Difference between revisions of "1119: Undoing"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Explanation: typo)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{comic
+
risks  it costs over $1 million USD to put up ONE  wimdlinl  so.. when you see 500 or 600 or 800 of them in a big field, you can calculate the cost  One of them produces enough electricity to power, what . 5 houses?  of all of the wimdlinls we have ALLLL OVER the us . thousands .. it only accounts for 1% of our energy. also, they are cool, but  it sucks having millions of 400 foot tall wimdlinls dotting the what would otherwise be a beautiful landscape.   also, there are only certain places in the world, certain types of landscapes that are truly conducive of having wimdlinls.  and of those places, most of them have them already. and even there, they don't ALL  ALWAYS spin.. when they aren't spinning, they aren't producing.benefits  . that's 1% less coal that we have to burn.    but realistically, there doesn't HAVE to be ANY coal burned at this point. it could all be nuclear.   meltdowns are very very very very very very very very very very very unlikely. the only reason they've ever had one was because the staff there didn't keep up with the equipment because they didn't feel they had to.. and of course there was a meltdown. The problem is the waste it produces. germany subsidizes solar power they allow the sale of solar energy by the public. because of that, there are TONS AND TONS AND TONS of solar panels all over the place, and about 46% of their energy COMES from solar    whereas 2% of the US's power comes from solar. problem is, if it's dark, it's not producing  there are ways to convertt water into electricity, but governments won't allow it. sea water could be filtered, have electrolites added, hydrolicized to an "unstable" liquid, and burned by machines that generate electricity  there's an over abundance of sea water, and hell  the level is getting higher each year is it not?    the only biproduct of such a thing would be atomized water  not co2.
| number    = 1119
 
| date      = October 10, 2012
 
| title    = Undoing
 
| image    = undoing.png
 
| imagesize =
 
| titletext = I've been sneaking out at night and installing lamps on the underside of every photovoltaic panel I can find. Sure, there are upwards of 80% losses, but I prefer to think of them as nearly 20% gains.
 
}}
 
 
 
==Explanation==
 
The comic is a play on how energy from natural resources (wind, sun, water) are turned into electricity. {{w|Wind turbine|Wind turbines}} convert the windpower into rotational energy, which can then be used to produce electricity. The one seen in the image is the most commonly known wind turbine, which sees use on wind farms. Wind turbines provide a renewable resource for homes and cities and a common method for sustainable energy.
 
 
 
In this comic, Cueball has rigged it so that the wind turbine powers a fan. He cut the power cable attaching the turbine to the {{w|Electrical grid|power grid}} and spliced it with the power cord of a giant fan. The nailed-together 2x4s that form the "tower" for the fan further indicates the "jury-rigged" nature of Cueball's work. The electricity generated from the windpower is then used to power the fan, which in turn produces wind. The undoing part refers how Cueball is using this fan to restore the wind that was used to turn the wind turbine back to the original wind flow. Wind turbines have a {{w|Wind turbine#Theoretical power captured by a wind turbine|theoretical limit of 59%}} of the portion of wind captured. You can see the wind not captured detailed in the image as dotted, turbulent curly lines; turbulent flow. Cueball has placed the giant fan in the direction of the wind so that the wind it produced combines with the windpower not captured by the wind turbine. This is indicated by the lines smoothing, like they were at the start. Thus, not only is the electrical benefit undone, but also the change in natural wind currents.
 
 
 
Unfortunately, as the alternative text points out, the wind will be moving at a much slower velocity than at the start as energy was lost in converting windpower to rotation energy, then to electricity, then back to rotational energy, then back to windpower. The same undoing process can be done with solar cells, where light energy is converting into electricity using photovoltaic cells, which is then used to power lightbulbs for producing light in the area the sunlight would normally illuminate. Solar panels only convert 20-25% of the energy captured from the sun into electricity. Light bulbs only convert 20-30% of the electricity provided into light, the rest is lost as heat energy. Only ~5% of the energy absorbed from the light. Cueball's hobby is literally to waste time and energy.
 
 
 
The comic may also be a continuation of Randall's mistrust of modern electric windmills (see [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]).
 
 
 
==Transcript==
 
:My Hobby:
 
:[A large wind turbine is spinning but the electric cord has been severed and rewired to a large fan]
 
:Undoing
 
 
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:My Hobby]]
 
[[Category:Windmills]]
 

Revision as of 01:34, 5 May 2013

risks it costs over $1 million USD to put up ONE wimdlinl so.. when you see 500 or 600 or 800 of them in a big field, you can calculate the cost One of them produces enough electricity to power, what . 5 houses? of all of the wimdlinls we have ALLLL OVER the us . thousands .. it only accounts for 1% of our energy. also, they are cool, but it sucks having millions of 400 foot tall wimdlinls dotting the what would otherwise be a beautiful landscape. also, there are only certain places in the world, certain types of landscapes that are truly conducive of having wimdlinls. and of those places, most of them have them already. and even there, they don't ALL ALWAYS spin.. when they aren't spinning, they aren't producing.benefits . that's 1% less coal that we have to burn. but realistically, there doesn't HAVE to be ANY coal burned at this point. it could all be nuclear. meltdowns are very very very very very very very very very very very unlikely. the only reason they've ever had one was because the staff there didn't keep up with the equipment because they didn't feel they had to.. and of course there was a meltdown. The problem is the waste it produces. germany subsidizes solar power they allow the sale of solar energy by the public. because of that, there are TONS AND TONS AND TONS of solar panels all over the place, and about 46% of their energy COMES from solar whereas 2% of the US's power comes from solar. problem is, if it's dark, it's not producing there are ways to convertt water into electricity, but governments won't allow it. sea water could be filtered, have electrolites added, hydrolicized to an "unstable" liquid, and burned by machines that generate electricity there's an over abundance of sea water, and hell the level is getting higher each year is it not? the only biproduct of such a thing would be atomized water not co2.