Stevil

i know this may seem like a simple question, but i would like to know: if things boil at low temperatures in space due to the low pressure how do comets form? wouldn't the water boil, rather than freeze? wat about the ice around saturn? if i were to shoot water out of a spaceship would it freeze or boil? thanks

an episode of stargate sg-1 saw a black hole on the one side of the wormhole creating time dilations back on earth. if u were to have a similar, theoretical scenario of say, a circle draw on the ground, and inside the circle time was running slowly and outside it was normal, and u were to stick a pole into the circle, wat would happen? since, i gather, when u push a pole on one end, the other end moves because the particles push each other along at a certain speed (the reason y u can't have faster than light communication by making a pole between planets and pushing it), i would figure that within the circle the particles would b moving slower and outside they would b moving normal. is this rite? wat would happen? would the pole condense in some parts? stretch out? something else?

It's not nice to bag him, but tony they're right. if you simply set something spinning in space you're right it won't stop or at least not for a very long time. but if you have that attached to some sort of machine that generates power from the roatation then friction will occur and you're spinning object will slow down. if you are using magnets, when they pass through the coil the electromagnetic force opposes the movement of the magnet. so as it goes into the coil it is being pushed away, and as it leaves it's being sucked in. this will eventually stop the rotation as well. i think these explanations are correct, they should be. i was only doing this stuff a few months ago. but all that aside, would a space based engine be more efficient than an earth based one? ie no gravity, no air, etc

not a bad idea! maybe u could have the magnets out in front of the craft like some space horse and cart. of course it'll have to be a little more sophisticated. but maybe a dragging kind of method will work. ok, this idea won't work for the spaceship application but it could work for vehicle engines and power (i think): u have the magnets on an axle. think of a dumbell, with two weights on one end. but instead of being complete circles they are more of a pac-man shape or a pizza with a slice taken out. inside the cut-out is the magnet. the two different magnets are on two different disks or the metaphoric weights. there is some crossover over of the magnets to maximise the attraction. now only one of the magnet disks will be attached to the axle, the other to some other pole -maybe even another axle to work on another machine. so now, the two magnets will rotate and they'll drag the axle which will power the machine. refer to diagrams: i apologise for the crudity of this model. i call it a stevil engine.

oh ok, thanks. so does that mean we could turn slaughterhouses, junkyards, sewage farms, farm farms etc into a source of energy? would it b a worthwhile undertaking to rig up devices which could harvest this 'bio-gas'?

i was thinking, what is one of the most efficient engines the planet has. us! so if we're so good y don't we use other biological things for power? ie, clyvesdales walking around in a circle pulling that thing or whatever in the 18th-19th centuries, etc. would it b possible sometime now, or in the near-medium future to engineer an organism that performs a simple task such as rotating an axle? it wouldn't have to b very complicated, basically just a big blob that's created out of living tissue which does its tasks. if it's made well it could last a long time. but i suppose it is susceptible to disease and such. also u will have to feed it. also it is probably against every biological and philisophical ethic in the book. also it will probably never b half as good as a mechanical machine neway. also it's probably way out of our scientific grasp. but in any case, could the basic idea b used to fulfill a task? does it have any upsides? what could it b used for?

ok, basically these ideas are going to be lame as but it's a start. the laser->cell method: u have ur generator and coming out of it is a litte wire on the end is a laser then on the other end is ur device, say a lightbulb and a little wire coming out of that too. on the end of that is a solar cell. aim ur laser at the solar cell and hey presto, power to the globe. doubts: do lasers even work on solar cells, if not use like a torch. downfalls: u have to have direct line of sight with ur target probably not so good over distances small amounts of power the biological method: we all know that plants can produce energy from light, so why can't we exploit this fact. have ur little laser/torch thing but shine it on a little biological mass on the other side which converts the energy into a useable form. this suffers from the same kind of things as the previous methoud. ok, i know these are probably totally flawed, but i'd like to know y they are. that's the only way i can learn and refine aint it?

bored in a maths methods class i gots to thinking about engines. and i thought that if an engine is more efficient in space/a vacuum. well there is no air or anything ie. no sound. does this mean no energy is lost to sound, so more goes into the engine? but sound will still go through the material of the machine wouldn't it? and if it did, would it be more/less/same than normal. ie sound energy that normal goes thru the air instead goes thru the machine. also, if u had it in zero-g then there won't b any of those problems caused by that pesky gravity. now, if sound energy did start passing thru the machine it would cause it to vibrate since sound is movement of particles through a medium etc etc. could u harness this vibration and salvage some of the energy. i doubt this, or else it could b employed here. could u make really efficient engines in space thanks to the zero-g, vacuum and abundance of solar energy? now another engine idea: create like, a donut shape in space and put water in it. set it spinning so the water inside is 'slooshing' around. and u have a hydo set up in there to get energy from the water passing thru it. i have my doubts on this one. i can visualise the water slooshing at the same speed as the donut is spinning. so it's basically stationary. is this what will happen? if it is, could u use the basic ideas to create a space based hydro generator? well, i suppose these ideas seem a bit lame to most who read it, but its just something i came up with and i'd like to know why or why not it'll work or if it'll need some changes. thanks