Recent content by Savage1701

Yeah, yeah, it's just a movie, but I was still wondering: 1. Would hydrazine decompose completely when dripped over rhodium, as Mark Watney did in the movie? That stuff is really toxic even in tiny amounts, isn't it? 2. Wouldn't Watney have died from displacement asphyxiation ? He was...

Yes, my concern was calculating the apparent duty cycle of my 2 3-ton AC units via electrical consumption, efficiency, etc. to try and get a rough idea of how many BTU's per day I am removing from my house, e.g., if my AC units total 6 tons and have a 40% duty cycle than I am looking for a...

Is there a critical low temperature point that, if a sheet of mild steel were cooled to, it would become brittle enough to shatter with, say, the blow of a hammer? I am thinking of some sort of an art project here, not something illegal or fantastic such as the scene in MI 3 where they...

Thank you both for your time and replies. And yes, I should have been more specific. I was asssuming electrical output only, not non-recapturable and/or unuseable heat loss or further conversion loss when that electrical output drives a motor in a vehicle or lights a bulb, etc. Again...

I understand that generating the hydrogen that powers a typical fuel cell is (prohibitively?) energy intensive at this point, but I was curious about the following: Assuming a sufficiently efficient catalyst was obtained that allowed large-scale production of pure hydrogen without...

Just curious about the following: I know it has been shown that astronauts living in a microgravity environment such as the space labs for an extended period of time develop all sorts of physiological problems such as muscle atrophy, reduced cardiac output, and decreasing bone density, among...

Exactly the reference I was looking for. Thanks for the link.

OK, I am attempting to calculate the reuirements for creating a 3-ton, 90-day air conditioner using nothing but ice and an exchange loop between that ice and a heat exchanger in my house. I can calculate everything except knowing how much I can practically insulate a storage vessel, and, given...

Thanks for the prompt and helpful reply. Good to know I had not forgotten everything from my HS and college physics 20-some years ago. Thanks again.

I want to start with several assumptions: 1. I have one gallon of water at 32.1 degrees F 2. It is correct that in order to lower the temperature of one gallon of water 1 degree F, approximately 8.34 BTU's of heat energy must be removed from that water. 3. Latent heat of fusion requires...