Engineering

Our transportation system in America is among the best ever constructed by humans but it is fast becoming antiquated for two reasons. The first, and most obvious reason is that the way vehicles are powered is not sustainable. The second reason is that our current system is trying to integrate 20th century technology into a 19th century or older infrastructure. The end result is that over 1/4 of our national energy production goes to transportation and 40,000 people die every year, with hundreds of thousands more injured. I am proposing to automate our road/rail system and power it with wind and solar energy. Such a system should be faster, safer, greener, more efficient, …

Could someone generate electricity by using a battery to spin a turbine?

Hey, what i am trying to achieve is a small spark that will go accross a gap of about 1mm using a 12 volt car battery. I have read how car ignition systems work to make a spark, but without going down to the junkyard and buying an ignition coil, i'd like to make one. Can someone please tell me how i can make an ignition coil and how i would wire it to the battery so that it will produce a high enough voltage to cross the spark gap. Or give me a diagram or equation or something?

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the physics forums or eng. forums. Sort of applied physics, perhaps. I was wondering if any of you kind readers could do some sums to work out how much effort it would be to run a human-powered refridgerator? I was thinking along the lines of a portable one that you could take camping where there is no power supply provided. I did some searching and could not see any on the market, so I sort of assume that it is not feasible, but would like to see it proven in black and white. After all, it wasn't that long ago that wind-up torches and radios were not available. I suppose that the short answer is that it the amount of effort…

Hey guys, A friend raised my attention to this article about solar energy. The article itself (very short article) wasn't the issue, but rather the first comment (lonnng comment, apparently copied off of some other publication about Zenith Solar). Some people told me that this is fake, and doesn't follow science or physical principles - but I am not sure I have enough background in Solar energy construction to judge for myself, so I immediately thought of you guys here in the forums! Help me out here.. can this be real, or is this a fake hoax/fraud? Again, I'm only relating to the comment, not the actual blog post. Thanks ! ~moo

how can we prevent the scales in water tubes

Hi, my b-day is coming up really soon and I really want a robotics kit! Can someone please help me? I want one to learn robotics with. These are my requirements: 1 - I want to be able to program the robot in C/C++. 2 - It should include all motors and sensors in the kit. 3 - Price should be relatively low. Is there any kit like that I can buy? Online somewhere? Please help me out, thanks!!

can somebody help with the development of electric tractors and low energy planters for corn

Both my and my wife's car are fairly new. Yet the radios are very bad. In the old days there was some adjustment that could be made called trimming. Does anybody know if there is a procedure for optimizing on todays radios? AM.

I need new shocks in my pick up. It's not about age, they were oems. What's good. money is not in the equation.

Hello all I just wanted to let you all know that we are holding a robot combat battle over three days for the August bank holiday. It will feature over 50 robots and you may get a chance to look at how they are put together. If you are interested please check http://www.rebel-robots.com I hope to see you there, Craig, Rebel Robots

just wondering what some of the people here think of when they read about the Compressed Air vehicles being made over in india. i myself think that it is a great idea and im wondering why it wasn't implemented into everyday transportation sooner.

Hi, I have poor knowledge in electronics but i'm trying to do a wind generator with an old vcr motor. My first problem is in finding the 3 phases ( it is a 3 phase motor, isn´t it?) in this confusion of connections.. Could you help me or tell me where i can get this information? Thanks!!

This may be a dumb question, but... I read on a website(I've since lost the website address) that if you increase the current frequency(what I mean is, the frequency of the current going into an electrical appliance) then you can increase the range of a an antenna to receive radiation at it's specific resonance frequency. That you can increase the distance at which the antenna receives radiation, so that the antenna can cover a larger area. Also, just wondering, but does the amount of power you put into an antenna to receive energy increase the total range like it does with the transmission of radiation? I don't have any antenna theory textbooks as I'm sti…

how do i make a dc motor? i know the materials, but im not really sure why its not spinning. I made it so it has a copper wired ring in the center with magnet at the bottom and a battery powering it. Is it the wires that led from the battery to the copper wire the problem or what?:confused:

Anybody here participate/compete in FSAE? For those of you unfamiliar with the competition, it'd be interesting to note that there's a new hybrid competition as well.

Function of pressure cooker?

Does the strength of the electromagnetic field that an antenna emits control how far it can recieve radiation from? Furthermore, are there limits on the range that an antenna can recieve from if you increase the magnetic field? If you were to increase the amount of power in an antenna, 100 fold, for the purposes of recieving radiation, would you be able to absorb radiation, 100 times farther? Is there a maximum amount of power you could put in an antenna, where once you reach a limit, you can no longer get any farther range? Please respond. Thanks!

I have been interested in a self powered magnet motor for some time. I am trying to get a good base plan but I am a little weak in the math of physics department. my concept idea is a pull pull push idea using a triangle with unequal sides that spins in a circle and is gravity assisted gravity would help with the longest arm which would be push pull would assist the pendulum motion on the smaller sides with magnets on the up swing to get the magnet past the gate which would prevent the magnet from pushing again. the shorter side would be just long enough to pull on the magnet and give the longer arm enough force to whip past and be pushed again. I w…

Partially Self Replicating 3D Printer I read about this in New Scientist and was impressed by the progress they have made with this kind of technology. It can't self replicate completely... yet, but they are making good progress. It is still in the development stage, but it is to a point where hobbyists could easily build one. I like that they have made it Open Source so that anyone can (well those with a little bit of technical know how) can build one and experiment with it. At only around $650au, the outlay, especially compared to other 3D printers, is very affordable. It also looks like they are attempting to use easily obtainable feed materials for the sy…

Hello I want to make an instant water cooler (electric) with inlet water temperature of about 35-50 C and output temperature of roughly 8 - 18 C. I have the equipment and facility available to do the experiment. It would be great if someone can help me in this regard. Looking forward for possible solutions. Thanks Ahmed

Hi, this is i'm sure a very obvious answer to someone, but is confusing me. I live in the UK and go shooting both in the day and at night. I want to attach a laser to my scope because I think it looks cool (there should probably be a better reason....) I've done a little research and found out it is dangerous to look at the beam of a laser through magnification. I've taken this to mean having the laser pointed through the magnification to your eye, although the text doesn't make this clear in anything I've looked at. Just wondering if you could clear this up for me?? thanks James

I saw a history channel program about making water based organisms fly with no thrust but with static pulling the water in different directions and just then I thought of using this, not to fly, but to pull you around in a jet where you could experience high amounts of g-forces; a computer similar to the kind used in the Harrier vertical take-off and landing fighter would be needed. Of course this sort thing is rediculously impractical but could it be possible? I have another question what age group was this forum meant for? Edit: Anyone? Edit: come oooooon don't be lazy!

When performing TEM on tissue samples, our group prepares a thin (1-2 microns) platinum replica to examine (2 mm in diameter). In this process, after spraying carbon for structural support, we dissolve the tissue from the replica by inserting it into bleach. When we remove the replica from the bleach and place it in DI water for cleansing, the surface tension of the water fractures it. Our group would greatly appreciate any advice to add avoid this fracturing. One idea we have is to use a mesh screening to add structural support. Another idea is to slowing drain the bleach from the petree dish until the replica sits on a soft, structurally strong surface. Then…

What I want to do is emit radiation at extremely high frequencies, far into the gamma ray region, for research purposes and industrial purposes. So what I'm thinking about is making an antenna and using an extremely low(and I mean extremely, extremely low) capacitance capacitor. In theory it should increase the frequency of my antenna directly proportional to how low the capacitance is. So the problem I'm thinking about is this: if I decrease the capacitance low enough that the frequency is greater than the number of electrons traveling through my antenna, would it simply stop? I mean, if the frequency is high enough, greater than the number of electrons …