Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Perpetual Motion Machine?

["Jonathan King" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 9/1/06, Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> You are probably correct.  I think I heard somewhere that the heavy
> elements are formed in stars, and then thrown out in supernovae.  So
> probably nuclear energy doesn't come from our sun, but prior suns.
>
> (But I'm no expert so maybe I am completely wrong.)

No, that's certainly the current idea (for elements heavier than iron
coming out of type II supernovas.  I always thought it was really cool
that the existence of heavy elements depended on something like the
Chandresekhar Limit, which is merely a limit on the mass of the iron
in the core of an aging star.  It was one of those beautiful tricks of
nature that tells me that the universe is pretty wonderful.

Now, it turns out that the existence of heavier radioactive elements
produces energy humans can use in a different way. Without them, the
earth's core would not be as hot as it is, which means that geothermal
energy would not be feasible.  There are lots of people (primarily in
Iceland) who benefit pretty massively from this process right now.

jking

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