• New alloy discovered that converts heat directly into electricity
    212 replies, posted
This reminds me of that movie "Core" with that snake ship that goes into the center of the Earth and converts all the heat it experiences into energy rather than letting it get inside.
If I made a heatsink out of this my graphics card alone could probably power half my house :v:
Computers that power themselves with their own heat? Edit: Damn beat me too it.
[QUOTE=Van-man;30640952]With that alloy, maybe one could make hybrid cars that are actually efficient. Harness the waste heat from the Internal Combustion Engine and convert it to electricity stored in a bank of SuperCapacitors. And then use the energy to power electric motors for city cruising.[/QUOTE] Or just stick it on top of the car and capture all the heat from direct sunlight. It's nearly 105F here in Texas.
Holy shit, THIS is an awesome material. At what temperature does Nicomanson start absorbing heat? I doubt it'd be anything lower than 50C. Also, if they invented a material like this that absorbed heat at temperatures below freezing, you'd simply HAVE to call it cold iron.
Human augmentation (Deus Ex style) is one step closer to reality.
[img]http://www.covershut.com/covers/The-Core-2003-Front-Cover-8577.jpg[/img]
This sounds like something that could push technology decades into the future. EDIT: Too bad we're probably not going to hear anything else about it for years.
We already had something simillar. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect[/url] Im gonna guess this has a way higher efficiency though.
Now, to solve world hunger, poverty, war, economic crisis, and animal extinction.
What temperatures and what currents are we talking about? "heat" Jeez. [editline]23rd June 2011[/editline] Also it would still need to change its temperature to generate elictricity. So the stupid "stick in hot place, get electricity" conclusion most people here get is what it is: stupid. If you stick it in a hot place it first generates an electricity spark by being heated above phase-change temperature, uses some energy to get "cooler" and then reaches a thermodynamic equilibrium. YOu'd have to stick it in and out of the heatsource aka cool it down first before using it again.
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Before I get excited I wanna know how efficient it is
It's 115F in Phoenix during the day, we'll take 1000!
[QUOTE=niloc117;30640897]Could this alloy be used to get energy our own body heat?[/QUOTE] Well I am not exactly sure but in my understanding the way this alloy works is that it must have a phase transition in order to make the magnetic field strength increase which is the source of the electricity. This means that the heat must be of adequate temperature for the phase transition to occur. So, if your body temperature was high enough to cause the phase transition (solid to liquid perhaps), then you would be able to convert body heat to electricity. Then you would simply have to cool the alloy sufficiently to reverse the phase transition so that you could repeat the process. So, in order to find out whether you could use this alloy to get power from body heat, you would first have to find out the thermal energy and temperature required for the crucial phase transition. However, from the chemical formula for this alloy, I doubt that body temperature would be hot enough to melt it. How unfortunate.
Make vehicles out if it.
It would be cool if they named this alloy "Aestuvisium" from the latin words: Aestus and Vis, which mean heat and energy respectively. What is your opinion on such a name?
[QUOTE=taipan;30651297]We already had something simillar. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect[/url] Im gonna guess this has a way higher efficiency though.[/QUOTE] It's just new, it's not necessarily a better or more efficient way of converting heat simply because it's of scientific interest. The best way to convert heat to electricity is with a steam turbine, and probably will be for a long time.
I think that with an high thermal oscillation machine one could truly optimize the energy output of this alloy. Basically, you would have extreme heat and extreme cold alternating at high speed. Heat the alloy quickly with thousands of degrees of temperature, then cool it quickly with coolants such as liquid nitrogen or even liquid neon, helium, or hydrogen. The higher the rate of alternation or oscillation, the higher the energy output per unit of time.
This just in: scientists find new way of converting heat directly into kinetic energy: [img]http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/drinking_bird.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=fenwick;30652071]This just in: scientists find new way of converting heat directly into kinetic energy: [img]http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/drinking_bird.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] HAHA!
So it doesn't convert heat into electricity, it changes it's magnetic properties in the presence of heat (Which you can then use to generate electricity via electromagnetism) I can't exactly see this being stuffed into computers or such (although it's possible), but being used in geothermal or solar power applications is certainly possible.
Imagine the application of this alloy to Dyson Spheres and Matrioshka brains. That might be a field of interest.
I always hoped as a kid that something like this was possible, it'd save a hell of a lot of wasted energy, since pretty much everything electronic wastes energy in the form of heat. also its a shame if the guys who made this sell out to an oil company. I really really really hope they don't or its another 20 years trying to find another energy source (which will also be bought out and scrapped :()
Another victory for SCIENCE! :science: [editline]23rd June 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Dr. Condensate;30651969]It would be cool if they named this alloy "Aestuvisium" from the latin words: Aestus and Vis, which mean heat and energy respectively. What is your opinion on such a name?[/QUOTE] Unobtainium. You have to use at some point in time.
I want me some Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10
[QUOTE=Chrille;30652839]I want me some Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10[/QUOTE] The lack of an empirical formula hurts my eyes. Unless it has something to do with their bonding.
Why is it when something really cool and useful stuff like this is announced it's never really heard or touched upon again. I hope to god something this useful is actually put into practice.
Humanity's thoughts on the universe? [i]"FUCK YOU, ENTROPY!"[/i]
nothing like cooking some eggs, bacon, 3DS, tv remote, and hashbrowns every morning, THAT is the breakfast of kings right there.:hist101:
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