Questions tagged [power-sources]
For question about anything that can be used as a power source for a planet or civilization.
77
questions
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244 views
What kind of matter would be needed to maintain a black hole?
Let's say we have a reactor that taps into an artificial black hole (kugelblitz-type). What kind of matter would be needed to feed the black hole to sustain it? Would this matter be treated like fuel?
7
votes
5answers
235 views
Capital ship reactor power
I'm trying to not delve too into the sciences so as to keep things fairly suitable for a space opera setting, but I'm trying to figure a few things to a reasonable degree of detail.
My question here ...
1
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1answer
84 views
What would we see driving through a country or coastline of a distributed and hardened Hydrogen energy infrastructure?
I could describe the energy infrastructure of 15th century Holland by describing colorful windmills set up to drain swamps, saw wood, power woodworking mills, and process food. Dutch carpenters busily ...
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3answers
106 views
How could a fusion device be held at the centre of a ring-shaped space habitat?
I'm trying to create something like a generation ship, but it has no destination, and is travelling endlessly, so is more like a deep space non-orbital habitat for humans. One helpful and appealing ...
4
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3answers
172 views
Unpredictable reactors which like to explode by default
In my world, alien 'reactors' are discovered that are very efficient at creating power (around 1000x better than fission), as well as requiring little fuel, making them the perfect power source.
...
1
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1answer
179 views
What would be shocking to learn your neighbor did with his machine that clones anything for only 0.05 seconds? [closed]
This is a stub from an overbroad question in the Sandbox
I have a device similar to what Douglas E. Richards' used in Split Second (I have never read his book) such that any object of less than 3 m3 ...
4
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1answer
150 views
Metallic hydrogen powered vehicles
Let’s say metallic hydrogen becomes an economically viable resource that we are able to either make ourselves or mine from a gas giant, how would we use it as a power source for vehicles both ...
7
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5answers
174 views
Adapting to a sonic world
A planet much like Earth orbits a star much like the Sun, but with one difference: the energy from the star is magically transformed into sound within the planet's atmosphere. There is no longer ...
4
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1answer
163 views
Wirelessly charging the world
In my world (consider it an Earth analog for simplicity), power stations on the ground ionize columns of atmosphere using high-energy, electromagnetic beams. The plasma columns stretch all the way up ...
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9answers
759 views
How can power levels matter in a magic system that emphasizes control?
Magic works through transmutation circles infused with sigils that both manifest from a person's mind. The individual focuses their Anima, or life force, through these circles in order to create ...
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6answers
296 views
how can non-magical soldiers gain power from a magic ritual without making its participants weaker?
This particular coven operates as a powerful and wide spanning enterprise focused on accumulating power to direct the world in ways that align with their interests. Witches gain more power through a ...
3
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3answers
139 views
How can a soul sucker avoid the negative traits of its victims?
People are souls that inhabit and animate human bodies. The lifeforce of an individual is what powers the soul and allows it to excercise control over the body. Physical and mental attributes, such as ...
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17answers
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How could indestructible materials be used in power generation?
Background:
In this scenario assume technology is initially equal to our own, but a method is discovered to render material indestructible. The affected material is treated as requiring infinite or ...
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4answers
304 views
Regenerating Fuel Cell
I'm working on a powered exoskeleton design for my universe and I had an idea about how to power it.
It works in this cycle:
Water enters an electrolyzer powered by a massive betavoltaic battery ...
4
votes
1answer
684 views
How long would the electricity grid stay up if everyone suddenly died [duplicate]
Given:
your classic zombie apocalypse (99.9% die in the first 24 hours, and survivors stop going to work)
a developed country (say USA)
coal power stations
how long after people stopped doing stuff ...
5
votes
7answers
248 views
Is broadcast power suitable for recharging robots?
The last time I checked ASIMO's battery pack only had enough juice for something like 30 minutes of continuous operation & then it has to plug in & recharge which isn't really that useful.
I'...
3
votes
3answers
340 views
What can power up an eco friendly Dino theme park?
My company has just taken over the North Sentinel Island to setup a Dino attraction, construction phase is in progress and we also managed to convince the local to move and settle somewhere else (by ...
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14answers
4k views
Rain powered transport
Rain-powered transport
The plain of Soggi experiences a constant rainfall. Can a rain powered vehicle be built according to the following conditions?
The plain of Soggi experiences a constant ...
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votes
12answers
2k views
How can spacecraft manufactured on the moon be powered?
Background:
The moon has been selected as the base for human space exploration. Rather than ship tonnes of material out of earth's gravity well, interplanetary spacecraft and space stations will be ...
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3answers
334 views
How do I power Goldeneye?
I've been spending some time thinking about putting a satellite weapon into space.
It would look something like this. Don't worry about those letters, they stand for something else.
This weapon can ...
3
votes
2answers
111 views
Batteries and resource restrictions
I've prefigured a specific setting as being middling in technological progress when compared with its neighbors.
This setting does not have access to hydrocarbons, has severe cultural and political ...
1
vote
5answers
137 views
Portable, high-output power generator?
Brief scenario:
Evil Genius (EG) with a lot of money and lots of loyal henchman wants to take over the world by mass-producing vast quantities 2-3ft tall spider robots (SR).
The plan would begin ...
1
vote
2answers
119 views
How to process crystal based source of energy into liquid form? [closed]
I start to write sci-fi story and there's a chapter where a mining plant will work with this source of energy called Extrenum. This energy was taken out from crystal rocks material but I wonder if it ...
4
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4answers
193 views
Could charged plasma be used as a working fluid to spin a magnetic turbine to generate electricity?
As the title suggests, this is a conceptual physics kinda question.
What is the feasibility of using an electrically charged (as in not neutral) plasma as the working fluid in a turbine where the ...
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1answer
184 views
What is the smallest theoretical energy generator possible for generating huge amounts of energy? [closed]
There are the examples of the Dyson sphere or the black hole bomb but those are too big. Is there any other source of energy you could theoretically contain on earth that wouldn't crush it or us down ...
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1answer
128 views
Can an Earth like planet support life by building a Dyson Sphere across a White Dwarf or a Red Dwarf star? [closed]
Is it possible to depend on a white dwarf as our power source, provided that we harness 99% of energy?
Can life be sustained?
How it will change the climate and the seasons of earth if it is our ...
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1answer
69 views
Reducing power of magical substance [closed]
What would make a substance that powers magic less powerful when it is moved to a dimension where magic goes unacknowledged? I want the source - a mineral or chemical - to become something that is ...
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3answers
161 views
Power Source For Gauss Gyrojet
So I have a ridiculously overpowered weapon for a character call the Mk II "Damocles" Gauss Gyrojet, which is essentially a coilgun which fires rocket bullets. It is so bulky it is only capable of ...
4
votes
5answers
351 views
Electrical grid based on devices in series using constant currents, not devices in parallel using constant voltages
Mains power electrical systems on Earth supply a fixed standardized voltage to a number of devices, which are all wired in parallel with each other.
However, on the planet I'm writng about, they do ...
2
votes
4answers
438 views
How to produce enough power to create a pair of proton-antiproton?
I've recently discovered something great: the Schwinger effect. It says that if you concentrate enough power thanks to laser into a single point in space, it will spawn a pair of proton and antiproton....
14
votes
3answers
486 views
How efficient can my neutrino detector be?
In a class discussion last week, someone pointed out that a typical core collapse supernova releases $\sim10^{46}\text{ J}$ of energy in the form of (anti-)neutrinos while only radiating $\sim10^{44}\...
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7answers
1k views
What is the best idea for an advanced type of battery for my future sci-fi world? [closed]
What kind of battery would an advanced sci-fi world use, that has basis in real science (something we only speculate about today)? When I say battery, I mean things that power devices not laser gun ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Is Friction charging or Tribostatic charging, futuristic?
The charging of devices or other electronics by friction, futuristic ,or has it been already realized?
Also are solar and wind power charging more efficient? Should my civilization rely on those ...
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1answer
128 views
Are these technologies futuristic or are they already being used in real life? [closed]
My world is strictly FUTURE, which means technologies that we humans on real- modern day Earth have achieved are not given the spotlight. They just blend into the background. However, I don't know ...
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3answers
431 views
Sky Train Blimp Plane?
Can using blimps to hold power lines and implement laser filamentation of ablout 7 meter span from the source of power for a contact free power supply to power an electric engine (designed to run on ...
12
votes
7answers
3k views
Fusion: Using a lens to focus the energy of a star
Is it possible to focus the energy of one star to a small enough point and high enough energy to provide the energy to start a fusion reactor?
I'm imagining a large lens placed between the star and ...
13
votes
11answers
3k views
Off-planet energy production - what would be best way to supply this energy planetside?
What would be the best way to send energy that is generated outside the Earth's atmosphere, possibly in the asteroid belt (nevermind the means), so that it can be used on the surface of the planet?
...
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4answers
609 views
How would a large Space battleship be powered?
Ideas for a power source of the future
This is quite a general question, so I suppose I should add some context;
The ships that I have envisioned are pretty big. The flagship is about 1km long. They ...
26
votes
5answers
5k views
Practicality of a thorium-powered, superheated-steam car?
At the beginning of the 1900s, the Doble Steam Motors Company built steam cars. Their engineers solved many of the problems steam cars had until then by using superheated steam and a condenser to ...
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4answers
312 views
How to power thin contact lenses that let us browse the internet?
Immediate to near future, we are talking about single digit nanometer size transistor and light emitting diode. That's actually very small, you can't see it with a conventional microscope let alone ...
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2answers
463 views
Could an entire continent runs on a single fusion reactor plant by 2100?
Affected continent is Asia, the world is running out of coal and natural gas. A major mega structure project is underway, its goal is to provide electricity across the continent with a single fusion ...
13
votes
3answers
2k views
How do you power a cyborg?
In this answer about how to design the ideal cyborg, I said:
...
Use electric tissue to power the machines. Cyborgs need some way to generate electricity when mechanical parts are involved. ...
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votes
4answers
254 views
How could a mammalian body provide substantial electrical power through non-harmful, “passive” means?
I've seen some articles about biologically powering devices through a glucose fuel cell, but from what I can tell this would only provide power on the order of a few tenths of a watt.
While it's ...
2
votes
6answers
242 views
Solar Powered Vehicles [closed]
Here is one of my ideas for when my Kepler Bb civilization gets higher level technology. It is Solar Powered Transportation.
Now I know what you are probably thinking. You are probably thinking that ...
3
votes
3answers
176 views
Wireless power generation in a fleet of spaceships
Okay, so while I'm fairly certain this is possible to do, I wanna know if it actually makes sense to do so. Imagine you have a fleet of ships, each of them so large it takes megatons of antimatter to ...
7
votes
14answers
4k views
How imagination would work as a magic source?
I'm considering a world where a specific civilization can use imagination as power to invoke spells, create objects and creatures.
The range of abilities depends on the user. Some individuals sweat ...
5
votes
2answers
533 views
Powerfish - how to use fish movements to power tech
Powerfish - on! I'm thinking about writing about a world where fish are used like lab rats, to power technologies. But I'm thinking about worldwide use.
I placed my TV on my fish tank yesterday. The ...
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3answers
250 views
Underground City Design: All Solar Electricity
I am working on designing an underground city for my Kepler Bb story. I am now at the civilization phase and there are 100 people(Not including Robin, Lisa, Alma, and possibly 1 or more little ones) ...
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votes
5answers
1k views
Batteries that never run out of power [closed]
We are in the 21st century (2016) after the big revolution of smartphones and portable devices and Tesla cars are slowly getting on the roads. We became very needy for batteries for all kind of things,...
7
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4answers
854 views
Is it possible for a civilization to advance beyond 17th century tech without electricity or steam power?
In my world , a race of sea faring half elves now possesses 18th century maritime technology , and 16th century ..... Everything else. Given that they spend most of their time at sea , they lack -
A) ...
