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Post by Emperor AAdmin on Nov 30, 2015 9:44:37 GMT -5
Lightning Bolt BY THOR JENSEN
Converting atmospheric lightning bolts into usable electricity seems like a no-brainer, right? You wouldn't even have to translate it into some other form of energy. The average lightning bolt hits the Earth with a charge of about a billion joules of power, enough to run a 60 watt incandescent light bulb for six months straight. That sounds cool, until we think about how we'd actually capture that electricity. Because it's expended in just fractions of a second, a massive capacitor that can absorb it all would be needed, and those don't come cheap.
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Geothermal Geyser
When water trapped underground gets heated by the Earth's natural energy, it builds up pressure until being forced through the crust in a massive spray of boiling-hot liquid. Geysers are fascinating displays of the planet's temperature cycle, and interestingly enough we've already started tapping them for power. In Northern California, a geothermal plant taps steam heat from treated sewage to produce 725 megawatts of energy a day. That's more than enough power to supply all of San Francisco, and the Earth's heat isn't going anywhere.
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Tornado
We already harness wind power for electricity - vast swaths of unproductive land have been decorated with turbines spinning lazily in the breeze. But what if we could tap into the raw destructive force of a tornado and use it to power our iPhones? Tornadoes actually don't pack a lot of energy compared to other windstorms. Scientists at the National Weather Service have determined that the average tornado uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours, or about as much as a typical American home uses in a year. Gathering that energy would be incredibly difficult, as existing turbines would simply be destroyed.
www.tested.com/science/538159-calculating-raw-power-natural-occurrences/
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Post by Emperor AAdmin on Nov 30, 2015 10:00:38 GMT -5
Meteor Impact
The Earth's gravity is a never-ending source of power, but unfortunately to harness it to real effect you need to bring in matter from outer space. The amount of energy released by meteorite impacts varies considerably depending on how much of the mass gets burned away in the atmosphere. If a large enough rock does make it through, scientists theorize that it could result in an explosion equivalent to many megatons of TNT. The 1908 Tunguska impact in Siberia from a meteorite 200-600 feet wide released between 10 and 15 megatons of TNT, or 41 petajoules.
Volcanic Eruption
When we think about impressive natural phenomena, an erupting volcano definitely takes the cake. Watching the Earth gout massive clouds of ash and rivers of lava from its molten innards is a thing of terrible beauty. Given the infrequency of volcanic eruptions, tapping them for power is less than likely. That's too bad, because the force of these events is something to be reckoned with. Eruptions are measured on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, and vary greatly. One of the most thoroughly measured eruptions in recent history is the 1980 Mt. St. Helens blast, which released the equivalent of 400 million tons of TNT. In electrical terms, that's about one and a half exajoules, or about the total energy consumption of the United States for five days.
Aurora Borealis
One of the most beautiful of all natural phenomena is the aurora borealis, or Northern lights. Caused by solar wind and other particles interacting with the upper atmosphere, the ionization and exitation of particles is visible from the surface, but there's actually a pretty significant amount of power being expended. Some scientists believe that the aurora borealis can expend between 4 and 900 gigawatts of power - enough to provide hundreds of the world's largest cities. Unfortunately, that electrical energy is spread out over thousands and thousands of miles, making it impossible to collect and use.
www.tested.com/science/538159-calculating-raw-power-natural-occurrences/item/volcanic-eruption/
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Post by Emperor AAdmin on Nov 30, 2015 10:00:54 GMT -5
HurricaneWhile tornadoes were a little disappointing in the power category, their waterborne cousins have more to offer. Hurricanes form over bodies of warm water, which evaporates and feeds into clouds. When the water condenses, heat energy is released, which powers the windstorm. And that heat energy packs an enormous payload. Meteorologists have theorized that a day's worth of hurricane activity produces a staggering 600 trillion watts of heat energy - approximately 200 times as much electricity as is generated on the planet Earth in a single day. Of course, there's literally no way to capture that heat without destroying the storm, making them useless as a power source. ------ WildfireThe release of energy can be incredibly destructive, as anybody who was caught in the path of the Californian wildfires can attest. Humans have used thermal energy from trees to heat our homes for centuries, but when you release the stored power of thousands of them all at once, things get intense. Data visualization expert John Nelson used satellite imagery from NASA to measure heat signatures and translate that into electrical output. At their peak, wildfires can produce over 3,000 megawatts of power, equivalent to three nuclear reactors.------ Earthquake
When you think about the amount of power it takes to shift the Earth's tectonic plates, you need to consider an order of magnitude much larger than what we can currently measure. The 7.0 quake that hit Haiti in 2010 released as much energy as 31 atomic bombs in one instant. Translated to electrical energy, that's about 1.6 petajoules, or enough to power a large city for a month. That energy comes in the form of radiant heat, friction generated by rocks rubbing together, and the force of rocks cracking, none of which are particularly easy to capture. www.tested.com/science/538159-calculating-raw-power-natural-occurrences/item/earthquake/
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