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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] oil was:Political
  • Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:32:37 EST



> True, hence the need for better, more efficient, technology.
>

Ah, though, Bev, I know you to have an admirable working knowledge of
chemistry and physics, which makes me all the more nervous of the power of
cornucopian hype.

What do you make of all those claims that some engineer or the other came up
with a carburator or fuel system that makes the ordinary car get 120 mpg?
Those tales have been around for a very long time and surely anyone with some
knowledge of physics dismisses them out of hand. If you have a 4000lb
vehicle
the laws of vehicular motion tell you that to get it moving even on level
ground
takes a certain amount of energy. Gasoline contains a finite amount of energy
and even if you managed to achieve 100% efficiency, a given finite quantity
of gasoline will only go so far. There isn't some magic that makes more
engergy appear out of the ether and make the car go farther than it goes.

Likewise the complex organic molecules of kerogen require a certain amount of
energy to break them, "crack" them, into the hydrocarbon components from
which gasoline is blended. This process has been going on below the surface
of
the earth for millions of years so a little heat and pressure applied for
eons
has done the work.

There are no mystical dilithium crystals that make light crude oil gush out
of oil shale. Just like the example of the car, it takes a certain amount of
energy to convert the substance and all the technology in the universe
doesn't
make more energy appear out of thin air.





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