Comments on: More energy http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3001 examining transformative technology Fri, 03 May 2013 19:22:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3001#comment-840439 Tue, 05 May 2009 23:57:18 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3001#comment-840439 This spring's fantasy movie "Dragonball Evolution" featured a motorcycle that self-deployed from a hand-sized package. Josh's prior estimates of paper-thin unfolding structures (as with pogo-launched aircars), and the power density of MNT motors, makes this *structurally* feasible -- but what about the *fuel supply*? Could you fit *that* into the same package? My intuition says it'd be a near thing. (Intuition is, of course, often misleading where MNT-engineering is concerned.) Hydrocarbons are convenient energy-stores, an internal combustion engine is ~20% efficient, and a steel motorcycle is ~100x heavier than a diamondoid one; but even if you reduced the necessary fuel tank volume by >100x, you'd need a fuel tank the size of your thumb. A high-pressure fuel cartridge (akin to a Freitas respirocyte) seems feasible. If necessary, you could carry it separately on your person, and move it between different pocket-vehicles as necessary. This spring’s fantasy movie “Dragonball Evolution” featured a motorcycle that self-deployed from a hand-sized package. Josh’s prior estimates of paper-thin unfolding structures (as with pogo-launched aircars), and the power density of MNT motors, makes this *structurally* feasible — but what about the *fuel supply*? Could you fit *that* into the same package?

My intuition says it’d be a near thing. (Intuition is, of course, often misleading where MNT-engineering is concerned.) Hydrocarbons are convenient energy-stores, an internal combustion engine is ~20% efficient, and a steel motorcycle is ~100x heavier than a diamondoid one; but even if you reduced the necessary fuel tank volume by >100x, you’d need a fuel tank the size of your thumb. A high-pressure fuel cartridge (akin to a Freitas respirocyte) seems feasible. If necessary, you could carry it separately on your person, and move it between different pocket-vehicles as necessary.

]]> By: Christine Peterson http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3001#comment-829551 Christine Peterson Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:13:00 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3001#comment-829551 Hi Josh — Do we need to worry about heat dissipation from this increased energy use? I think I know the answer but some of our readers may not... Thanks, Chris Hi Josh — Do we need to worry about heat dissipation from this increased energy use? I think I know the answer but some of our readers may not…
Thanks,
Chris

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