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astroNerf t1_iruk42y wrote

NASA's own article on the topic contains a lot more useful information and seems less sensationalized.

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redwooded t1_irun97w wrote

It is less sensationalized, but it has bazically the same claims, and does use the word "incredible" - which, if it pans out commercially, is true. This is breakthrough stuff.

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FeelDT t1_irvg9fc wrote

They focus on aviation because selenium seems like a lot more scarce than lithium, so looks like it will never be use in mass production until they found a replacement for this compound.

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gregorydgraham t1_irvl1a0 wrote

Selenium? You mean the stuff farmers give to sheep to prevent sleeping sickness?

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ruimikemau t1_irvo37b wrote

In that movie with David Duchovny, they manage to get loads of selenium from Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles and kill the huge alien with it.

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rckrusekontrol t1_irvxo8o wrote

You mean that science documentary, Evolution? It’s quite simple, as Arsenic is poison to Carbon based life forms, it follows that Selenium, the next element over, would be poison to Nitrogen based life forms.

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gregorydgraham t1_irvp59l wrote

Narrow it down a bit, I’ve ignored a lot of David Duchovny movies

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ruimikemau t1_irvp984 wrote

Evolution (2001). Comedy Sci-Fi

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Dr-P-Ossoff t1_is0snug wrote

I like the movie a lot, but the copy I got did not have the scene with the suburban moms, I miss it; “I don’t have A dog!”.

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spacecoyote300 t1_irw49br wrote

That movie also established that "cacaw cacaw" and "tookie tookie" don't work

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floatingsaltmine t1_irx8xqd wrote

What the fuck is wrong with my brain that I remember everything about that scene and can even picture it.

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219523501 t1_irvszsg wrote

Selenium? You mean the stuff I use in my hair for dandruff?

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snoogans8056 t1_irvvyvs wrote

CA CAW CA CAW TOOKIE TOOKIE

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jafjaf23 t1_irvy2ux wrote

A humorless ice princess in need of a good humping

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Erislocker t1_irw391w wrote

i thought we established that Ca Caw and tookie tookie doesn't work...

oh...nevermind.
Sing! Sing! Rub some funk on it!

(love that movie)

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TldrDev t1_irwehwu wrote

Selenium? You mean the open source umbrella project for a range of tools and libraries aimed at supporting browser automation?

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deck4242 t1_irvv8sk wrote

ok so for now its kinda useless until they find a way to make it easy , cheap and eco friendly (aka no more mining)

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Dorocche t1_irvxgha wrote

Not useless, just not universal either. Like the article suggests, there's enough selenium to use it in planes-- yknow, if it works out-- just not for cars, phones, everything else in the world that needs batteries.

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PragmaticSquirrel t1_irxhgsj wrote

Any idea what the energy density is compared to kerosene (jet fuel)?

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GaryQueenofScots t1_irxp4mn wrote

Nasa claims 500 Watt-hours/kilogram in their solid state battery, or in other words 1.8 MJ/kg. Kerosene is rated at about 42 MJ/kg (and gasoline is about 44 MJ/kg) so there's a factor of 20 between them. Thats actually not as bad as it sounds, considering that electric motors are much more efficient at energy conversion than combustion engines that would be used to drive a prop.

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shoulderknees t1_irxqw4r wrote

One other important element is that you get rid of your kerosene as you use it, reducing your mass and thus your propulsion need. But your battery is still there at the end of the flight.

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PragmaticSquirrel t1_iry0tq4 wrote

Thanks, that's really interesting - it looks like electric motors are about 2X as efficient as gas? So this tech would mean that the overall non-waste energy density is about 10X?

That does seem like it's starting to get in the same ballpark, even if it is still somewhat distant.

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EimaiOTed t1_irzvgnb wrote

What would be a good way to normalize this? Newton * second / gram of fuel considering a typical jet turbine and an electric one?

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