteorology is a field which is surely described in a nice book. You can also pick it up in the geography lessons at school. A cold front is a weather transition where cold air is pushing into warmer air. These are simply caused by cold air moving into warm air. And air is moving around because of pressure differences. Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_front

What is an "energy turbine"? Did you mean a dynamo or some other generator? I suggest you briefly study the 1st law of thermodynamics.

I love this thread All the high tech stuff that didn't exist a year ago... and we're being advised to make it work with a bucket. Love it I'm a bit shocked that worldwide there are such massive price differences for the same product. How does the signal reach a house (if you're not leeching)? Over the fixed phone line or cable (that's the two options we got over here, in the Netherlands). The cheapest internet connection is under 20 euro/month. There are lots of companies that provide internet over the phone lines (and almost every house has a line). And you can almost always gte cable internet too, for roughly the same price. It should have something to do with the technology needed to provide internet... (Or those companies in the US are getting filthy rich, which is of course possible).

Indeed. But you should also realize that making a car aerodynamic can add extra weight (if that means you have to add a point on the front and some different construction for making it lower or whatever). Weight should not be sacrificed too much for aerodynamics if you're just aiming for a high acceleration. Improving the track will not add any weight, so that's a great idea in any case.

Did you mean this one: ? Because those things have wind-turbines which power the cars... no nozzle. I'm not sure what you mean with using nozzles. And please use proper English language. "For" is a three letter word. This is a science forum, not an sms chat. But in short, you're saying that the initial question is answered since post #4?

hmm... I always learned to say: "it is second order in [enter name chemical] concentration"... that would then mean that you take the square of that [enter same name chemical] concentration in the rate equation. The equation r = k[X][Y] is first order in X and in Y. r = k[X]^2[Y] is second order in X and first order in Y. Saying that a reaction is second order when there are 2 concentrations involved doesn't say much... So, r = k[X][Y] may be second order, but if you don't specify anything (and if you don't have that equation), the info is useless. pffft... Sadly that's true. I still recommend to use SI units! Volume is in [math]m^3[/math], not [math]liter[/math]... although liters are the second best volume unit. I think it has to do with the fact that rates are researched in laboratories. The glass equipment there is in the order of 1 liter in volume, not 1 m3...

Putting the rocket in a barrel (effectively making it a sort of gun) is much more effective than having a wall behind it. A wall really doesn't help much. You want to maximize the pressure behind the rocket, so that this pressure pushes the rocket forward. I am not sure how practical all of this is (since you have a car, not just a round rocket)... And the other (obvious) improvement is to reduce weight as much as possible. the rocket will push with a certain force (F), and F = m*a. The acceleration (a) must me maximized, so weight (m) must be minimized.

I guess I live in a very unsafe society then. I have never seen a gun that was not in the hands of the police. In fact, it was attached to their belt (they wear it, but never use it). I've never seen a gun in somebody's hands (only on TV). Guns are totally no part of our society, and nobody ever talks about them. You Americans are weird. Sorry for even entering this discussion, I know that I simply cannot understand you... and I will not try to understand you either. We have a saying here that people who own a gun have the biggest chance of being shot. (Not by their own gun... but pulling a gun usually triggers a response. If you don't have a gun, you cannot get this response, and you might walk away from the scene, a few dollars poorer, but alive). Could that also be true in the USA? Or are you shot faster, because people expect you to have a gun?

Can you please write more than 1 sentence to explain your question? Did you read all the posts so far? There are already 20 replies, and I have the feeling that the answer is already there.

Hehe... I'm probably thinking about buying it by the tonne (in my desk study - it's not yet going to be built) Process I'm working on is for the order of 100 m3 ethanol per day (99.5% wt ethanol). There will not be some guy walking around with a jerrycan of antifoam (I hope, poor guy). Anyway, thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated. These small details can be quite annoying if you cannot find the right data.

It seems these fish really fly (without losing altitude). This means they have lift. The force balance (2 equations) you need therefore is: lift and gravity. The lift is the complicated one... but in principle it works the same as for an airplane. Finally, here's a (bad quality) youtube video of a flying fish.

I must say, that really sounds fascinating... The idea of using rotational energy of a molecule is interesting. However, two things that bother me about this: 1. I was always under the impression that in the thermodynamic description of internal energy of a molecule (and therefore of a gas, liquid or solid), all forms of movement are described: linear velocity, vibration and indeed also rotation. These together add up to numbers that have been experimentally confirmed. There exist formulas that describe the rotational energy of a (diatomic) molecule. Click here to find one. 2. These energies can be converted from one into the other. The temperature of a gas is just the added energies of the linear velocity, vibration and rotation. The average of these energies of all the molecules in a gas determine the temperature of the gas. If one molecule is spinning very fast, and it bumps into another molecule, it will transfer some of its rotational energy to another molecule. That can mean that the other molecule gets a higher linear velocity. I'm no expert in the quantum mechanics... but as a first approximation, I think you can regard molecules as (mostly non-spherical) balls that have completely elastic collisions with each other. In short, as far as I know, rotational energy is already in all our models. If you're able to slow down molecules even more, you will simply cool down the gas even more. And to cool below ambient temperature, you will need a heat pump (e.g. a fridge / freezer). I'm still interested if you found another way to make a fridge.

I'd polymerize it, or indeed grow it (but not in a lab, but simply on your head, then cut it ). Did you read the wikipedia website (I already provided the link)? Keratin is, as mentioned before, a polymer is amino acids. You have to make the peptide bonds to polymerize that. It is an amino acid condensation. I found this website that has a nice little animation of the reaction. The big trick is: 1. to get the amino acids to polymerize in the right order (it is not just 1 amino acid, but several types). 2. to get the keratin polymers to interact in the right way to become a real hair... although... this second step might not be the most important if you want to melt it anyway (which is not possible). Synthetic keratin exists. Just google for it until you find how to make it.

Fresh article (in dutch). A guy broke in in a building. He lost his keys there while breaking in. Unfortunately for the burglar, his name and address were attached to his keys

The Nuna team has won the solar challenge 4 times in a row. It's a race through all of Australia, on normal roads (meaning there is also other traffic). Note that this winning car has no solar panels on one of its two sides (because the race is from north to south I believe). It also has no spoiler. It simply has maximized the surface flat area on top and covered that completely with solar cells. check google pictures for: nuna 4 winner solar challenge

That's one of the challenges we're facing in this global economy. People move around, but nobody knows what all the diplomas mean. That's why it is now standardized in the EU. I'm sorry that I cannot give any info about India. I've never been there.

Acid won't instantly explode the cardboard box away like you see in Hollywood movies. Give it a bit of time. I'm more worried about somebody doing nitrations at home. Are you sure you know what you're doing? Tell us what you need it for (what nitrations do you want to do?) I'm sure that posting references is ok, and you can most certainly post a link to any MSDS online. In fact, I'd encourage you to do that! MSDS are always a useful piece of info.

Their first impression will almost certainly be the crap we broadcasted when radio and TV were invented. Those signals will reach them first. And that's not a very good impression But that's off topic, because we're talking about what they do when they arrive here. Perhaps they'll try to communicate with the largest life forms on earth: trees (is that true?).

I doubt this one. Ever heard of the Carnot Cycle? 72% is high, but can be achieved by modern steam engines... especially if they're stationary (not moving). They definitely do better than 7%. Since you patented it, you mind telling us how that works? Did you put twice as many carbon and hydrogen atoms in the same fuel? That has existed for years. It was used in a production car by DAF (link)... but no doubt, yours was better.

I think they'd try our beer. I can imagine them inventing all our hi-tech stuff well before we did. But stuff made from plants that specifically evolve on earth, fermented by organisms that evolve on earth, produced by us... that's something they've never had before. Surely, they'd try a beer and get hammered in a bar I sure hope for them that they're carbon-based aliens with a metabolism that is somehow resembling ours (what are the odds of them having a metabolism that can survive a beer, and them never having invented the stuff... though questions these are...)? :D