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74 Comments
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32"producing near-limitless amounts of hydrogen."
That's always a cause for suspicion right there. No scientist in his right mind would ever call a finite quantity of gas "Near-limitless". - amandaw33, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23lasers = front page & mention on diggnation. well done
- Kruez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Glad he mentioned Benjamin Franklin or else this Boston would seem completely foreign to me.
- sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -7/+22Little does he know I patented capturing lighting bolts with lasers long ago.
- aeiou, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Fusion is possible. Its just not practical yet.
- the_penguin_boy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"This is it! This is the answer. It says here... that a bolt of lightning is going to strike the clock tower at precisely 10:04pm, next Saturday night! If we can somehow... *harness* this lightning... *channel* it... into the flux capacitor... it just might work. Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future!"
Edit: hectavex & Ran2004 beat me to it. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10lol, FTA:
"So far, at least, lasers can't capture lightning."
So, er, why didn't he just go all out, and patent the use of really big nets to capture lightning? Or, uh, powdered unicorn horns? - Ran2004, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Gee, Doc Brown did this back in 1955.... What took us so long?
- gcnaddict, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16...water tanks with frickin' laser beams...
- cnycompguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9wow, that seems practical....
- gcnaddict, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9logic chain:
lasers can superheat the air, turning the air being heated by the laser into a plasma. The freed electrons can then be attracted via a positive terminal near the laser which is somehow more positively charged than the stripped atoms in the air. Once those electrons are gone, one has a path which lightning can follow.
Then again, we could just do electrolysis on a tank of water. - alephsmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Finally- Jigawatts of power right at our finger tips.
- diggsIt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Best use of lightning since Dr. Frankenstein.
- hectavex, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8"Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88mph the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine."
- nadadingsda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I think this guy doesn't have any kind of degree in science/engineering..
It takes you like five minutes to figure the following out:
It is estimated that approximately 22 million lightnings occur per year in the US [1]. One lightning bolt has approximately the energy to light a 100W light bulb for two months [2]. So this means if this machine catches all lightning bolts in the US with 100% efficiency, we can light a 100W bulb for 44 million months. If we use 500W PC instead of a light bulb, this is 8.8 million PC-months. This means we can let 0.73 million PC's run for one year. The average power of this machine would be 366MW, which is about one third of the power of nuclear power plant.
..so I don't think it is appropriate to speak of producing near-limitless amounts of hydrogen (speak energy). Therefore, bury as inaccurate.
[1] http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/?n=/ltg/flash_density_maps_index.php
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning - cwalk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"That's because despite its fearsome appearance, most lightning doesn't carry much power. The storm clouds that produce lightning contain enormous amounts of energy, but by the time a lightning bolt hits the ground, surprisingly little of that energy remains, says physicist Martin Uman"
Last time I checked, it was enough to produce 1.21 Jigawatts... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Sorry, the best use of lightning since Frankenstein was for the Flux Capacitor.
- crawfishsoul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"poop"
Funniest word ever. Say it out-loud to yourself. "Poop!" Say it out-loud to the next person you see. I guarantee they'll crack a smile in the least.
Go on, digg me down, but you know you just thought about it and smiled. - PunkHop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I usually have to read and think about the article before actually digging something.
You had me at "using lasers to capture lightning bolts". - draebor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6poop
- Ductapemaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah, but Joules are a measure of energy and a watt is a joule per second. So there is some serious energy in 1.2 Jiggawatts!
- soogy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5That's because they were going 88 miles per hour faster than you in their DeLoreans.
- brundlefly76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4dugg down for the fact that it doesnt work, typical digg headline that leaves out that part that makes it less interesting.
- soogy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I take it you are speechless?
- ElectricKetchup, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Your reply is pointless. Dugg down for stfu
- ElectricKetchup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Did he use lasers to direct the lightning or store the energy as hydrogen?
Nope. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31.21 niggawatts? u gonna need a whole heapin helpin' of watermelons.
- wabbiteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3But he went *back in time*, man. I'd say that's way cooler than this.
/Credit where credit's due - Scatropolis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21.21 to be exact :D
- elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why do we need to use LASERS to capture the lightning? Why can't he just use.. ya know.. a pole and a wire?
- cha0sth30ry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i hope he actually does try to develop this, instead of turning out to be just another patent troll
- Norseman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@gcnaddict
As I understand it, that's exactly what he's trying to do. The difference is, he's getting the electrical power required from a source that he doesn't have to pay for. It's like running a lightning bolt into a gigantic rechargeable battery, without the problem of the battery being fried every time it happens. There has been quite a bit of sucess using small rockets with wires attached to them to draw lightening, and strong enough lasers are known to turn air to plasma, thus creating the same sort of channel for the lightening. All of that is well founded, the part that I'm not so sure about is the part where he tries to do electrolysis with a lightning bolt. - zippy757, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The constant thunder booms might be a little distracting to the neighbors.......and town, and county
- phaed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2woulda sounded funnier paraphrased instead of quoted
- geekee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Wow, using lightning. This guy has to be a mad scientist. Does his lab look like something out of a Frankenstein movie?
- AnotherBrian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Lasers can't capture lightning, obviously. But, a strong enough laser pules could ionize a column of air thus making it a lot more conductive triggering a lightning bolt which could be use to decompose water.
- AnotherBrian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The pole and wire would be vaporized by the lightning. A very powerful laser pulse can ionize the air it goes through and it will act like a wire. Scientists do something similar to trigger lightening by firing a large model rocket straight up with a coil of wire attached to it. A laser might be more cost effective if you're going to do it a lot.
- halosniper7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i saw this guy on B.A.R.T.
- DNABeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, they say that it's only enough to run a light bulb for 3 hours, But then, I've stuck my finger in a light socket and found out how painful enough energy to run a light bulb for a split second is. You've got to remember that humans aren't very big compared to great sections of infrastructure that need power.
Yes, I know it was stupid to put my finger in a light socket, now, even better than most. You and other Darwinians will be pleased to know that my planned vasectomy is on my calendar. - GrimRage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmmm, lasers through water? Sounds like the movie "Chain Reaction" starring Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman, which was about trying to find an unlimited power source and sharing it with the world - for free. Open Source Power, baby. ;-)
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1vizerei, read it again, it wasn't someone from the patent office.
"Eighty percent or more of the ideas that come directly to us violate the laws of physics," says Patrick Serfass, a spokesman for the National Hydrogen Association.
It might not be possible, but the article is honest about that. That leave 20% that are possible, it could be worse. - blistered, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No way that could work, but what if we funneled the lightning through a WARP CORE! Yeah that's it! Right through the dilithium crystals! Patent office, here I come!
- chall2001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think this guy is just testing the patent office. He probably has a bet to see just how brain dead the examination process has become.
And I love how they throw in "So far, at least, lasers can't capture lightning."
So far? Well this is great! As soon as the laws of physics change this guy will really be on to something. And several people have already mentioned that lightning bolts don't contain nearly enough energy to be useful.
This sounds like some sort of investment scam---lasers? lightning? unlimited energy? - Kent767, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1technically the flux capacitor came before frankenstein
you know since Doc went back to the 1800's and alll - sonofagunn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If every tall building, radio tower, or other place that got struck by lightning often could capture the energy in some sort of super-capacitor (or create hydrogen), and then use that electricy (or generate hydrogen again), it would kick ass for Floridians. It's not really a practical energy source in most places since lightning is so sporadic, but it could be counted on during Florida summers.
- almalax19, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2One-point-twenty-one-gigawatts!!!!!
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1FTA
"Livingstone has a small-scale prototype of the system and a patent application on file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He's busy negotiating with potential investors.
There's only one problem. His system, according to knowledgeable scientists, probably won't work any time soon. So far, at least, lasers can't capture lightning."
What an idiot. Or at least a con man. He has patented something that doesn't actually work, and is negotiating with investors. Pretty Shady. What other purposes can this serve? - IzeasGT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I did the math once, with figures from Wikipedia. IIRC, the energy in the average lightning bolt is worth something like seven dollars.
- AnotherBrian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, we already store extremely flammable gasoline|propane|natural gas|etc. in giant above ground tanks
- pegothejerk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That's because despite its fearsome appearance, most lightning doesn't carry much power. The storm clouds that produce lightning contain enormous amounts of energy, but by the time a lightning bolt hits the ground, surprisingly little of that energy remains, says physicist Martin Uman"
I imagine people who get sucked to a pole when it's hit by lightning, people who get struck and black out, die, or get injured would beg to differ. -
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