Tags for this video have been changed from 'battery, generated, kelvin thunderstorm' to 'battery, generated, kelvin thunderstorm, power, volts, spark, physics, mit, lecture' - edited by my15minutes

>> ^Lucidium:
Charliem: You can turn off electro magnets. And even then certain types will remain magnetic. You can't turn off a magnet.


Simply not true.
The only electo-magnets that "retain" their fields after being switched off, are super-conductive rare-earth elements that have been super-cooled to very low kelvin temperatures.

When the material is bought back up past its super-conductive threshold, it loses its magnetic field.

Every electro magnet that can be switched off, loses its magnetic properties.

MRI's rarely use permanent magnets, as the resolution of a perm magnet is so low, and the materials required to produce a field strong enough for a clear picture, are immensely expensive, and heavy.

Theres a pretty decent chance this is an EM MRI, all they needed to do was let the thing warm up a bit after using it (generally by turning the cooling pumps off).

Polish guy uses Celsius instead of your fancy Kelvins, but yeah.

The end part is hilarious - he says, it's "crying" because it itself doesn't know to what use it can be put. Awesome.

Taken from Conservapedia's evolution page:

"The great intellectuals in history such as Archimedes, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and Lord Kelvin did not propose an evolutionary process for a species to transform into a more complex version. Even after the theory of evolution was proposed and promoted heavily in England and Germany, most leading scientists were against the theory of evolution."

What are they trying to say? How is this even relevant? Why is the fact that historical figures before Darwin's time didn't propose an evolutionary process for a species to transform into a more complex version relevant at all? Isn't that why we hold Darwin up as the father of the theory in the first place? Because he made the proposing first?

Could the following paragraph be included in the automobile section?:

"The great intellectuals in history such as Archimedes, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and Lord Kelvin did not invent automobiles. Even after the invention of the automobile most leading scientists did not drive or use automobiles."

The whole paragraph doesn't bring any information to the table but it does subtly suggest that the Theory of Evolution is academically controversial. Wait, isn't that bias?

So is Conservapedia against bias as a principle or do they just not like being disagreed with?

Meh.

>> ^dag:
Fusion reactors seems like one of those technologies that will be 20 years away from reality ... forever.
Latest stuff I've read about the tokamak is they still take in more energy than they produce. (though I enjoyed the cameo of a lookalike in Iron Man)
So it's not a matter of smaller fusion reactors- it's building ones that actually work as an energy source.


That's dependent on the temperature of the surrounding environment. If you build it on titan and use liquid methane from titan's ocean as coolant, you save a huge amount of energy on keeping the superconductors cold enough to superconduct. If the coolant fluid from outside was below the transition temperature of the superconductors, this would vastly improve the efficiency of the tokamak. Inventing superconductors with higher transition temperatures would allow a similar improvement. The biggest amount of waste in the tokamok is from the fact that you have a huge heat/radiation source surrounded by superconducting electromagnets that have to be kept at 50 Kelvin or below.

Why did you downvote my comment ?
This has nothing to do with gravitational potential energy at all, its purely the interaction between positive and negatively charged water particles passing through a conductor to build up charge.

Zero kinetic / gravitational potential energy is converted, the meer useage of gravity is a neat way to get the water droplets to pass through the rings, but none of this energy is converted into electrostatic energy.


Edit: A more detailed description can be found here.
http://amasci.com/emotor/kelvin.html

Close, but not quite.

Every atom has a tiny tiny charge associated with it.
This system is essentially a positive feedback capacitor, that takes advantage of the flux effect of charged particles (ie. an EM field) passing over a conductor, to slowly build up a charge in the system.

Once the charge is large enough, the random distribution of the charge within the system is what creates the diffusion of the water dropping through the buckets.

Once the charge is large enough, it overcomes the distance barrier between the two balls and redistributes the charge back into the water.

Its basically a van-de-graffe machine, only in a really novel way.

They are called Kelvin water droppers / batteries.

Darwin.

In reply to this comment by MycroftHomlz:
Who is you avatar...Darwin, Kelvin?

Who is you avatar...Darwin, Kelvin?

Why didn't they white balance that video? Jesus, it looks like it was balanced for 2800 degrees Kelvin... oh, did I just geek out? Damn. Well, at least I've never played WOW or any other MMO. Take that!

continued...

Here is a report on the Venezuelan Supreme Court's decision regarding RCTV:

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2307


From the Guardian:

http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1180195714.html

Television's role in the coup against Chávez

Saturday May 26, 2007
The Guardian


Dear Sir,

We believe that the decision of the Venezuelan government not to renew the broadcasting licence of RCTV when it expires on May 27 (Chávez silences critical TV station, May 23; Comment and Letters, May 25) is legitimate given that RCTV has used its access to the public airwaves to repeatedly call for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chávez. RCTV gave vital practical support to the overthrow of Venezuela's elected government in April 2002 in which at least 13 people were killed. In the 47 hours that the coup plotters held power, they overturned much of Venezuela's democratic constitution - closing down the elected national assembly, the supreme court and other state institutions.

RCTV exhorted the public to take to the streets and overthrow the government and also colluded with the coup by deliberately misrepresenting what was taking place, and then conducting a news blackout. Its production manager, Andrés Izarra, who opposed the coup, immediately resigned so as not to become an accomplice.

This is not a case of censorship. In Venezuela more than 90% of the media is privately owned and virulently opposed to the Chávez government. RCTV, far from being silenced, is being allowed to continue broadcasting by satellite and cable. In Venezuela, as in Britain, TV stations must adhere to laws and regulations governing what they can broadcast. Imagine the consequences if the BBC or ITV were found to be part of a coup against the government. Venezuela deserves the same consideration.

Yours,

Tariq Ali

Tony Benn

Colin Burgon MP,

Dr. Julia Buxton, academic,

Ruqayyah Collector, Black Students’ Officer, National Union of Students,

Jeremy Corbyn MP,

Jon Cruddas MP,

Megan Dobney, Regional Secretary, SERTUC

Billy Hayes, General Secretary, CWU,

Gordon Hutchison, Secretary, Venezuela Information Centre,

Kelvin Hopkins MP,

Chris Martin, Director, The War on Democracy

Joni McDougall, International Solidarity Officer, GMB,

Gerry Morrissey, General Secretary, BECTU,

Kaveh Moussavi, University of Oxford

John Pilger,

Harold Pinter,

Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, LSE,

Keith Sonnet, Deputy General Secretary, UNISON,

Hugh O'Shaughnessy, writer and journalist,

Rod Stoneman, Executive Producer, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,

Jon Trickett MP,

Gemma Tumelty, President, National Union of Students,

Cllr Salma Yaqoob.

Jim Griggs, inventor of the Hydrosonic Pump, is no longer a part of Hydro Dynamics Inc.

Stan Meyer was convicted of fraud in 1996. Meyer was found guilty of fraud when his Water Fuel Cell failed to impress three expert witnesses. When one of the court experts went to examine the Water Fuel Cell driven car, it was impossible to evaluate because it was not working. Meyer later died of apparent poisoning which led to a slew of retarded conspiracy theories. He bitched about funding and support yet, The James Randi Foundation had a standing $1 million dollar offer, all he had to do was prove his claims.

Color me skeptical. When Griggs says he was confused as to why the pipes were getting hot, and goes on to describe his pump, at no time is cavitation mentioned. This is a common, fairly well understood phenomenon. Yet it goes unmentioned in the video? WTF

Cavitation:

"This is a process in which tiny bubbles grow in size and then collapse as a result of pressure variations in the turbulent water...The temperature reached by the collapsing bubble depends on how much of the focused energy is lost by sound emission at the collapse and how much is consumed by internal processes such as vibrations, rotations, dissociation and eventually ionization... If there are many collapsing bubbles, they disturb each other, which leads to a less-spherical collapse and therefore less-efficient energy focusing. Nonetheless, temperatures can rise so high that the bubbles start to glow...Analysis of the emitted spectral lines4 indicates that the temperature reached inside these bubbles is around 5,000 kelvin."

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7029/full/434033a.html

The phenomenon where in light is emitted is called "Sonoluminescence." Sonoluminescence was discovered in 1934 by two German physicists.

http://watersciencenews.com/sonolum.htm
http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000950E3-6815-1C71-9EB7809EC588F2D7

There was an interesting documentary on a hydro power plant at a dam where they showed the tremendous damage that caviation was causing to the turbine blades and housing. Typically, cavitation is seen as a source of inefficiency.

Here's the patent for the Hydrosonic Pump mentioned:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5957122-fulltext.html

Wiki says: If cooled at a rate of the order of 1 million kelvins per second, the crystal nucleation can be avoided and water becomes a glass.

Now there's a vid I want to see.

Happy B-day to Ladybug. Maybe Aphids come plentiful on this day.

My quest to expose you to rare music goes on, I love this song. It's simply sublime. Enjoy!

'Elvis' comes from the Alpha album 'Stargazing' The video directed by Adde and Dan Sherwen featuring Kelvin Swaby. For more about Alpha visit www.alphaheaven.com or www.donttouchrecordings.com

Alpha is a trip hop duo, comprising Corin Dingley and Andy Jenks. They were previously signed to Massive Attack's Melankolic label, and are currently on Don't Touch Recordings, a label they founded. Their debut, ComeFromHeaven, featured Scott Walker, Burt Bacharach, and John Martyn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_%28band%29

I am not sure what this video hoped to prove. It is easy to find intelligent people on both sides of the debate. However, I would submit, that the following list of THEISTS is far more impressive than the people mentioned in this video.

• Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)
Copernicus was the Polish astronomer who put forward the first mathematically based system of planets going around the sun. He attended various European universities, and became a Canon in the Catholic church in 1497.

• Sir Fancis Bacon (1561-1627)
Bacon was a philosopher who is known for establishing the scientific method of inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning. In De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium, Bacon established his goals as being the discovery of truth, service to his country, and service to the church. Although his work was based upon experimentation and reasoning, he rejected atheism as being the result of insufficient depth of philosophy, stating, "It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion….

• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Kepler was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer. He did early work on light, and established the laws of planetary motion about the sun. He also came close to reaching the Newtonian concept of universal gravity - well before Newton was born!

• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Galileo did his most useful theoretical work, which was on dynamics. Galileo expressly said that the Bible cannot err, and saw his system as an alternate interpretation of the biblical texts.

• Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist and philosopher who has been called the father of modern philosophy. His school studies made him dissatisfied with previous philosophy: He had a deep religious faith as a Roman Catholic, which he retained to his dying day, along with a resolute, passionate desire to discover the truth. Descartes was to establish the near certainty of the existence of God - for only if God both exists and would not want us to be deceived by our experiences - can we trust our senses and logical thought processes. God is, therefore, central to his whole philosophy.

• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
In optics, mechanics, and mathematics, Newton was a figure of undisputed genius and innovation. In all his science (including chemistry) he saw mathematics and numbers as central. He was devoutly religious and saw numbers as involved in understanding God's plan for history from the Bible. He did a considerable work on biblical numerology, and, though aspects of his beliefs were not orthodox, he thought theology was very important. In his system of physics, God is essential to the nature and absoluteness of space. In Principia he stated, "The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion on an intelligent and powerful Being."

• Robert Boyle (1791-1867)
Boyle gave his name to "Boyle's Law" for gases, and also wrote an important work on chemistry. Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "By his will he endowed a series of Boyle lectures, or sermons, which still continue, 'for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels...

• Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith who became one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century. His work on electricity and magnetism not only revolutionized physics, but led to much of our lifestyles today, which depends on them (including computers and telephone lines and, so, web sites). Faraday was a devoutly Christian member of the Sandemanians, which significantly influenced him and strongly affected the way in which he approached and interpreted nature.

• Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Mendel was the first to lay the mathematical foundations of genetics, in what came to be called "Mendelianism

• William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907)
Kelvin was foremost among the small group of British scientists who helped to lay the foundations of modern physics. His work covered many areas of physics, and he was said to have more letters after his name than anyone else in the Commonwealth. Interestingly, his fellow physicists George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) were also men of deep Christian commitment, in an era when many were nominal, apathetic, or anti-Christian. The Encyclopedia Britannica says "Maxwell is regarded by most modern physicists as the scientist of the 19th century who had the greatest influence on 20th century physics; he is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contributions.

• Max Planck (1858-1947)
Planck made many contributions to physics, but is best known for quantum theory, which revolutionized our understanding of the atomic and sub-atomic worlds. In his 1937 lecture "Religion and Naturwissenschaft," Planck expressed the view that God is everywhere present, and held that "the holiness of the unintelligible Godhead is conveyed by the holiness of symbols." Both science and religion wage a "tireless battle against skepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition" with the goal "toward God!"

• Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Einstein is probably the best known and most highly revered scientist of the twentieth century, and is associated with major revolutions in our thinking about time, gravity, and the conversion of matter to energy (E=mc2). Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in "Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" - and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."