3 ms·
Insane, the amounts of energy we casually carry around. It has to be said, though, that electricity is useful for a lot more than petrol is. If you'd want to us
by Aachen 3y ago
Insane, the amounts of energy we casually carry around. It has to be said, though, that electricity is useful for a lot more than petrol is. If you'd want to use this 26m³ for powering some machine, like your vacuum cleaner, you'll lose a lot of this energy in the process (wikipedia says "most engines retain an average efficiency of about 18–20%") whereas putting electrons through a wire into an electric motor has much lower losses ("up to 98% for permanent magnet motors", another Wikipedia article).
- HPsquared 3y agoIndeed, really you would need four tank cars (104 m³). EDIT: or, 1.73kg of natural uranium used in a standard PWR fuel cycle.. or, 31 grams of natural uranium utilized in a fast reactor. Edit edit: forgot to convert for thermal efficiency again, make that 7kg of uranium for a PWR cycle, and 124 grams in a fast reactor.
- danbruc 3y agoTo clarify the 26 m³, that is the gasoline volume with the same energy content as the proposed ship. Tank truck capacities seem to be in the range from 10 m³ for small ones to semi-trailers with 40 m³.