4 ms·

It may be possible to extract electricity directly from damp air

54 points by jkuria 7y ago

mirimir 7y ago
I hate stories about science written by non-scientists. See http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_09.html http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_09.html
- dang 7y ago
  "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - mirimir 7y ago
    Just to be clear, I was referring to the article, and not to the research it reported on. But yes, point taken. I should have explained my criticisms of that particular article, rather than being generally dismissive of science reporting by non-scientists. I could have said that I found the article to be confusing and misleading. About our understanding of the atmosphere's electrical potential, and about the particular research reported. But I just made a snide comment, and pointed to the Feynman lecture.
neonate 7y ago
http://archive.is/JrlQ2 http://archive.is/JrlQ2
londons_explore 7y ago
Isn't the electricity 'generated' coming from energy in the motion of the air. Ie. You could maver make more electricity than used by the fan to blow damp air through your system.
- Khoth 7y ago
  The description in the article is vague and I can't find any information elsewhere, but the reference to the functionality depending on which metal is used for the inner cylinder makes me think that it's actually a voltaic cell using the moist air as a (poor) electrolyte.
mettamage 7y ago
The title sounds like magic. That's what I like about this world. We do not have the great wall or dragons, but we are doing things that sound just as magical to them as great walls and dragons sound to us.
yummypaint 7y ago
Imagine it were possible to scale this up and somehow harness the full lightning energy of a thunderstorm. Say 1 strike per second with each bolt representing 10^9 joules. Then that is a measly 1 GW peak, only available in certain places at specific times of day and parts of the year, not including losses and inefficiencies .
- Retric 7y ago
  Globally you only get ~100 strikes per second, which means any location is going to be much lower than that.
- octosphere 7y ago
  > harness the full lightning energy of a thunderstorm As in, walk into every chapel and install a device that works with the apparatus for 'catching' strikes? Not sure what they're called, but I know it's tradition of having a chapel higher than all other buildings which is used to capture potential strikes and earth the current through the ground.
  - Retra 7y ago
    That's called a lightning rod.
fractallyte 7y ago
Back in 1974, the 'Amateur Scientist' column in Scientific American covered electrostatic motors: http://www.meridian-int-res.com/Energy/ESMotors.pdf http://www.meridian-int-res.com/Energy/ESMotors.pdf There's a lot of electrical energy swirling around in the ionosphere!
- mhalle 7y ago
  I remember two Popular Science articles on electrostatic motors from old magazines of my youth. Always wanted to build one: https://books.google.com/books?id=ngAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95 https://books.google.com/books?id=ngAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95&lpg=P... https://books.google.com/books?id=kwAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80 https://books.google.com/books?id=kwAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=P...
ComputerGuru 7y ago
One can dream of extracting sufficient electricity to someday run a dependency-free dehumidifier, which can put a damper on the need to run HVAC in much of the world (damp air feels significantly warmer). One can dream.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
carapace 7y ago
Check out the vaneless ion wind generator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator Other weird stuff: http://www.rexresearch.com/1index.htm http://www.rexresearch.com/1index.htm

54 points by jkuria 7y ago

I hate stories about science written by non-scientists. See http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_09.html http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_09.html

dang 7y ago
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mirimir 7y ago
  Just to be clear, I was referring to the article, and not to the research it reported on. But yes, point taken. I should have explained my criticisms of that particular article, rather than being generally dismissive of science reporting by non-scientists. I could have said that I found the article to be confusing and misleading. About our understanding of the atmosphere's electrical potential, and about the particular research reported. But I just made a snide comment, and pointed to the Feynman lecture.

neonate 7y ago

http://archive.is/JrlQ2 http://archive.is/JrlQ2

londons_explore 7y ago

Isn't the electricity 'generated' coming from energy in the motion of the air. Ie. You could maver make more electricity than used by the fan to blow damp air through your system.

Khoth 7y ago
The description in the article is vague and I can't find any information elsewhere, but the reference to the functionality depending on which metal is used for the inner cylinder makes me think that it's actually a voltaic cell using the moist air as a (poor) electrolyte.

mettamage 7y ago

The title sounds like magic. That's what I like about this world. We do not have the great wall or dragons, but we are doing things that sound just as magical to them as great walls and dragons sound to us.

yummypaint 7y ago

Imagine it were possible to scale this up and somehow harness the full lightning energy of a thunderstorm. Say 1 strike per second with each bolt representing 10^9 joules. Then that is a measly 1 GW peak, only available in certain places at specific times of day and parts of the year, not including losses and inefficiencies .

Retric 7y ago
Globally you only get ~100 strikes per second, which means any location is going to be much lower than that.
octosphere 7y ago
> harness the full lightning energy of a thunderstorm As in, walk into every chapel and install a device that works with the apparatus for 'catching' strikes? Not sure what they're called, but I know it's tradition of having a chapel higher than all other buildings which is used to capture potential strikes and earth the current through the ground.
- Retra 7y ago
  That's called a lightning rod.

fractallyte 7y ago

Back in 1974, the 'Amateur Scientist' column in Scientific American covered electrostatic motors: http://www.meridian-int-res.com/Energy/ESMotors.pdf http://www.meridian-int-res.com/Energy/ESMotors.pdf There's a lot of electrical energy swirling around in the ionosphere!

mhalle 7y ago
I remember two Popular Science articles on electrostatic motors from old magazines of my youth. Always wanted to build one: https://books.google.com/books?id=ngAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95 https://books.google.com/books?id=ngAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA95&lpg=P... https://books.google.com/books?id=kwAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80 https://books.google.com/books?id=kwAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=P...

ComputerGuru 7y ago

One can dream of extracting sufficient electricity to someday run a dependency-free dehumidifier, which can put a damper on the need to run HVAC in much of the world (damp air feels significantly warmer). One can dream.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

carapace 7y ago

Check out the vaneless ion wind generator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaneless_ion_wind_generator Other weird stuff: http://www.rexresearch.com/1index.htm http://www.rexresearch.com/1index.htm