Mapleperson - Slashdot User

Comment Shock Waves (Score 1) 377

by Mapleperson on Saturday April 09, 2011 @11:58AM (#35767862) Attached to: New Gasoline Engine Prototype Claims 3X Current Engine Efficiency

The engine probably uses shock waves to produce the compression necessary for combustion. As such it would have a high minimum RPM. And due to material strength and the high heat inside the engine the maximum RPM probably is close to the minimum RPM. This engine would need to run a generator to maintain its efficiency. At this high RPM it would run a generator that could be very efficient, maybe up to 95% and could be made very small, maybe incorporated into the engine itself.

Comment Compared to Microwaves (Score 2, Interesting) 83

by Mapleperson on Saturday October 30, 2010 @11:51AM (#34073080) Attached to: UAV Helicopter Flies 12 Hours Charged By Laser

How does this compare with microwave power transfer? Is there an advantage to using lasers?

Comment Re:Local bookstores (Score 1) 414

by Mapleperson on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @04:27PM (#33143078) Attached to: Barnes and Noble Bookstore Chain Put In Play

B&N buying Fat Brain was a loss for me me too. I stopped trading with Barnes and Noble for many years because of it.

Submission + - Feynman wrong? Tell me it ain't so. (rdmag.com)

Submitted by Mapleperson on Thursday June 24, 2010 @10:41PM

Mapleperson writes: Feynman in his famous physic lectures declared that the second law for thermodynamics could not be contravene by any simple machine. He described an example of the "simplest machine possible" a ratcheting lever. This machine he declared is the simplest machine that can be devised to capture the random motion of atoms or molecules and turn it into useful energy. Then he proceeded to show how this machine would not capture energy in a useful way. A machine that can capture this random motion (Brownian motion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion ) and turn it into useful energy has been a dream of inventors since atoms were first described mathematically. This site shows one more attempt to show that Mr Feynman is wrong. Many people have fooled themselves into believing they have invented just such a machine. I would not bet against Feynman. But physicist Devaraj van der Meerdo have a very persuasive video to support his claims

Comment How did it form? (Score 1) 57

by Mapleperson on Thursday January 29, 2009 @03:09PM (#26656937) Attached to: Sizzling Weather On a Dive-Bombing Planet

The larger questions is how can such a massive planet end up in such a elliptic orbit. Assuming the gas giant was made from the swirling dust cloud around the star to start with then it would be in a almost circular orbit. What could have happened to change the orbit as much as this?

Submission + - Energy storage (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by Mapleperson on Monday January 26, 2009 @12:58PM

Mapleperson writes: An interesting article on the energy storage capabilities of most of the recently developed storage technologies. It covers all the obvious technologies but strangely this article in the " Bulletin of Atomic Scientist" does not address the use of an atomic battery.

Slashdot Top Deals