Stanford researchers have developed a battery that takes advantage of the difference in salinity between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity. Anywhere freshwater enters the sea, such as river mouths or estuaries, could be potential sites for a power plant using such a battery, said Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research team. The theoretical limiting factor, he said, is the amount of freshwater available. "We actually have an infinite amount of ocean water; unfortunately we don't have an infinite amount of freshwater," he said. As an indicator of the battery's potential for producing power, Cui's team calculated that if all the world's rivers were put to use, their batteries could supply about 2 terawatts of electricity annually -- that's roughly 13 percent of the world's current energy consumption.
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Have you ever wondered what it's like to sit atop a volcanic peak in the Canary Islands, gazing up at the brilliant stars of the Milky Way as a Saharan sandstorm billows all around you? Well, wonder no more. Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd captured this stunning scene — and many others — in his new three-minute video, "The Mountain," which he posted to the website Vimeo on April 15. Earlier this month, Sorgjerd spent a week on Mount Teide, a huge volcanic peak on Tenerife, which is the largest of the seven Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa. At 12,198 feet (3,718 meters), Teide is the highest point in Spain, which owns the Canaries. I'm standing next to a Croatian-born American genius in a half-empty office in Watertown, Massachusetts, and I'm about to be fried to a crisp. Or I'm about to witness the greatest advance in electrical science in a hundred years. Maybe both. Either way, all I can think of is my electrician, Billy Sullivan. Sullivan has 11 tattoos and a voice marinated in Jack Daniels. During my recent home renovation, he roared at me when I got too close to his open electrical panel: "I'm the Juice Man!" he shouted. "Stay the hell away from my juice!" He was right. Only gods mess with electrons. Only a fool would shoot them into the air. And yet, I'm in a conference room with a scientist who is going to let 120 volts fly out of the wall, on purpose. "Don't worry," says the MIT assistant professor and a 2008 MacArthur genius-grant winner, Marin Soljacic (pronounced SOLE-ya-cheech), who designed the box he's about to turn on. "You will be okay." With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returns to Earth. On April 11, the third manned lunar landing mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The mission was headed for a landing on the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon. However, two days into the mission, disaster struck 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blew up in the spacecraft. Swigert reported to mission control on Earth, "Houston, we've had a problem here," and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth. The astronauts and mission control were faced with enormous logistical problems in stabilizing the spacecraft and its air supply, as well as providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow successful reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Navigation was another problem, and Apollo 13's course was repeatedly corrected with dramatic and untested maneuvers. On April 17, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean. APOLLO 13 was the third Apollo mission intended to land on the Moon.The craft was successfully launched toward the Moon,but the landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured,severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system.The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell with John L. "Jack" Swigert,Command Module pilot and Fred W. Haise,Lunar Module pilot.Swigert was a late replacement for the original CM pilot Ken Mattingly,who was grounded by the flight surgeon after exposure to German measles.
APOLLO 13 mission was launched on April-11-1970 at 13.13 CST.Two days later,on route to the Moon,a fault in electrical equipment inside one of the Service Module's oxygen tanks produced an explosion which caused the loss of both tanks oxygen,depriving the Service Module of electrical power.This forced the crew to shut down the Command Module to conserve its batteries and oxygen needed for the last hours of flight,and use the Lunar Module's resources as a "lifeboat" during the return trip to Earth.Despite great hardship caused by limited power,loss of cabin heat,shortage of potable water and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system,the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17 and the mission was termed a "successful failure". Posted by Zach Royer | 11:14 HAST | April 17th, 2011 Please share and like us on Facebook! In this series of articles we examine several “Free Energy” devices and explain their workings in a very simplified way while discussing the proposed theories behind them. Also, we will take a look at the new inventors and researchers working within the Open Source Energy movement and how Internet collaboration has changed the face of invention… With selected interviews with some of the most important players in the movement today. The proposition is that there are many new devices being developed using clean, cheap, and limitless forms of energy to power them and that these devices may have the capability to change all our lives for the better. They are a new breed of electro-magnetic and magnetic motors and other devices that run on very little current, but which can provide both mechanical work and electrical output in excess to the energy that is put into them. |
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