All,
This might be a slight departure from the subject of the HET but
I mention scientific ideas and a concept that has puzzled me below. It
is of interest to me for many reasons and I had even hoped it might be
a cheap way to travel if correct, so, I will discuss it here.
You all have surely heard of the concept of super conducting.
This
is a function of an electrical conduit that displays zero resistance to
an
electrical current. The superconductors that have been so far devised
are a problem since one has to lower the temperature to a great extent to
reach this point. These compounds that have the ability to attain a
super
conductive state are composed of exotic elemental mixes. Ytterium,
oxygen, barium?, and I forget the others but a web search for super
conductive
elemental compounds would reveal what they are. You may have seen
super conductive composites in action. When liquid hydrogen is poured
over a pellet of superconductor, its resistance to an electrical or even
magnetic
field for that matter is reduced so much that it levitates and spins
above a
magnetic source.
To understand further what superconductors are an example of what
they
are not is called for. Everyone knows about filaments in a light bulb.
The metal
fibers or filaments glow when an electrical current passes through it.
The glow
which is the source of the light bulbs illumination is a result of an
electrical
current passing through a substance which though conductible to
electricity,
has a certain resistance or friction to the passage of same. In other
words,
a light filament which was totally a super conductive composite would not
cause
the light bulb to give off light.
It has been thought that if a room temperature super conductive
elemental
composite were at our disposal, we could enormously increase the energy
efficiency of electrical power systems. They are no where near doing
this.
The exotic elemental mixtures so far have only raised the temperature
somewhat
required to reach this point.
Another thing known to the lay scientist is that each element
gives off its
own spectra of light. This is the method used by astronomers in
detecting what
stars are composed of. I have wondered in the past that due to this
characteristic
of matter to give off or reflect a spectral light pattern distinctive to
the element it
is, one could measure the spectral wave pattern of the elements that
comprise
a superconductor at the low temperatures required in reaching
superconductivity.
One might then compare that spectra with the same exact spectra at room
temperatures to see if any difference in spectrum is noted. One might
then look
for matching spectral patterns from elements at room temperature that
match the
spectral patterns of the superconducting compounds at low temperatures.
It
all has to do with finding a room temperature superconductor.
Now to my second idea/question and I realize that I may only be
showing
my own ignorance in not knowing but to ask is to learn. Free energy
systems:
something everyone is looking to have but haven't found yet. If we were
to use
a normal electrical motor we could run it on battery power but that would
be
only good for a little while. Electrical motors composed of non
superconducting
elemental alloys despite being conductive to electricity nevertheless are
not 100%
efficient. They loose energy and in a closed circuit aka running off a
battery source,
the battery is eventually "dead".
One of my daydreams has been in the past that to gain both a free
energy
source and a power supply to explore the HE with, would it be feasibly
possible to
construct an electrical motor of 100% superconducting components? Would,
after cooling this entire motor casing off to super conductive
temperatures, energy
loss disappear leaving one only with the task of maintaining the super
conductive low
temperatures? Einstein suggested that energy cannot be either created or
destroyed.
Could we have a power source literally forever at ones disposal provided
that the
low temperature super conductive condition were maintained? It is
always the
understanding of realistic people that a battery runs out of charge due
to the load(s)
placed on it. For light bulbs or anything else not made of room
temperature
super conductive material, this is unquestionably true. I suppose that
my lack of
knowledge stems from the perception I have that such a motor as I
speculate about
would not loose any energy. After all, are not electrons and atoms and
related
atomic forces in the atom famed for being perpetually limitless in
energy? If one
had a motor that never lost its circulating electrical charge, what would
prevent it
from behaving like a macro (very large) singular atom. The electrons
orbiting the
nucleus do so at just a fraction under the speed of light and if we are
to believe
reports have been running non stop from the beginning of creation (at
least).
These particles cannot be "sewn into a motor" to draw from their
limitless power.
One idea I have dreamed up, among many, to mount an expedition to
the HE
is to have such a motor which would run for months on end on a single
surge of
electrical current that was pumped into the superconducting circuit. It
would be
a closed circuit and thus one would have the motor running non stop. The
only
thing required of the operator would be to keep the temperature really
low to allow
the superconductor action to work. Perhaps this would be a separate
power system
and it would be my hope that a series of thermos bottle containers one
within the
other might keep the interior "super cold" region of the motor insulated
from warming
above the superconducting temperature threshold. All light could be
masked out
preventing warm up in this way. I disagree with Dick about light and
heat waves
being other than intricately connected to each other. One or more of the
thermos
layers might then also be a pure vacuum preventing heat leaching to the
interior
cold compartment. If there is no molecular conveyance of heat, nothing
would
warm up. It is even possible that the external struts supporting such an
engine
might be at one point in the thermos layers, supported by nothing but
total vacuum
and supported by a series of evenly spaced rare earth magnetics aligned
between
like poles ( N - N or S - S ).
Even if a battery were needed to recharge the closed circuit of
the system,
efficiency would greatly increase the range. Take for example the idea
of electric
automobiles running on a bank of batteries. They have a big problem
getting a
strong enough battery to propel the car more than 200 miles. A super
conductive
motor as I have envisioned might change this situation completely.
A small plane or blimp running on such a system might make it to
the HE
at great economy and safety for whatever passengers wish to brave the
trip. I have
many other thoughts dealing with stealth. A completely noiseless motor
plus a few
other things like flying at 50 feet to negate all but the most
sophisticated "look down"
radars, and coloring the craft to be hard to spot visually might get one
past even the
most rigid efforts of keeping everyone out.
Alas, I make no special claim to this idea being legitimate or
even scientifically
correct. Gaps in fundamental concepts might prove I am all wet, but in
this life men
(& women) are built to dream the dream. My imaginative skills, if not my
outright
intelligence, are something I take great pleasure in. I have all sorts
of ideas kicking
around in the gray stuff behind my eyes and I though it might be
entertaining if
nothing else to share my zeal and imagination for this subject with the
group.
Some people might wish to hold their cards close to their chest
in order to
reap the wealth a great invention might present them with. I choose to
share. I am
mindful of what some of the greatest scientists and inventors have said:
Einstein: "I think and I think and I think and 99 times out of 100 I end
up being wrong.
but that one single time, I might be right."
Edison: "Invention is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration.
So forgive me ALL for waxing a bit poetic and sharing a percentage of my
thoughts.
Someone else might read these words and get some inkling of an idea that
might lead
him or her to an idea which would be right if I am not. The very history
of invention
is one of sizable gaps in progress where a breakthrough idea had to wait
around for
decades at a time for a key building block idea that was needed to bring
about a new
invention.
Scott