h a l f b a k e r yGood ideas at the time.
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So, give it a water tank holding 20 metric tons of
water, with the water's centre of mass 5 metres
above the ground. |
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That gives you 1000,000 Joules of energy (less, if
the vehicle has any ground clearance). That's 1
horsepower for about 10 minutes. |
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Your profile lists you as a mathematician and
manager - have you considered updating it? |
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One solvable flaw is trying to carry your water supply with you. It is quite heavy to accelerate and decelerate and will run out very quickly. What we need is a city-wide system of raised aquaducts that run along each lane of every road. Individual cars can pull water out of the top of these aquaducts using a siphon pipe shaped somewhat like a tall thick shepherd's crook. The water flowing to ground level powers the turbine and is then discharged into a continuous grating between lanes where it flows a short distance to one of the millions of pump stations. |
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The layout of aquaducts at intersections is left as an exercise for the reader. |
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Just leave a gap in both aquaducts. |
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-|- (plan) would also work. North-south vehicles would continue unimpeded, east-west would perform a quick --^v^-- (elevation) siphon manouvre. |
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of course, the go-faster boys would use heavy water.. |
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Use mercury - it's much denser. |
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Yes, but then it would be a mercury-powered car. Totally
different concept. |
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What do they power cars with on Mercury anyway? I mean, petrol stations would just catch fire the whole time. |
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You would need a colossal tower, methinks... Have you considered converting the water to superheated steam <link>? You could then shoot it (with the appropriate high pressure nozzle) at all the motorists who fail to give you a push... |
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(Of course, steam power via locomotives predates your idea by a century or two, but this would be a different application, and locomotion would be obtained through the overbearing use of Quasi-Indentured Servitude --- which, now that I think about it all ironical-like, also happened a couple of centuries ago) |
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Colossal tower - where do I buy that? I couldn't find
one on alibaba. |
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people! Please read the last line. The money for this
business comes from youtube clicks. (probably this
HB entry is taking all the glory) |
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