2000 ft, huh?
The repairs for the abortive first flight took three days, so that the Flyer was ready again on December 17. Since Wilbur had already had the first chance, Orville took his turn at the controls. His first flight lasted 12 seconds for a total distance of 120 feet (36.5 m) – shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Taking turns, the Wrights made four brief, low-altitude flights on that day. The flight paths that day were all essentially straight; turns were not attempted. Every flight of the aircraft on December 14 and 17 – under very difficult conditions on the 17th – ended in a bumpy and unintended “landing”. The last, by Wilbur, after a flight of 59 seconds that covered 853 feet (260 m), broke the front elevator supports, which the Wrights hoped to repair for a possible four-mile (6 km) flight to Kitty Hawk village. Soon after, a heavy gust picked up the Flyer and tumbled it end over end, damaging it beyond any hope of quick repair.
If a superconductor passes current with 0 resistance, then it won’t heat up while current is passing through it. So I wonder what the physical limits are to how much current can pass through the thing. There must be some. And, if Current = Voltage / Reistance, then does that mean that infinite current flows for any voltage differential (which could even be quantum-level differences). At some point, the superconductor will have to interface with an ordinary conductor… that’s where heat might cause problems. Interesting idea… It looks like they never got high-temp superconductors up to room temperatures… but I wonder what things would look like if they ever got there.
People will never fly. What a joke those Wilbur brothers turned out to be. The internet is a fad, too.
But yae cannae brek tha laws o’ physics cap’n, we dinnae have tha poower!
I want that power now, Mr. Putin!
Set your lipstick to stun-ning Mr Sulu!
Didja read… he got married?
DarienHacker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The repairs for the abortive first flight took > three days, so that the Flyer was ready again on > December 17. Since Wilbur had already had the > first chance, Orville took his turn at the > controls. His first flight lasted 12 seconds for a > total distance of 120 feet (36.5 m) – shorter > than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. > > Taking turns, the Wrights made four brief, > low-altitude flights on that day. The flight paths > that day were all essentially straight; turns were > not attempted. Every flight of the aircraft on > December 14 and 17 – under very difficult > conditions on the 17th – ended in a bumpy and > unintended “landing”. The last, by Wilbur, after a > flight of 59 seconds that covered 853 feet (260 > m), broke the front elevator supports, which the > Wrights hoped to repair for a possible four-mile > (6 km) flight to Kitty Hawk village. Soon after, a > heavy gust picked up the Flyer and tumbled it end > over end, damaging it beyond any hope of quick > repair. Very good.
KJH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My friend brought this to my attention last night. > After seeing ~$4/gal, his new summer project is > to implement this setup on his old Audi. > > From 10th grade chemistry, I remember doing water > electrolysis. Would this set up be possible? > > "The Water Fuel Cell, on the other hand, was > examined by three expert witnesses in court who > found that there “was nothing revolutionary about > the cell at all and that it was simply using > conventional electrolysis” > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer There are hydrogen fuel cell buses in my region and the government plans to build a hydrogen highway in the province before the 2010 olympics, but they don’t use this technology. I can see widespread use of hydrogen powered vehicles as a practical reality, but they wont be using this technology.
hydrogen is no more an energy source than electricity. They are both a means of *transmitting* energy, and hydrogen does it particularly badly - Low energy density, big problems with storage.
virginCFAhooker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > People will never fly. What a joke those Wilbur > brothers turned out to be. The internet is a fad, > too. I thought about this one. You’ve hit upon a really important idea - that the need will be fulfilled, but not necessarily in the ways that the pioneers foresaw. Biplanes weren’t really succesful, and it wasn’t until the late 30’s and Guernica that airplanes really found a market that would be more than a curiosity (and that wasn’t a good thing!) When DARPA/Tim Berners-Lee/Al Gore conceived of the internet, it was as something resilient to nuclear war for scientists. When the TMT bubble was puffing up, people though it would be content providers that would reap the benefits (remember windows 98 “channels”?). With environmental tech, it seems to me that the problem will be solved. With a litre of petrol at £1.20, there are plenty of incentives. But supposed solutions that involve hydrogen as a fuel (where do people think this hydrogen will come from & how will it be stored?), or batteries (where/how will the power be generated?) miss the point. The technology that will help here is the refinement of the internal combustion engine - conventional cars are now getting better fuel efficiency than hybrids - maybe hybrids will retake the crown, but again we miss the point. If you are driving around in a 2.5 ton car that does 15 mpg, then you don’t need to invent a different engine, you need to get a different car. Combine this with an increased price of fuel, and long commutes become uneconomic. Either you work from home or you work closer to your home. We already possess the tech that we need to fix this. All this other stuff is robot butlers and flying cars.