Engineering

ok Mooey sorry for the delay been mad busy building the plane !! right this it top secret ( seriously ) ok we have a 8 m wide plane we need to launch off a 6 m high platform ! to get the lift and speed we need to achieve at least 20 mph ! But faster means further ! any less we go down hill we are aiming to have the craft and pilot weighing no more then 150 kg although ideally less . weight is downward force but speed is a squared measurement so speed is better then less weight but both is really good though ( leave the weight to us ) So back to speed . ok so bearing in mind plane and pilot aprox 150 kg we the pullers 300 kg ish ( macdonalds every…

This flying machine comes from 1974. I first thought it was a hoax. It is not, it is abandonned technology. Why? My link

Hey Folks, I'm trying to find out what the components are called and where to get them for the following project. Any help is much appreciated. The project: I need to buy/make a plate or mat that could be placed on a flat surface, then have objects of various flatness and shape put on the mat. The mat is a grid of sensors that is divided up say 1/4 x 1/4 inch. It would be able to output the vertical pressure at each point on the grid. Then output (via USB or other connection) to PC software that would display the readings in something like a heat map or a graph. Much like those devices at the shoe store that map the bottom of your foot to figure out wha…

does anyone know if a diesel engine can be modified to run off steam ? who in the uk can do it ? .does any one run a steam engine to drive a turbine to produce electricity just now .do you know if any one sells a package that would do the job

http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/22/bloom-energy-boxes/ Supposedly, these small boxes somehow convert hydrocarbon fuel, natural gas I think the article says, into electricity. Apparently they are not suitable for vehicle applications, for some reason, though. If they were, could fuel be used to directly power electric motors to reduce battery weight while increasing the efficiency of gasoline or other fuels in transportation applications? How can chemical potential be converted directly in to electricity?

Ships seem highly suited to be powered by nuclear reactors. Granted, reactors produce nuclear radiation, which is deadly to humans unless shielded against. But effective shielding can be provided by large masses of material such as steel and concrete. This material may weigh a lot, but even a weight of a thousand tons or more, is not a problem in a big ship. Military submarines are nuclear powered, as are aircraft-carriers. These vessels have large crews, and no-one seems to suffer any ill-effects from the on-board nuclear reactor. So I wonder, why aren't reactors fitted to commercial ships?

Are there any horizons for chassis-design or other technological innovations that will make it possible for passenger-vehicles to maintain their current size while losing weight but not strength? Are there certain plastics or designs that will make it possible to drastically reduce vehicle weight without losing volume and strength?

is it damaging in anyway to use a 9V battery on a 1.5V - 4.5V 13100rpm electric motor? i tried it with a 9V battery and it spins very fast and powerfully, which is what i need it to do for my application, but is it bad in any way? would this be allowed in a commercial product for example?

Here is where my question comes from - Quote from Yahoo News: "A picture of the tail rotor of the chopper that the Navy Seals' Team Six detonated revealed unfamiliar features. Reports say it could be a new, secret helicopter. When the Team Six members reached Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad one of the choppers made a "controlled but hard landing," according to reports, probably due to higher than expected temperatures. Temperatures affects the density of the air, and low density makes it harder for the rotor to sustain the weight of the chopper, especially if it was near its maximum weight (being packed with soldiers and fuel to fly in from Afghanista…

Hello to all! I'm a researcher and I'm looking for data about the geothermal potential. Especially I'd like to know how many Ej are technically expoitable from the Earth. There are different estimates but are all quite old. Thank you!

Hey, I found a pretty interesting infographic about Nuclear Energy; it's not too in-depth or anything, but I think it does a pretty good job explaining the basics, and the history section is neat too: http://envirogy.ca/2011/06/01/nuclear-power-an-infographic/

HELLO. id like to propose and idea for a propulsion system, i saw a show on ufo's the other day, and the people on the show discussed propulsion systems and said they could not explain a system that could be quiet enough for one of the eye-witness accounts, they talked about jet propulsion and helicopter engines.... so anyway, i had an idea, maybe its already been invented,.....maybe not, maybe its classified propose we take a magnetic rail system...... you know....how magnets on the track and on the train are opposing each other, and we bend it into a loop making a concentric circle , making the track the main outside loop, with magnet faces (the magn…

So, I got the green smoke electric cigs, which have Lithium Ion batteries and while they are nice and all, I've ran into a problem with the charge just not holding. I have two batteries but I'll pull one off (that says it's charged) and it just near-dead and flashes the low battery light when I use it. I read (in a really old thread I found via search) that these batteries aren't supposed to have a memory, but the FAQ on the site says: First of all - is a couple hours (plug it in, let it charge, let it finish a few hours before waking up) really going to cause it to crap out in just a few weeks? If it knows when it's done (the light goes green) why does it jus…

I live close to a small airport. Small planes flying in and out of the airport can often be seen in the sky. They're slow straight-winged things with propellers. No jet-engines. Not even turbo-props, to judge from the engine noise. Just piston-engines. Like in planes from the 1930's. I wonder why these piston-engined anachronisms persist in our 21st Century skies. Isn't it a bit like seeing horse-drawn hansom-cabs still running around our city streets? Couldn't the piston engines be replaced by small turbofan jet-engines. Like the engines used in cruise missiles. These engines are light, compact, fuel-economical, and give high speed and long range. …

How viable is solar power? I was asking myself this question and here's the numbers I came up with. In 2001 the USA used 96275 trillion BTUs of energy that year. This comes to 3.22 trillion watts. Now there are about 295 million people in the US, so this comes to about 11Kw per person at any given time. This means each person uses is responsible for 262 Kwh of power per day. Now lets say that square meter of sunlight provides 1 kw of energy on average, the average area gets 5 good hours of sunlight per day, and the typical solar panel is about 30% efficient. This means that for every square meter of solar panel would render 1.5 KwH every day. This me…

I was wondering if any students may want to help me build a prototype magnetic motor. The design has already been established and a patent is underway. My design uses the full repulsion of the magnets. This could be great for a student working on a project and a 5% to 10% ownership of a possible multibillion dollar idea. I believe the motor can power a house and a small car (or at least keep an electronic car going without recharging) . Please feel free to give my name and email out. I will call or write back all contacts. Thanks, Brian Boyle Brian.Boyle@juno.com

I recently compared some motors I could find online. A 20hp 2 or 4 stroke motor may weight under 50lbs whereas a 20hp electric motor may weigh 300lbs! What are the determinants of electric motor weight and power? What are prospective avenues for reducing the weight of electric motors while increasing their power?

I'm developing a computer game for which I hope to have the combat mechanics as realistic as possible--or at least based on real physics. While developing my formula for attack damage, I was considering using KE = (1/2) * m * (v^2) for thust attacks and KE = (1/2) * I * (w^2) for swings as a factor in determining attack damage. However, I am unsure about the relationship between KE and damage, partly because I am unsure of how to define damage in physics. What function would best describe the relationship between the KE of an object and the damage said object inflicts upon a target? What other factors would this entail (ex. hardness, toughness, area of impact, ect…

Does anyone know what the average amount of kilowatt-hours per month that can be generated per square foot of building area is? This would be a convenient way to estimate how much energy would be available per month for a solar-powered house based on its area.

Ciao fellow engineers! With Air France flight 447 in mind (and assuming faulty pitot tubes caused the tragedy) could one imagine a robust, down-to-earth stone age backup technology which would give pilots rough indication of airspeed if all else fails? Perhaps a small membrane or similar in view of the cockpit window which would deform elastically from the air flow?

Hi! I'm having some trouble choosing the appropriate engine to run a mechanism. So maybe someone here could help me with the problem. Simplified, the engine is rotating a cylindrical shape body of over a worm drive. Since torque is M = F x v, i'm not sure what force i should use there to see what the momentum should be to make it possible for it to run. Hope it's understandable what's bugging me since English is not my mother tongue. Thx for any help you give me.

I haven't heard of this, has anyone? It must be possible to harness the power of waves rushing to and from shore. How about harnessing the power of tides going in and out twice daily? I've seen the wave-power-generating "wigglers" (I'm not sure what they are called) that are rafts connected in such a way that as they wiggle from waves they generate power. Maybe these could be connected to wind turbines off shore.

I'm not sure where to ask this. This is just something I've thought about and can't resolve. Let's say you had a bunch of liquid hydrogen, helium, or air. It doesn't matter. Something that condenses only at extremely low temperatures. Now let's say you put that liquid in a thick vessel and filled it up. What would happen when you let the temperature inside increase? Let's say the temperature increases to room temperature. Or maybe you're even heating it. What happens to the liquid inside assuming your pressure vessel is so think it cannot be breached. Or would the gas find a way out no matter how thick the vessel was? I'm a degreed engineer but I can't make any…

Any thoughts for the community ?

Hello, I first discovered the coil gun about one week ago. After many failed attempts, I finally managed to fire a nail at a reasonable velocity. Now I have a few questions. 1) I am currently firing the gun by touching a lead of the capacitor bank to one lead of the coil itself. Would using an SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) switch result in more power, or just save the hassle of touching the wires together every time? 2) I used 30 gauge enameled wire to make the coil. The coil is probably 100 turns per layer, 4 layers, and 1 1/2 inches long. What is the optimum gauge wire to use, and the ideal coil length and thickness? 3) I bought a cheap voltage …