MIT researchers discover new energy source

It works like this: Researchers used tiny wires, known as carbon nanotubes, to create a powerful wave of energy, according to Michael Strano, and MIT associate professor of chemical engineering. He is also the senior author of a paper on this new phenomenon, published in this week's Nature Materials journal.

After coating these tiny wires with a layer of fuel, Strano said his team generated a so-called thermopower wave and stumbled across a reaction that may eventually be used to power electronics, computers and cell phones.

"This could lead to batteries that are up to 10 times smaller and still have the same power output. In the portable energy and energy conservation arena, we're trying to find power sources that have a smaller profile but hold more energy," Strano told CNN Radio.

Source

Is this as cool as it sounds? They produce lots of energy in a very small area, nontoxic and efficient. Can we fast forward this please? The applications I can think about are amazing. Would this change cars? Our homes?

[edit on 13-3-2010 by SeeingBlue]

Unfortunately I cynically believe this will be another in a long line of promising breakthroughs that will just dissapear into the black hole that the rest of them went.

Either the military will take over the project ... or the military will take over the project.
By the way, have you looked into who is funding or contributing to their research?

Nevermind I found out:

Funding: Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Science Foundation

Yep, the military.

Source

reply to post by deltaalphanovember


Actually military is a MAJOR contributor to technological advance. It says lots about us as a society, but nevertheless - from metallurgy to transistors and space age - there are a lot of military-originated technologies in daily life. They eventually sip through to general public after few decades due to gravity of mighty $.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


Yes, I am aware of that factor ... I also subscribe to the theory that war is unfortunately essential for mankind to progress beyond periods of technological stagnation.
I am also of the opinion that the human species is inherently unstable and self-destructive - a trait that has both advantages and disadvantages allowing us occasionally have "growth spurts", but these times are also when we are most at danger from ourselves.

My wish? In the words of John Lennon: "give peace achance".

reply to post by SeeingBlue


Carbon nanotubes are very toxic to humans.

reply to post by deltaalphanovember


The ideas that never make it to market do so not because they're suppressed, but because they are either impossible to mass-produce at a decent price, or don't work when scaled up, or any number of reasons. The paranoid "oooh they don't want us to have it!!!!!!1111eleventy" claims are bunk.

reply to post by davesidious


Well, to be honest, the only reason that I joined ATS, was because of my paranoia - it has a voracious appetite and needs to be fed regularly.

However, just because most conspiracy theories are b/s - doesn't mean there aren't any real ones.
The military, by necessity, works under a veil of secrecy - and they do not have a very good track record.

Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by SeeingBlue

 

Carbon nanotubes are very toxic to humans.

reply to post by deltaalphanovember

 

The ideas that never make it to market do so not because they're suppressed, but because they are either impossible to mass-produce at a decent price, or don't work when scaled up, or any number of reasons. The paranoid "oooh they don't want us to have it!!!!!!1111eleventy" claims are bunk.

I hate people on this site. Especially the ones who have no idea what they are talking about. There is a lot of different types of toxicity. There is a research article relating carbon nanotubes to asbestos which makes sense since carbon nanotubes are long strands. Carbon nanotubes are only believed to be toxic if inhaled for this reason. There is actually a lot if research using carbon nanotubes for cancer treatment. Carbon nanotubes used in batteries are unlikely to be inhaled.

Please don't pass your false information as fact. There are too many cooky people on this site who will actually believe you.

reply to post by Longtimegone


So you agree they are toxic. Thanks.

Originally posted by deltaalphanovember
reply to post by ZeroKnowledge

 

Yes, I am aware of that factor ... I also subscribe to the theory that war is unfortunately essential for mankind to progress beyond periods of technological stagnation.
I am also of the opinion that the human species is inherently unstable and self-destructive - a trait that has both advantages and disadvantages allowing us occasionally have "growth spurts", but these times are also when we are most at danger from ourselves.

My wish? In the words of John Lennon: "give peace achance".

Are you aware that this means that it is technology which causes wars, for its own survival? Who is the master here...

SO are AA batteries and AAA batteries toxic? I would suspect that those are the most common batteries used world wide. That is my question for you scientist or someone that fells like doing a little research.

[edit on 13-3-2010 by mandob453]

sorry common not commonly lol you know what i mean.

Back in 2004 when I was at a university, all the physics was already figured out as far as using carbon nano structures to create new batteries. The only thing holding it back was production techniques. So I don't see much new in this article, it all still comes down to mass production techniques.

Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by Longtimegone

 

So you agree they are toxic. Thanks.

Ha aha hah, if you drink too much water that can also be toxic, so if they use this tech for mobile phone batteries then I would not advise breaking them open and inhaling the contents or ingesting them. Unless you already inhale mobile phone batteries now and get no toxic effects then feel free to continue.

Any advancement that increases efficiency is worth looking at, if there are really dangerous ramifications then these also have to be addressed.
Water can be toxic

reply to post by bharata


I'm not arguing against this battery! I think these batteries would be fantastic! I merely corrected the poster who claimed the batteries are non-toxic, which is not the case. Everything you need to kill a person is in a single one of these batteries. I know your average laptop battery today will have about the same explosive power as a hand-grenade if tampered with.

I'm not some Luddite, just a pedant!

subject has already been posted.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

it most likely won't be released to the public, it will be used as some kind of weapon, just like Einsteins theories

Yep, I agree, this will probably disappear with the other discoveries such as free energy that we've had for over 50 years. Tesla invented the first use of zero point energy about 100 years ago and yet nobody wants to talks about that anymore. They want you to forget that little thing and go back to watching your football and being a good little slave.

Well, it was the military that invented and first put the laser disk to use. In 1984 we were using them to perform missile electronic diagnostics.

And of course the laser disk was the precursor to CD's, DVD's and BluRay, so there is a possibility that if it does actually work we may benefit from the technology.

reply to post by projectnsearch


There haven't been any discoveries of free energy ever, let alone in the last 50 years. Please provide us with some evidence, in the form of peer-reviewed papers outlining the experiments, and their results. Otherwise you are wrong.