I have friends who are very tolerant (I think & hope!) of my messaging.pic.twitter.com/alDtLmlbbv
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Various caveats have been omitted, which I may end up regretting on Twitter. Probably the main one is that I was reciting from long-ago memory the numbers on order of magnitude kinetic energy required for escape velocity. So buyer beware (or, better, do the calculation yourself!)
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And I rechecked: I missed one order of magnitude on the initial energy calculation. It's more like 9*10^8 J to send 1kg out of the solar system. Still, the key point is the same: human-level energy consumption is about the same as what's required to go to the stars
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This does not imply that it's possible, though I personally rather like the idea of a pavlova-powered starship. It's just an amusing comparison.
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This table of energy density is really useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density#Table_of_energy_content … How do you think oil or some other more energy dense fuel could be used to power electronic gadgets?
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Great graph! Fun to think about where fission, fusion, and antimatter sit! The second was (mostly) a joke. Oil actually can (& does) power electricity, but I don't know what the energy efficiency is. Maybe quite a bit lower than we get from fat, but I really don't know.
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"And fat made of anti-matter---" "Sir, this is an Arby's."
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Can count on you, Nat
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