Scientists Developing Tornado Power Plant

[Notsomuch]

Yes... Yess... YEEESSSSSS! I am so hot for this, no joke.

"The power of a tornado is undisputed,"

Boss.

 

[halfeclipse]

That sounds like a perpetual motion machine, to the point that its bound to fail.

How is it that the energy consumed by making a TORNADO is lower than the energy we receive from it?

That sounds like a perpetual motion machine, to the point that its bound to fail.

How is it that the energy consumed by making a TORNADO is lower than the energy we receive from it?

Because it doesn't make a tornado in the sense there's some big spinney thing moving lots of air. Instead it uses big spinney things to move hot, humid air into a giant cylinder where physics takes over. The energy to power the vortex should come from the heat energy stored in atmospheric water vapor and there's an awful lot of that, something like 10^21J a day every day.

Basic thermodynamics would seems to suggest this wouldn't be as effective as it would seem. Generally the higher the temperature a heat-engine (and this is a heat engine) operates the more efficient it is because the 'flow' of heat is bigger from hot to cold. For example a steam engine is less efficient than a combustion engine and so on. The temperature differential here will be in the 10s of degrees, so I'm not sure how the energy equations work. Air is also crappy compared to water or high pressure steam for transmitting energy.

Maybe it's because of the self sustaining process i don't know but I'm not sure how they can claim these pretty miraculous numbers.

That'll be under conditions conducive to operation, but tropical areas and anywhere it gets nice and humid for decent stretches of time should get a good bit of power out of them. The "Halfeclipse to to lazy to hunt down and check the math" version of how it works is above but the shorter version is pretty much "The Sun".

Well, assuming its basically a giant vortex engine anyways.


Also 200 megawatts isn't very high. It's about comparable to 1, maybe 2 hydroelectric generators, except a hydro dam will have more then a dozen of them whereas this is just the one. Not sure about the cost, but I expect that'll be operating cost not lifetime cost.

 

[uchytjes]

All I can think about is "How does one weaponize this technology? and if one can, can we make a fire tornado?"

 

[theultimateend]

That sounds like a perpetual motion machine, to the point that its bound to fail.

How is it that the energy consumed by making a TORNADO is lower than the energy we receive from it?

They plan to use the excess heat energy from nuclear power plants if I remember correctly (and presumably that's why the
picture has a tornado coming out of a cooling tower).

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, ALL THE SAFETY OF A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT COMBINED WITH THE SAFETY OF A TORNADO, WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Nah, I'm kidding, Nuclear power plants aren't nearly as dangerous as people make them out to be. Still, a tornado's a tornado.

They also COULD be tremendously safe, its just most of the ones people ***** about are as old or older than me.

 

[Berithil]

Tornado Power! It's not just for funneling reservoir water to Cloudsdale anymore.

I came into this thread hoping someone would make a reference, and you delivered. Thank you.

Anyways, I don't really see how this will produce more energy than it will cost, but I guess we'll see.

Also, just because I can

 

[IRBaboon]

That sounds like a perpetual motion machine, to the point that its bound to fail.

How is it that the energy consumed by making a TORNADO is lower than the energy we receive from it?

Because it's not a closed system, the energy isn't being put into sustaining the tornado like one would with a big fan. But to creating a condition where a tornado can form, you can get a lot more energy out of a tornado than it takes to make one. It's a case of moving all the energy into one place so that it can be harnessed. Think of it this way. Say you have a fire on a stick, moving the stick doesn't take a lot of energy, but the energy of the fire is now in a different place. Same principle but with air, move the air so that it is in conditions that will allow for the harvesting of the energy. Tornadoes are already self sustaining to a degree so why not make them. If this explanation is bad or confuses you then I'm sorry, forgive me for not making it clearer I'm drunk

 

[chadachada123]

That sounds like a perpetual motion machine, to the point that its bound to fail.

How is it that the energy consumed by making a TORNADO is lower than the energy we receive from it?

Because it's not a closed system, the energy isn't being put into sustaining the tornado like one would with a big fan. But to creating a condition where a tornado can form, you can get a lot more energy out of a tornado than it takes to make one. It's a case of moving all the energy into one place so that it can be harnessed. Think of it this way. Say you have a fire on a stick, moving the stick doesn't take a lot of energy, but the energy of the fire is now in a different place. Same principle but with air, move the air so that it is in conditions that will allow for the harvesting of the energy. Tornadoes are already self sustaining to a degree so why not make them. If this explanation is bad or confuses you then I'm sorry, forgive me for not making it clearer I'm drunk

Your username/avatar is surprisingly and humorously fitting with your admission that you're drunk.

OT: I, for one, welcome our new cyclone overlords.

But for real, it's about time we took wind turbines (which harness the energy made by heating differences in the atmosphere) and found a way to bring it to such a small level. This is freaking awesome.

 

[Atmos Duality]

How does he plan on getting two very different airmasses to mix in such a tiny area?
How is going to CREATE such airmasses with the properties he wants right at the surface?
Airmasses kind of don't like to change quickly, that's why they flow around each other first, rather than mixing immediately.

I'd love to see the prototype though.

 

[gigastar]

All I can think about is "How does one weaponize this technology? and if one can, can we make a fire tornado?"

I would think simply letting off alot of methane into it would turn it into what youre looking for. Briefly.

Alternatively, if wheat flour or another organic dust doesnt simply get tossed out of the vortex, you could have an exploding tornado.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

This sounds like some plot of a B-movie mad scientists to take over the world or con the world out of a tiny amount of money then what the technology could be used for legally.

 

[TheMyffic]

I know very little, but how does one keep said tornado from straying to surrounding areas? (Did someone mention a nuclear plant nearby?)

 

[Baldr]

What on earth makes them think that once they get this tornado started, it is going to stay in the same place?

 

[madster11]

Can we somehow combine this with a nuclear power plant? Then we'll scale it up, get those laser things they use to force lightning to be created, and mount it all on top of a skull shaped mountain.
We shall beam pictures of this mountain, with details of what it does, into space. This shall serve as a warning to any other alien race that fucking with us is a bad move, and a 1km wide nuclear fire tornado filled with lightning shall serve as the punctuation mark.

All that to make my cappuccino.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

It cost 3 cents, but when they add on the profit from the company that will own it and doubt it will be that much cheaper than what we pay now.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I'm not sure if something like this is exactly safe, per se...

Worst case scenario, you have a loose tornado. I mean, sure, it's bad, but compared to the kind of disaster you get from a nuclear meltdown or an oil spill, it's relatively minor.

 

[MiskWisk]

I'm a little annoyed at this. I've been saying variations on wind energy will never work and now some engineers and scientists are proving me wrong!

 

[Evil Smurf]

Yes... Yess... YEEESSSSSS! I am so hot for this, no joke.

"The power of a tornado is undisputed,"

Boss.

Now say it in a French ascent, it sounds evil that way This is why I love Canada (along side LRR, ice hockey and maple syrup.)

 

[Notsomuch]

Now say it in a French ascent, it sounds evil that way This is why I love Canada (along side LRR, ice hockey and maple syrup.)

French? Try Belgian. I'd like to see the energies try to oppose this.

"I believe that natural gasses-"

"Yeah... That's cute and all but could you pipe down, we're making tornadoes over here. Sucking gas from the ground, that's nice. How about bending the weather to our whims? Ha ha ha, I just realized, pipe down! get it?"

"I don't think any of that-"

"Ever flown a kite in 300 mile per hour winds? I plan to in the tornado I'm making."

"Do you like your job? I work in a tornado factory. No big deal, just thought I'd mention it."

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

What other field of human endeavour even comes close to science? Particle accelerators smashing atoms at fractions below the speed of light that cross national borders. Creating and harnessing artificial suns. Generating electricity by capturing tornadoes. SCIENCE! >

You forgot about extracting gasoline from air [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120241-British-Scientists-Make-Gasoline-From-Air]! I think these two companies should fuse and call their product Tornado Fuel and use "Ride the whirlwind!" as a slogan.

 

[Me55enger]

Watch it get bought and shelved by an oil tycoon.