Recent content by BigSteve

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    Basic EE question for you guys.

    Thank you for the detailed answer. I probably could have never gotten that far on my own.
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    Basic EE question for you guys.

    Yeah, I probably didn't explain that quite right. My sensor will output a voltage based on distance. For farther distances it will output a lower positive voltage, but I need a high (still positive) voltage to the motor. Close objects will out put a higher voltage, but I will want a lower(still...
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    Basic EE question for you guys.

    Hi folks. I am ME/AE by profession but I love robotics and I tinker. I have pretty much zero EE experience so this question probably has a simple answer, I just don't know where to look. Basically i will have a rangefinder with an analog output. I want to invert and multiply that output. So...
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    How can I build an aerospike rocket engine with a three-component fuel mixture?

    Well, I guess I should start out by saying that no high school student should make a rocket without adult supervision. Now, as for combustion. Yes, theoretically and realistically, combining an oxidizer a fuel and a spark will produce combustion. The bell nozzle is used to maximize the...
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    Aspiring Engineering major looking for general answers

    I agree with both of these answers. You will need to know, at one time or another, just about everything that you learn in mechanics. Most notably, vectors and derivatives. But, just try to get a "feel" for how these things work. Memorizing equations is only for exams. Instead just try to...
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    Applying a Bending Moment to a Plate with Forces

    The first one is the stress distribution of a moment, assuming the directions are correct. Basically, the stress is greater as you move away from the central axis, and is 0 at the central axis (assuming pure moment).
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    Why Objects Burn Up Upon Entering Earth's Atmosphere

    That is correct. Orbital velocities are on the order of km per second. Entering the atmosphere causes severe heating due primarily to friction with gasses in the atmosphere. This can be exploited in what is known as aerocapture. Where a spacecraft traveling to a planet such as Mars enters...
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    What Would Happen if Two Black Holes Got Too Close?

    So, by "extreme" I guess you mean on the order of years? I'm just trying to get a grasp on how this phenomena would appear to an outside observer. I have a pretty good understanding of what happens to matter that has the misfortune to get sucked into a black hole, but I never thought about...
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    Brayton cycle solar generation.

    I looked into similar power cycles for spacecraft power, and the one thing that really killed me was the power needed to run the compressor. I thought it would be small, but it ended up making my design infeasible due to size constraints of the spacecraft . Just an FYI.
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    Shaft torque requirement (should be simple)

    The largest torque would come during acceleration. If you had some sort of time constraints then you could estimate these. But at steady state,(like someone already stated) you only need to overcome your losses. If you selected a motor that could run at 100rpm at no load, then it won't be...
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    Aerospace/mechanical engineer/engineering student help wanted

    A lot of departments lay out Mechanical and Aerospace under one umbrella. These are usually abbreviated MAE (Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering). Just Google MAE department and you will find a plethora of schools with this structure.
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    Space Elevator: Carbon Nanotubes, Lasers & Beamed Energy

    " Equally, there is the issue of powering the carriages as they climb into space. “We are thinking of using the technology employed in our bullet trains,” Professor Aoki said. “Carbon nanotubes are good conductors of electricity, so we are thinking of having a second cable to provide power all...
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    Space Elevator: Carbon Nanotubes, Lasers & Beamed Energy

    I'm not sure about your first question. But as for your second one, there are a lot of papers out there on this topic. And it seems plausible if you had a long enough tether(which you obviously would), but I'm not sure how much power you'd actually receive out of the system.
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    What Would Happen if Two Black Holes Got Too Close?

    Please forgive my ignorance here, but are you saying that an outside observer would note that an object crossing an event horizon would appear frozen there forever? And not, as Hollywood would have us believe, stretched into oblivion? Of course, I'm not sure what an object would look like as it...
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    Question about Serial communication (RS422 standard) and conversion

    Thanks man. I wanted to use USB but I thought it might bottle neck the higher data rate. So,I'll definitely look into the product you suggested.
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