Mechanical engineers fist pumping after finding out their entire profession is not yet obsolete
Comment on But yes.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 2 days ago
It was realizing that a lot of our power is still, at its core, a steam engine
Lussy@hexbear.net 2 days ago
hobovision@lemm.ee 2 days ago
More like a steam turbine (which is way cooler cause it’s like a jet engine). Steam engine makes me think of a piston engine like on a train.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Seems to be just photovoltaics and spinny things.
Phoonzang@lemmy.world 2 days ago
There’s also fuel cells, where fuel is not burned to create steam to move something, but combined with oxygen in a different way (the end products still being the same) so the electrons shuttled around during this reaction can be utilised as electricity. Think of combustion as oxidation of your fuel, the oxidation meaning that you (among other things) move electrons from the fuel to oxygen. In combustion, unfortunately you can’t access the electrons directly, as they are always stuck in the chemical bonds of the molecules, that’s why we take the detour via heat/mechanical - the steam engine. The fuel cell now separates fuel and oxygen, and thus divides the combustion reaction into two parts that happen at opposite sides of the cell. Those sides are divided by a membrane that does not allow the electrons to transfer across, so they need to take a detour through an electric circuit, in which we can harvest them as electrical power.
I always found it really fascinating that fuel cells are the only other technology than solar where the electrons we use as electrical power are more or less directly generated as opposed to the detour via a generator. Unfortunately, fuel cells are still a very niche technique.
mosiacmango@lemm.ee 2 days ago
We discovered a banger like 200 years ago and have held on tight until eight about now with wind/solar/hydro.
Still going to be using their geothermal/fission/fusion for at least another 200 years though.
Theoriginalthon@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Hydro is just more dense steam, wind is less dense steam, it’s steam engines all the way!
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
The only really new kinds are thermocouples (mostly garbage) and solar panels (poor efficiency, but abundant fuel).
Some fusion might end up using magnet pumping, which is basically just a plasma powered piston.
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Don’t skip the betavoltaic battery, (or the brand-name: Betacel), which turns beta-radiation directly into electricity. They used them in the 70s to power pacemakers, since batteries were kinda shit back then, and implanting Prometium into people is just too epic not to do.
Nowadays we have tritium-decay betavoltaic batteries, on satellites, buried or underwater sensors and probably some too secret military stuff.
Zink@programming.dev 2 days ago
The best solar panels are getting at or above the efficiency of converting nuclear heat to electricity (about 1/3) so they probably shouldn’t get that poor efficiency label.