Posted on 02/23/2013 12:51:19 PM PST by Para-Ord.45
Some of the great scientific breakthroughs of the last century came about entirely by accident. Many of you are probably familiar with the origins of the Post It Note, and how it was invented as a result of a failure when attempting to create a super strong adhesive. Well, there may be another such story taking place in the present day. Scientists working with carbon compounds developed Graphene, a safe substance with a lot of structural strength for very little mass and weight. And then some wise guy discovered that it had another use.
The recap: Graphene, a very simple carbon polymer, can be used as the basic component of a “supercapacitor” — an electrical power storage device that charges far more rapidly than chemical batteries. Unlike other supercapacitors, though, graphene’s structure also offers a high “energy density,” — it can hold a lot of electrons, meaning that it could conceivably rival or outperform batteries in the amount of charge it can hold. Kaner Lab researcher Maher El-Kady found a way to create sheets of graphene a single carbon atom thick by covering a plastic surface with graphite oxide solution and bombarding it with precisely controlled laser light. That last sentence may sound pretty complicated, but the article’s author provides a translation for the layman.
He painted a DVD with a liquid carbon solution and stuck it into a standard-issue DVD burner. The result was a shockingly thin supercapacitor which could store up a large amount of electrical energy in no time flat. The potential for this sort of discovery should be obvious. Unlike heavy metal batteries, the carbon compound is biodegradable and cheap to manufacture. And a battery made of layers of this material could charge your cell phone for a full day’s use in – wait for it – two seconds. A ramped up version could charge an electric car in a minute or two. (No word on how likely it will be to catch on fire, but bonus points if it doesn’t.)
Here’s the video I mentioned. It’s not long and explains the process better than I ever could. I have to say, this is pretty exciting stuff if it comes to fruition.
http://vimeo.com/51873011
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Young people and Lover's Lane - leaving the radio/stereo going late into the night - they shouldn't use electric cars.
If the burner used for the test survived, I’d say probably not.
We was all wrong.
They want lots of energy stored in a small space. They don’t seem to understand, that is what a bomb is. If there is a fire or an accident, the energy will be released.
With gasoline and other “fuels”, there is no oxygen, so the release is slow. With batteries, capacitors, flywheels, accumulators, etc, the energy is all there, and ready to explode. I’ve seen trucks cut in half by flywheels (old style wood chipper accident). I’ve seen small radios blown apart by tiny capacitors. I’ve seen laptops incinerated by batteries. They’re trying to squeeze a balloon — every improvement in one area will increase the problems in another.
So you're the guy from IBM who turned down DOS! Amazing.
Plus, where are the Hydrogen mines?
So now I have to overcompensate.
Speaking of great inventors, great inventions, steam, and things that will never work—stumbled upon this yesterday:
Lincoln’s Secret Weapon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZaSHIUpVk
Ironclad warship, steam powered, screw propeller, rotating turret, powerful naval guns. Of course, all of it was highly dangerous and none of it caught on. Impractical. The inventor was even banned from doing business with the government for a period after a gun exploded during a demo.
It pits a screwdriver shaft with great authority. sd
It's handy that the Earth's atmosphere has a relatively high concentration of O2. Fuel-air bombs seem to be very effective.
This one has commercials. That’s scary.
When I wuz a kid, RAM was magnetic core and there were no microprocessors but I did eventually get a transistor radio.
I wuz DEPRIVED!
At Least you didn’t have to use sun dials with the ark to generate electricity like some of us did to become connected to the internet. Those were tough times.
An early example of government interference.
I’m more familiar with ordinary li-poly cells which burn rapidly but do not explode, although it may appear that way to someone surprised when one lights off. Most consumer li-ions are quite resistant to rapid oxidation events.
Appears to be a lot of unexploited potential in the hydrogen area, especially for semi-rigid airships.
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