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64 Comments
- rawg, on 06/26/2008, -2/+67How cool would it be to see a tornado farm?
***** super cool that's how. - thcobbs, on 06/26/2008, -1/+16It already is.... demolition of mobile homes.
- inactive, on 06/26/2008, -0/+13Using temperature variance to make a tornado to get wind turbine generated electricity is a fantastic idea, and probably (aside from the coming solar energy revolution) one of the most efficient looking ideas I've seen so far.
- DCShawGuy, on 06/25/2008, -0/+10The fact they can use excess heat from factories to help produce one of these things and then return the generated power back to the factory is pretty cool.
Not sure I'd want to be around if one of these things jumped out of its container... :-) - cuoops, on 06/26/2008, -2/+11yep, 5 days ago - http://digg.com/general_sciences/Artificial_Tornad ...
- uptwolait, on 06/26/2008, -0/+9Sounds like something that could be adopted along with a nuclear plant, in place of the cooling tower. Recovering even more energy, even higher overall efficiency.
I still couldn't help but picture Helen Hunt in that wet, white t-shirt while reading this though. - iguanapunk, on 06/26/2008, -0/+9With the hadron collider's mini black holes and these tornados, mankind is doomed. I'm taking out the biggest loan I can and spending it on acid and girls.
- gcnaddict, on 06/26/2008, -0/+8That was constructive.
- oxymoron69, on 06/26/2008, -0/+7I did that the last time I thought the world was going to end...
Now I'm in collections :-( - bosssmiley, on 06/26/2008, -1/+7Hey, don't complain. It means we get to digg a story about tornado farming twice (as it justly deserves).
- Phearce, on 06/26/2008, -0/+5Finally a way for trailer parks to make a positive contribution to society.
- cheesypasta, on 06/26/2008, -0/+5I'm envisioning a mini-tornado that could power a suit...
- BaudiIROCZ, on 06/26/2008, -1/+5It can't jump out of it's container. It wouldn't have the fuel it needs (the influx of warm air) Unless of course tornado like conditions just happened to exist at the exact time that the man made tornado got out but even then it would be unlikely the air would be right to continue fueling it.
- linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3Hopefully Canada is not learning how to weaponize tornados. "Release the tornados!"
- serif69, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3Worse, this sounds like a Sci Fi CHANNEL movie, complete with "special effects".
- nowhereelse, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3"I'm constantly amazed...century after century"
Good grief! How old are you, exactly? - TheHim, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3The vortex still contains a lot of energy, so i doubt it immediately looses its force.
I think some environmentalists would strongly oppose this for sucking up birds. - elijahalcantara, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3MOOOooo------
- Hiwitori, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3It could also be the begining of Batman-esque villians bringing on the end of the world, but hey, what are the chances of that happening?
- jerbaker, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2"Tell me what device can accomplish this."
Depends on the kind of generator you want to use. How about a heat pump to collect the waste heat and concentrate it for power generation? You could also use a high-efficiency turbine powered directly by the hot gases leaving the stack. There are lots of things you could do. - Jonez176, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3"200MWatts of waste heat coming off a power plant, then we would just capture and use that."
Please tell me what you would do with this heat instead. I'm dying to hear. - Phearce, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2I agree something's fishy here. But I think it's more related to the dynamics of a tornado -- where does all the cold air that replaces the hot air go? The vents feed in air heated by radiators (they might need fans to get the spin going). The hot air rises rapidly. I've used a chimnea plenty of times and gotten it hot enough to produce an "after-burner" effect at the top of the stack. Alas, no mini-tornado. At best what they'll get is something like an inverted torndao -- a vortex.
- manifest020, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2This is much like the inventions of Viktor Schauberger, which very few seem to be aware of. It's that "conspiracy theory" nonsense you don't bother reading. He harnessed natural spiraling of water to build a log flume that delivered logs down a mountain without ever having the logs hit the sides, avoiding damage to the flume. He did this by the direction of the flume slats and precise variations in water temperature. He later used the technology to build a home generator
I've been wanting to try experimenting with that stuff for a long time. - TheHim, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Would be odd to have tornadoes near every major city skyline. What a wonderful distribution system for terrorists ;)
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1fluid dynamics
- bobangitanov2, on 06/26/2008, -1/+2shouldn't they have started with cow farts?
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1when you work at a tornado farm; what exactly do you consider bad weather?
- Nosferotu, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Plus it would be using the waste heat from power plants to produce more energy instead of just... wasting it. Brilliant.
- Kanten, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1With artificial tornadoes and the Large Hadron Collider up and running, the next several years should be entertaining.
- surfsusan, on 06/25/2008, -0/+1It would be great to use that energy for something practical.
- Jonez176, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Cities being powered by controlled tornadoes extending miles into the sky.. It would be beautiful, imho.
- FlyingPhotog, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1(guy in the dorm shower)
Very funny guyyyys.... who turned off the cyclone??? - grey580, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Sounds like something out of a sci fi movie.
I'm waiting for the terrorists to take over the power plant and ask for 1 million dollars.... - Duositex, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1200 meters wide and 100 meters tall? 6.2 million cubic meters of air moving at 200 mph? Yikes... And what about when the weather is bad? Can this thing even operate or does it just become a swimming pool?
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1The vortex feeds of the potential energy stored in a mass of cold air sitting atop a mass of warm air.
It's just like those soda-bottle water-vortex thingies; the denser fluid wants to move downward, but to do so it must displace the lighter fluid; the most stable way to do that is with a vortex. Clearly, when you place the denser fluid on top, it takes work; which is then released in kinetic energy in the form of a vortex; naturally it makes sense that you can drain that energy.
If a natural tornado has enough energy to pick up and throw a several ton house, it doesn't violate thermodynamics. We're just artificially skipping a few steps and getting at the same end result. - stealthc, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1What could possibly go wrong?
- coyote1284, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1A green use for Dick Cheney's Weather Machine!? (AKA the Weaponized Weather Guidence System)
/sarcasm - inactive, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Behold the magical city of Vane!
- inactive, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Badass!
- inactive, on 06/26/2008, -2/+3On the job deaths have to be really ***** up, though.
- iamthearm, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Let's quit writing stroies about it and get it done.
- liuite, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1anyone who think temperature variance can't generate power...Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is one way we can tap into the warm water of the ocean surface and cold water of the deep
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1tornadoes feed off the potential energy stored in a large mass of dense, cool air sitting on top of light, warm air. This conditions are readily found around the globe; especially around the american midwest. It's just like tapping a waterfall, only this time it's cold air falling instead of water and a vortex is needed to stabilize the displaced warm air. It most likely requires an activation energy to extend the vortex up to the cold air, but after that it should be fine from a thermodynamical standpoint.
- jerbaker, on 06/26/2008, -1/+2All manipulations of matter/energy require energy, therefor manipulating gases into a vortex will require energy. How does the inventor propose to get more energy out of the vortex than it took to create it? Will the people digging this up as a good idea please explain the physics of this invention - at least as they understand it? This is not a critique, only a question.
- st00f72, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1I applaud Mr. Louis Michaud for his idea, and I sincerely hope he finds the resources to build and test larger prototypes. Unfortunately the ARTICLE MAKES NO MENTION OF ANY RESULTS OF HIS RESEARCH ON SMALLER PROTOTYPES TO DATE!
Digg mr. Michaud
Bury livescience.com - jerbaker, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1"This is much like the inventions of Viktor Schauberger"
How is generating electricity from heat differentials like using water currents to keep logs from bumping into the side of a flume? - jerbaker, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Just generate the power directly instead of burning energy creating a vortex.
- worldthoughts, on 06/26/2008, -1/+1Yes.
- nowhereelse, on 06/26/2008, -0/+0Who says you have to get more out than you put in? It's using waste heat and recovering SOME of the energy.
People are getting hung up on the efficiency thing. It's irrelevant if your energy source is essentially free. -
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