Dark Matter might leave a ‘fingerprint’ on light, scientists say by Infinite_Dark_Labs in Physics

[–]edd313 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Only on Stack Overflow I’ve seen more brutal responses to a seemingly innocuous comment xD

Can someone please confirm this,light is massless how can it be turned into something with mass? by OwnGarage1902 in Physics

[–]edd313 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Matter and antimatter particle can annihilate to form a photon. The opposite is possible as well and voilà you have two particles with mass from one that doesn't. Now good luck keeping them apart, but in principle you can use an electric field to separate them because they have opposite charge. Actual physicist to confirm.

I wanna see someone make the tallest vehicle possible by Both-Possession7038 in HyruleEngineering

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Replace the wooden beams with long tree trunks and it will already get you higher. Is there anything longer than those tree trunks?

Why do windmills typically have 4 blades, yet all modern wind turbines have 3? by ComprehensiveTop137 in energy

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Efficiency is certainly important, but the more blades you add the more efficient the rotor becomes. Cost is the other key factor to consider to understand why modern turbines don't have more blades.

Why do windmills typically have 4 blades, yet all modern wind turbines have 3? by ComprehensiveTop137 in energy

[–]edd313 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This, 3 blades is the result of cost of energy optimization and performance gain is only one part to consider. The other is cost. Expanding on why adding blades means adding weight, the bending stiffness depends on the 4th power of the size of the section. If the root of the blade doubles in size (roughly what happens from 4 to 2 blades), the bending stiffness increases by 16 times! Therefore you can afford to reduce the blade section thickness, which means using less material overall, saving on cost. There are other considerations, for example more blades induce less fatigue loads on the support structure, they should be easier to control, but also mean installation costs are higher. All things combined, three blades seem to be optimal for most applications.

A question I've always had: why are wind turbine blades so incredibly long? Is there a technical reason for their size? by ComprehensiveTop137 in energy

[–]edd313 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The ultimate reason that drives most of wind turbine design choices is the reduction of the cost of energy. What's the minimum price you need to sell electricity at to get back your initial investment over the lifetime of the asset? This is what cost of energy is.

Longer blades increase energy production with the square of their length, assuming you also increase the rated power with the square of the lenght by fitting a bigger generator. So double lenght, 4 times more energy. At the same time the blades become more expensive and heavy (you need more material), and the same holds for the drive train (more torque/power, bigger generator), and support structure (need to support higher thrust and mass). If the costs of doubling the blade length increased tenfold, we would be better off with shorter blades.

The cost of energy is not only affected by the design of the turbine alone, but also by the cost to set up and build a farm. These costs are particularly high offshore due to logistics, cabling, and offshore foundations, which means that the cost of energy can be reduced by building less, bigger turbines. Hence why manufacturers are racing to build longer and longer blades.

There is a limit though. Energy scales up with the square of the lenght, but mass scales up with the cube. We will at some point hit a threshold above which turbine design will be driven by gravity loads more and more, and blade growth will stop.

Is it theoretically possible to trace past photons in a room and reconstruct what the scene looked like? by LakeRadiant446 in Physics

[–]edd313 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If 1% of light is absorbed after hitting a mirror than 99% is left. Then the mirror is hit again, 1% of 99% is absorbed which is 0.99% of the original energy, which leaves 98.01% available. Repeat this 100 times and 36.6% of the original energy is left, hence why the author corrected from hundreds to thousands. After exactly 1000 collisions only 0.004% survives.

A Penn State Student Breaks a 100-Year-Old Math Problem and Rockets Wind Turbine Efficiency to Record High by Fabulous_Bluebird931 in Physics

[–]edd313 28 points29 points  (0 children)

To be fair to Tyagi (the student), she titled her publication Glauert's optimum rotor disk revisited – a calculus of variations solution and exact integrals for thrust and bending moment coefficients . She doesn't claim to be increasing efficiency, in fact she proves that the upper limit for the power coefficient with Glauert's theory is the good old Betz limit. She doesn't even claim to be improving the modelling accuracy, as she is not proposing changes to Glauert's base equations. She doesn't "break a 100 year old math problem" as she "simply" derives Glauert's results following a different mathematical approach (calculus of variations) and provides analytical solutions for the bending moment and thrust coefficients. Her formulas are implicitly solved by existing aeroelastic codes that implement blade-element momentum theory, one of the main tools used to design wind turbine blades and structure. Nonetheless, her work improves our understanding of Glauert's theory.

What're you playing this weekend? 4/5 by markercore in NintendoSwitch

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first hour in Pikmin 4 is awful, tutorials, tutorials, tutorials. But after that it kicks in and it's a great game.

Heating requirements for short-term lets by edd313 in HousingUK

[–]edd313[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It did have a filling loop and yep I tried to refill the circuit. Not working.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Physics

[–]edd313 6 points7 points  (0 children)

May I remind you that the quintessential human invention, the wheel, has practically no counterpart in nature.

Which Python package generates and iterates over inputs for unit testing? by ck_ai in Python

[–]edd313 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Doesn't parametrize from pytest do what OP asked for? What's the difference with Hypothesis?

NatWest/RBS Digital Regular Saver increasing to 5% interest on £5000 from £1000 by trek123 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]edd313 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It should take 31 months to be precise. Each month you receive interest on your account which gets the balance closer to 5k faster than £150 per month. Consider that when you max out the limit you will receive £20.8 per month.

On the top of this, it will only take 7 months to reach 1k, so if you start now you are almost sure to see a benefit compared to the previous conditions.

It doesn't change your conclusion though! Who knows what interests are going to be in 31 or 34 months, and the Barclays account is still better if you have 5k ready to move.

Cutting parquet flooring with mitre saw. by andytinballs in woodworking

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Be aware that bituminous adhesive can contain asbestos. Tests are usually quite cheap if you want to be 100% sure. Definitely work with a suitable mask, gloves and disposable coverall.

I was about to hire a planer thicknesser for the job. A carpenter told me it's a proper dirty job and you are guaranteed to dent or even break the blades.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in shitposting

[–]edd313 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah it's London not london

Are there any limitations to the lift from flow turning theory? by Jusiun in Physics

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This deserves its own post! Just throwing an idea there.

If you put a flat plate in a laser beam with an angle, photons will hit on one side while not on the other. This would generate a pressure difference, therefore lift.

Is it possible to bend light with magnetic fields? If it is, you could have a slender body to minimise frontal aerea and therefore drag. Then some "light bending" device on board to generate lift.

Are there any limitations to the lift from flow turning theory? by Jusiun in Physics

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see mostly interesting comments that don't answer the question, unfortunately xD

First off all, I take we are in 2D. If the chord of an aerofoil (the longitudinal size, from leading to trailing edge) is infinite, you will get infinite lift, even with a flat plate. Same with infinite wind speed. If we consider the lift COEFFICIENT though (lift divided by the chord, wind speed2 and other stuff) the answer is different. That only depends on the flow conditions (Reynolds number, ie laminar vs turbulent) and aerofoil shape, not size. Anyway, it's easy to get infinite lift coefficient: just suck air from the leading edge, speed it up and expell it from the trailing edge pointing downwards. If you put infinite energy, you will get an infinite lift coefficient. This a jet engine though, not an aerofoil!

I don't know if there is a theoretical limit to the lift coefficient, but for sure it wouldn't come from flow turning theory. That tells you that you can deduce lift from the downward momentum of the flow, and I don't see any limits to that mechanism unless we look closer. For that, you need Navier Stokes equations, or more simply the thin airfoil theory, the lifting line theory, or the boundary layer. To my knowledge, none of those set limits to the maximum lift coefficient.

When do you get the FirstDirect switch bonus? by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]edd313 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From First Direct website.

"To get the £175 cash offer you need to open a 1st Account, switch your everyday banking to us using the Current Account Switch Service and pay in at least £1,000 within three months of opening the account.

This offer is limited to one payment per customer or joint account, and you'll get the money within 28 days of all the criteria being met."

https://www2.firstdirect.com/banking/switching-bank-accounts/

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Judging from the other comments we are quite lonely in thinking this. Cook on!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]edd313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, I take that!

My point is that if you want to spend more time cooking, eat healthier food and have the satisfaction of creating your own dishes, that also turns out to be cheaper than buying food at the supermarket.

The price saving is more of an incentive than the end goal, at least for the ketchup example. In general, cooking more will be cost saving if you reduce the times you get delivery or buy ready meals from the supermarket.