Hotter

Just a quick question - how did the very early inventors get on with the matter of making electricity? By all accounts (well, my dodgy memory), they turned a magnet around an iron core, and made a current flow. And then they thought 'wow, this is really hard work, lets get something else to do the turning'. And so you had the basic steam-generator born.

The idea is pretty simple. Put a fan on the thing you're trying to spin. Now put a pot of water under that. And then heat the water, causing the steam to turn the fan, turning your generator, making your electricity.

The thing I don't understand, is why has this not changed in the past 100+ years? We've basically been making electricity the same way for ages. So why has no-one come up with something better? Sure, people have proposed better and better ways of heating the water. First it was coal, then oil, then gas, and now nuclear reactors. But they're still just really neat ways of heating water. Heck, I'm fairly sure that the 'green' alternative in Spain (this shiny bugger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PS10_solar_power_tower_2.jpg) is essentially just a solar oven, heating water to turn a turbine.

I'm not saying scientists have been lazy. I know they've been busy doing all sorts of really cool shit. But come on, if the entire fabric of society has completely changed in the past 100 years, why haven't we done something better than heating water?

I can hear you saying 'what about solar/wind/tidal/hydro energy'. Which I agree, should be utilised far more than they currently are. And yes, these are excellent examples of how electricity can be generated without resorting to the whole 'heating water to spin stuff' idea. However, until they become widely adopted (to the point of being the norm), I'm afraid I'm still a little bit underwhelmed by scientific advancement.

Day 62 - Photo 62
Taking off?