Energy
OK, I went and shot my mouth off about Islam and the book Imperial Hubris. The book boils down to energy and asks the question, do we have the resolve to move to an alternative source of energy --- thought provoking.
The historical sense, even the anthropological sense would suggest that we are evolving our energy utilization towards higher energy sources. The judgment is based on literation of enthalpy, the thermodynamics of chemical oxidation of various organic sources. As one advances first from wood to coal and then to gas the kinetic energy contained in the molecule increases relative to mass with CH4 yielding the highest level --- until the jump to pure H2 which chemically speaking yields the highest energy.
Enthalpy shows an energy level of one side of a chemical reaction compared to the other side thus suggesting the energy yield. One can make calculations with a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry and the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and a little imagination. What may not be apparent is the exchange of mass for energy in the process of the energy yielding reaction. The duality of energy and mass in chemical reactions is so minute as to be ignored by classical chemistry. It is a matter of relativity. “The quantity of heat able to convert thirty thousand tons of water to steam would weigh about one gram!”[1] Yes, the standard yard stick and the standard clock will read differently on Mars too, but the issue is energy from matter and later on, who knows.
The limiting factor of our energy source is thus political-economic rather than technological. Given the political will or the economic motive it is a done deal. The transition point, if it is now, represents a major inflection point in the history of man. We use an electrical grid and filling stations because of the business model and the way the industry evolved. A change requires strong leadership and strategy.
The technological leap would be greater than the discovery of fire because this one could take us to the stars. We are already doing a little of this advanced energy generation with nuclear fuel. What was done in the past was crude and cumbersome from a security standpoint but is only a minute beginning. Laboratory fusion was recently demonstrated on a nano-scale on a tabletop using a crystal to concentrate a very tiny but very hot point of energy. More energy went in than came out but the first use of the crystal radio was a first step as well.
There is a physicist who lives here in Homer through all but the coldest parts of the year in a tree house. A tired professor he grows a beard but continues to think --- only in Homer.
[1] The Evolution of Physics, Albert Einstein p 209
The historical sense, even the anthropological sense would suggest that we are evolving our energy utilization towards higher energy sources. The judgment is based on literation of enthalpy, the thermodynamics of chemical oxidation of various organic sources. As one advances first from wood to coal and then to gas the kinetic energy contained in the molecule increases relative to mass with CH4 yielding the highest level --- until the jump to pure H2 which chemically speaking yields the highest energy.
Enthalpy shows an energy level of one side of a chemical reaction compared to the other side thus suggesting the energy yield. One can make calculations with a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry and the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and a little imagination. What may not be apparent is the exchange of mass for energy in the process of the energy yielding reaction. The duality of energy and mass in chemical reactions is so minute as to be ignored by classical chemistry. It is a matter of relativity. “The quantity of heat able to convert thirty thousand tons of water to steam would weigh about one gram!”[1] Yes, the standard yard stick and the standard clock will read differently on Mars too, but the issue is energy from matter and later on, who knows.
The limiting factor of our energy source is thus political-economic rather than technological. Given the political will or the economic motive it is a done deal. The transition point, if it is now, represents a major inflection point in the history of man. We use an electrical grid and filling stations because of the business model and the way the industry evolved. A change requires strong leadership and strategy.
The technological leap would be greater than the discovery of fire because this one could take us to the stars. We are already doing a little of this advanced energy generation with nuclear fuel. What was done in the past was crude and cumbersome from a security standpoint but is only a minute beginning. Laboratory fusion was recently demonstrated on a nano-scale on a tabletop using a crystal to concentrate a very tiny but very hot point of energy. More energy went in than came out but the first use of the crystal radio was a first step as well.
There is a physicist who lives here in Homer through all but the coldest parts of the year in a tree house. A tired professor he grows a beard but continues to think --- only in Homer.
[1] The Evolution of Physics, Albert Einstein p 209
posted by Clancy Hughes | 12/08/2005 05:51:00 PM
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