h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But there isn't, is there? And there will continue not to be. Heat energy disperses and becomes unusuable; that's the way of things.

B

unless it's converted into electricity by way of a dynamo.

But no dynamo is 100% efficient. In fact nothing can ever be 100% efficient. Second law of thermodynamics.

B

Yes, hence the needing to bring more down than up!

But we'd need a superdynamo to get even close, the n of the exisitng ones is very small, specially for heat conversion, as it has to go into kinetic energy first.

There's still the small matter of how you got all that other extra mass up there in the first place. "Oh, I used the other space elevator".

Which other mass? The first one would obviously have to be built from materials carried into space by conventional mehtods. And then we start mining planets, or bringing down all that rubbish up there!

You seem to think that 'mining planets' will be the answer to all our energy loss situations. It isn't.

1) The more you want to mine, the more mining equipment you need to take. A small mine will only produce a small amount of equipment. The price of mining actually increases exponentially the further you go.

2) If you mine more material, you need more transport up there to bring it back to Earth. How's that going to get up?

3) Even if you mine minerals, 99% of them will require some extraction/purification, leaving waste material. You would have to do this in space too - our waste disposal down here is precarious enough as it is. So you need to fly up the fully equipped lab, scientists etc.

B

Hmmm, Some gizmo that has more then 3 demensions.

I don'T support mining other planets - I just say it's likely to happen!

If only people would use less tinfoil

I'm not saying mining other planets is wrong or right. I'm just giving reasons why it won't solve the space elevator problems.

B

Yeah, I suppose you're right. They'll never run "energy free", but they would use less power than all the planes flying about currently, I think.

Nothing for it then - we're just going to have to genetically engineer the next generation to be

Erm, I don't understand how mining other planets helps? Then you're just at the bottom of a different gravity well.

On the other planet, you mean? But, for example on the moon, the gravity is a lot less and no atmosphere to "lose" energy to friction, so less fuel is used!

I'm trying to invent something in my garage. That's where most things happen. But so far, it aint happenin.

I wanna invent a new device for drying clothes.

First off, we've washed our clothes.
We put them in the 'drying' machine, which we have already put in the canaster of 'liquid', this is then mixed on to the cltohes.

The liquid is speically charged molecules, that bind to the water molecules in the clothes.
Then an electical currentis aplied and all the water, annealed to the 'special' liquid we added, imediatley comes off the clothes and can be collected there would probably need be some reverse* process to seperate the water from our speical molecule, and then it could be reused I also want to invent a vaccum painter; you seal the room you want to pain totally, put a pot of pain in the middle, and evacuate all the air, and hopefully the pain would end up on the walls? I think this gin needs to be diluted more can't some one invent a gin and tonic mixer machine?

I'd be happy if someone just invented non magnet/electricity-sensitive ball bearings, so I could get on with *my* invention.

are any of you involved in the invention of the teleporter machine??

i wish you'd get on with it
i hate ryanair

Even a good 3D display would be good, some kind of hologram