New technology could allow cars to never refuel again

interesting stuff i know thorium is used in TIG welding its in the tungsten electrode and it is radio active. that would be nice to get a diagram of how this might be set up.

Awesome idea, wonderful find. Somebody might actually have this as a go some day if the oil companies get to buy up all the patents and the mining operations.

reply to post by tauristercus


before you go calling hoax you should first see what thorium is used for and its melting point! it has a very high melting point like tungsten so i can see shooting a laser at it at a controlled temp to boil water would be very possible and sounds like a great idea.

i have a feeling you must have stock in oil or your just dim.

Originally posted by posthuman
The heat runs the laser (which is generating the heat) AND the turbine?????? Wow sounds like perpetual motion to me? Especially if the heat charges the laser's battery...

Originally posted by posthuman
reply to post by fixer1967

 

Well if 8 grams of this fuel can power a laser and a car for 10+ years then it's as good as...

EDIT - I guess it's akin to the altenator systems we run today, although doesn't a car battery charge off of the kinetic energy from the motion of the vehicle? 8 grams? Seriously??

edit on 16-8-2011 by posthuman because: (no reason given)

A car"starter battery" is only used for a short burst of current to spin the starter motor, the energy is easily replaced slowly by the alternator over the time the engine runs.

deleted: pointless drivel...

reply to post by Vitchilo


You will not be needing cars much longer. Anyway, the flintstones came up with a much cheaper solution to never having to refuel your car.

So the theory is for a battery to run a laser, the laser heats thorium, thorium heats water, water's steam turns a turbine, the turbine turns the wheels, (and an alternator to keep the laser going/recharge the battery)?

Why not have the laser heat the water?

What do you need the thorium for?

BS-Technology:

these are the future technologies they are researching on:

CELLA ENERGY SCOOP SHELL SPRINGBOARD TITLE FOR INVENTION WHICH BRINGS ZERO-EMISSION HYDROGEN CARS A STEP CLOSER
www.cellaenergy.com...

GEET

George Soros pledges $1bn to search for clean energy


no need for a small nuclear plant as a car...it just takes time...

S & F

I've posted about thorium power on several threads.

Compared with using uranium/plutonium reactors, there are no downsides for thorium.

We should be using it now.

We should have always been using it.

source: thorium vs. uranium

Advantages of Thorium 233 over Uranium 235

1. Waste products can contain significantly less long-lived radioactive waste than uranium or plutonium.

2. Weapons cannot be proliferated from Thorium.

3. Thorium is more energy efficient, operating at higher temperatures.

4. There are massive supplies of Thorium worldwide.

5. Less environmental damage to the environment through mining, extraction, and processing.

6. Less damaging health effects to workers during extraction.

7. Many valuable metals can be extracted as by-products during the processing of Thorium, as well as medical applications.

8. Thorium does not require enrichment.

Add:

9. A thorium reactor has a much smaller footprint than a uranium plant.

10. If the power goes off - as in a Japan-style disaster - the reaction just stops on its own.

Also this:

source

Uranium-Fueled Light-Water Reactor
Fuel Uranium fuel rods
Fuel input per gigawatt output 250 tons raw uranium
Annual fuel cost for 1-GW reactor $50-60 million
Coolant Water
Proliferation potential Medium
Footprint 200,000-300,000 square feet, surrounded by a low-density population zone

Seed-and-Blanket Reactor
Fuel Thorium oxide and uranium oxide rods
Fuel input per gigawatt output 4.6 tons raw thorium, 177 tons raw uranium
Annual fuel cost for 1-GW reactor $50-60 million
Coolant Water
Proliferation potential None
Footprint 200,000-300,000 square feet, surrounded by a low-density population zone

Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor
Fuel Thorium and uranium fluoride solution
Fuel input per gigawatt output 1 ton raw thorium
Annual fuel cost for 1-GW reactor $10,000 (estimated)
Coolant Self-regulating
Proliferation potential None
Footprint 2,000-3,000 square feet, with no need for a buffer zone

IMO this is such a no-brainer.

This car is bich-n techblog.dallasnews.com... what do you think of that? woulden't you like to cruise around the neighborhood in this car?

reply to post by cloaked4u


some more info. wardsauto.com... interesting.

Instead of a laser, why don't they use a high power magnify glass. it can be done, if you know how to make one. A kid on the internet built one himself and it's on youtube. With very high temperatures. That could be used instead of the laser and is very light. The only drawback is that you would need sunlight to power your vehicle. Hey, on a sunny day, you could go anywhere in the U.S.A for FREE. Does this give any inventors idea's, I HOPE SO. Maybe i should build my own car that runs on thorium 525 and heat it up with a special magnifying glass pointed at the thorium to heat the water to create steam that powers the steam engine that runs the car and the electricity. I think people here on A.T.S can do that. We don't need this guy to make one for us. All we need it the thorium 525 and the rest is history. I'm going to make one myself out of old junk if find. The only thing is, where do i find thorium? heat the thorium up with this. www.youtube.com... I think i can do this, really. I only need thorium.

In the end it really does not mater if it works or not. We will never see it in use. If it does work it will disappear and be locked away just like other such things before it. It is does not work then so be it. Either way we will never get any thing out of it.

Originally posted by SpunGCake
reply to post by tauristercus

 

before you go calling hoax you should first see what thorium is used for and its melting point! it has a very high melting point like tungsten so i can see shooting a laser at it at a controlled temp to boil water would be very possible and sounds like a great idea.

i have a feeling you must have stock in oil or your just dim.

Simply amazing how having next to no knowledge of basic chemistry or physics can make so many crackpot theories and ideas extremely "practical" to people such as yourself.

Listen closely and please, please, please pay attention ....

The article specifically mentions a total mass of 8 grams of thorium. Are you absolutely clear on just HOW small an amount that is ?

If you're relying on simple chemistry or a change of state (solid heating up and melting) and expecting to get much usable energy output in the form of heat, then you'll be very sadly disappointed as 8 gms of molten thorium will be lucky to heat a cup of water let alone flash x litres of water immediately (and continuously) into steam to run a turbine. You may as well junk the pinch of thorium and try running the car directly of the laser ... you'd have just as much luck doing that.

And as I pointed out earlier, thorium by itself is NOT a fissionable element so running some kind of miniature nuclear reactor under the hood is just plain ridiculous.

C'mon people, get a grip on reality and do some basic Googling and you'll very quickly realize this is either a hoax or a scam.

Hey, make a dune buggy type thing and put a steam engine in it. connect a generator to it, the fresnel lens that magnifys light, to heat the thorium and wha la, instant ride,cost efficient,takes no gas, and goes as far as you want to go, depending on sunlight. Lets build one, and show them up. Here is the lens that will do the heating to those temps. www.youtube.com...

Thats totally the MAD MAX set up thing for all survivalists.

More info, on thorium energy. www.globalfreezing.com...

I love the idea of a new type of engine for a car, absolutely. But this part ... ... ...

Which DARPA could work on, instead of working on freaking weapons... be used for the good of humanity for once.

DEFENSE Advanced Research Projects Agency.... Maybe it's just me, but I think that's the wrong agency in my opinion. Their sole purpose is to create weapons and such for the defense of our Great Nation.

Maybe another government agency could and should take on the job, I'm not sure which one, just sayin though.

Great Find! S&F for you buddy,
Cheers mate!

So how about digging up many of the dumpsites that exist all over the country from industrial facilities that produced thorium slag as a bi product....i know for sure in midland mi there is a dumpsite under a clay covering where 330,000 cubic yards of the stuff is burried there as a result of thorium slag being produced qs a bi product of dow chemical....but i guess if this technology comes out full throttle companies such as dow chemical and others will sit on their piles of gold so to speak and not tell any of us where it is burried.....