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lofgren777 t1_j1ws9ft wrote

I believe exothermic chemical reactions are how all fossil fuel energy works.

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iNapkin66 t1_j1wtl3j wrote

Yeah, kind of the definition of those types of energy. Gas plants, coal, for the large end, as well as some trash plants that create energy. On the small end is gasoline or diesel generators, etc. We could build wood fired plants, if anybody wanted to deal with the high level of maintenance and pollutants created.

Anything burning is an exothermic reaction.

I get what OP is getting at, they saw a demonstration in science class where sodium was dropped in water and it created tons of heat and realized it could maybe boil water that runs a turbine.

The problem is that anything that reactive like that has already reacted, so you aren't going to find it in pure form. There aren't just rich deposits of pure sodium sitting around on earth, that sodium demonstration is using sodium that was created in a lab. Creating that pure sodium took as much or more energy to make than you'd get out of it.

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Detoxpain t1_j1x1xak wrote

I was literally about to be like "but... gas...?" lol

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