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Is it? The atmosphere is thin so convection won't work well. And water is mostly what we use for conduction on earth, which mars doesn't have much of. I think
by akvadrako 6y ago
Is it? The atmosphere is thin so convection won't work well. And water is mostly what we use for conduction on earth, which mars doesn't have much of.
I think deep in the ocean or on antarctica makes more sense.
- chrisco255 6y agoAverage temperature on Mars is -60C. You won't need water for liquid cooling. Standard metal heat sinks would work fine at temps that low.
- eimrine 6y agoThere is another reason which makes mining bitcoins on Mars impossible. Too big lag, up to tens of minutes. It is OK for regular using but not OK for mining.
- rachelbythebay 6y agoWhat if you build that into the protocol? Having to set up on Mars in order to double-spend something would make it rather difficult for most people.
- Ekaros 6y agoBitcoin getting even more fun. Interplanetary competition which one is the longer chain...
- akvadrako 6y agoYou still need to dissipate the heat. Metal is fine for moving the heat, but the specific heat of water is what makes it so effective. On Mars you just have rocks.
- chrisco255 6y agoWhen it is -60C you don't need to spend much energy dissipating heat. It likes to dissipate itself. But yes, heat sinks plus fans will absolutely do in -60C.
- akvadrako 6y agoYou need to dissipate the heat into something. In empty space it's -273 but still very difficult to keep cool.
- chrisco255 6y agoNo, these chips only run at 150F even at room temps on planet earth. Most of these Bitcoin farms are air cooled even in temperate climates. Please, it's not that hard to keep microchips cool. Liquid cooling helps for massive, dense server farms in temperate climates. You don't need it if you're going to fun a farm in Antarctica. In fact, you may struggle to prevent the liquid from freezing. And you wouldn't need it on Mars. By the way, "air-cooled" does not mean the air cools the chips. In fact, the problem is that the air near the chips gets warm, because the air absorbs the heat and acts as a blanket. Air-cooled means you are pushing the hot air away from the chip and bringing in cooler air. But the absence of air means the problem (or solution, depending on context) never exists in the first place, it just dissipates. The thinner the atmosphere, the easier to keep cool anything. You need air to retain heat, not to dissipate it. Right, without the Earth's atmosphere, we'd lose most of our heat at night, nearly all of it, and we'd have deep sub-zero temps every night even in the summer, even though we're closer to sun by a lot than Mars, we're still on the outskirts of the habitable zone for a planet.
- akvadrako 6y agoMoving air removes heat through convection, which requires mass. While air is a decent insulator, vacuum is considered a perfect insulator. That's why they put it, or very low density gas, between multi paned windows. And the only thing you can do is move the heat because of conservation of energy. There is no other way to get rid of it.
- eimrine 6y agoIs it possible to move the heat into the stone (material that Mars contains) via metal bar digged into terrain? What about converting heat back into electricity?