Questions tagged [power-sources]
For question about anything that can be used as a power source for a planet or civilization.
83
questions
3
votes
5answers
157 views
reactor powered by explosives
Is it feasible to power a reactor using explosives with today's technology? Just using the heat of the explosion to turn a turbine is not the idea I am looking for. Keep the handwavium to a minimum. ...
1
vote
4answers
107 views
What would make Mana bending lead to unrelated effects on reality?
Mana benders are individuals who can impose their will on reality by altering it based on their perception, usually interpreted as "magical abilities". These powers can take a number of forms, ...
2
votes
2answers
107 views
Harnessing energy directly from the sun via quantum tunneling
In the universe of my story, the Earth is ridden with metahumans with uncanny powers that do all sorts of different things. Of course, to do all this, they would require a tremendous amount of energy, ...
4
votes
8answers
711 views
How can it be made more difficult to resurrect the recently deceased?
When a person dies, their soul ascends to the astral realm to rest with the gods. However, a piece of them, called the Ka, remains on earth. This piece is the off cast remains of the soul and a ...
0
votes
1answer
91 views
Can an electric transmission line of 40075 Kilometers exist? [closed]
How long an electric transmission line will be? How much volts of AC need to transmit that far? How much will be the loss of power during transmission?
36
votes
18answers
7k views
How would one make a reactor harder to produce over time?
I have been asking myself this question recently.
How would you make a reactor powering a powerful weapon harder to produce for each successive reactor being produced?
My solutions currently would ...
0
votes
4answers
261 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
251 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
vote
1answer
89 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 ...
3
votes
3answers
112 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
votes
3answers
181 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
vote
1answer
183 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
votes
1answer
178 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
votes
5answers
186 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
votes
1answer
167 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 ...
4
votes
9answers
801 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 ...
3
votes
6answers
324 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
votes
3answers
147 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 ...
30
votes
17answers
7k views
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 ...
3
votes
4answers
320 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
1k 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
341 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 ...
22
votes
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 ...
28
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 ...
5
votes
3answers
338 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
114 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
144 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
133 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
votes
4answers
208 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
190 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
145 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
71 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 ...
2
votes
3answers
173 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
378 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
536 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
502 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}\...
1
vote
7answers
2k 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
50 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 ...
-3
votes
1answer
132 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 ...
0
votes
3answers
442 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?
...
4
votes
4answers
629 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 ...
6
votes
4answers
316 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
477 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. ...
5
votes
4answers
260 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
248 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 ...
