[extropy-chat] FWD [PvT] Re: Anti-hurricane engineering

[Spike]

> From:  Hara Ra
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] FWD [PvT] Re: Anti-hurricane engineering
> 
> I was musing about the problem today:
> 
> 1) If the air bubbles are put into the water, I have totally 
> ignored the 
> fact that 100 meters of water is about 10 atm pressure, and 
> when air is 
> compressed this much it becomes hot (think diesel engines compression 
> ratio). The energy to compress the air is not avoidable, and 
> once the air 
> enters the water there is no means to keep the air hot.   I 
> don't want to 
> to the math, but compressing 1 M^3 of air to 100atm (10 liters) takes 
> vastly more energy than lifting 1 M^3 of water by 1M...

I too was playing amateur musemiester, and had an idea.
I did a back-of-the-envelope calc to estimate the amount
of energy to compress air to 10 atm.  It's a lot.  But
all is not lost, for I had a notion that we might be
able to compress the air to that level using wave action.

I will attempt a description: imagine a large floating
platform that has superstructure above and below the
surface with a steel structure between, so that the
structure stays at about the same level while the waves
rise and fall.  Now imagine a piston, perhaps a square
meter, being pushed up and down by a floating object,
compressing the air.  One way valves hold the air in 
a 10 atm tank.

That wasn't a very good description.  Imagine an ocean
liner with fishing boats moored alongside.  The choppy
waves have very little impact on the liner, but the 
smaller boats bob with the waves.  Imagine using the
liner as a nearly stationary platform and the fishing
boats driving pistons to compress air in a tank aboard
the liner.  

We do get a lot of waste heat, but wave action is
free.

spike