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The situation in Wisconsin certainly has caused an uproar. And there are at least three fronts for the uproar: 1) the idea of union busting, 2) the idea of political warfare, and 3) The idea of handing valuable power plants over to billionaires for “pennies on the dollar”. 1) the idea of union busting The [...]
Let’s imagine that you own a nuclear power plant. You are in a pretty good position these days because, compared to a coal-fired power plant, your operation is very green. You are producing lots of reliable electricity without releasing any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. You don’t release any other pollutants, like sulfur or mercury, [...]
World Record #152 – The largest and heaviest terrestrial machines
by Marshall Brain | November 5, 2010
The largest and heaviest terrestrial machines in the world are the bucket wheel excavators used for coal mining. According to the following video, the machines cost about $100 million. The two people operating the machine do the work of 40,000 people using shovels: Getting up close: According to the following video, a bucket wheel excavator [...]
Coal-fired power plants produce a majority of the electricity in the United States. According to this article: Coal is primarily used to generate electricity. In fact, nine out of every ten tons of coal mined in the United States today is used to generate electricity, and about 56 percent of the electricity used in this [...]
You Asked: How do coal-fired power plant scrubbers work? — Gil, Onancock, Va. Marshall Brain Answers: If coal were pure carbon, then the only thing we would have to worry about at coal-fired power plants is the carbon dioxide formed when coal burns. Unfortunately, coal often contains other chemicals. Sulfur is one common element found [...]
If you take a look at How Air Conditioners Work you can see that a typical air conditioner is a very simple thing. It has an electric motor that runs a compressor, and everything else in the system is passive – tube on the hot side and cold side, plus an expansion valve.
The only problem with the existing system is that the electric motor needs a lot of electricity to spin the compressor. In the summertime, a sizable portion of the power grid is dedicated to feeding the electricity needs of air conditioners.
Now there may be an alternative that uses a lot less electricity…
You Asked: How do steam boilers work? — Dominic, Sacramento, Calif. Marshall Brain Answers: You find steam boilers in power plants, factories, steam locomotives, etc. The basic idea is simple – water is turned to steam with a source of heat. Fire tube boilers are common. You have a big tank of water with tubes [...]
There is huge buzz right now around the Bloom Box – a small fuel cell power plant that could, one day, end up in your home. Much of the buzz is coming from the coverage of the Bloom Box on 60 Minutes on February 21, 2010. Information from CBS: The money quote from that video: [...]
‘Smart’ armor learns more with every bullet – “Smart armor being developed by scientists and engineers at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Michigan can not only predict its own failure, but also identify the size of bullets shot at it and even generate electrical power upon impact…” 10 First Person [...]
For anyone currently whiling away their time at a beach (with a laptop and Internet connection, I guess), this question might occur to you. How do gulls, those birds so adept at stealing your sandwich or even invading your hotel room through an open balcony, drink saltwater?
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