Solar Plane

[orange wolf]

http://www.solarimpulse.com/


[offtopic]I was having a conversation with my teacher about a theory I had that how we could replace all roads with + magnetic plates and make car bottoms also + causing it to push the car upward, with the only power needed from the sun and reminded her of this plane. [/offtopic]

The video explains the project, but in short, it's a solar plane capable of going 50 mph using only the power of a small motorcycle engine. Unfortunately the live part of it is over but I'm sure there are some videos on youtube.

[Ad Bot]

[King Leo]

"The size of an airbus,
the weight of a car,
the power of a scooter,
the prize of a NASA space shuttle

lol'd a bit

Anyways, if you want all roads to be replaced by magnets, there are a couple of problems involved:
1) How to make the car stay on track? The magnets would just push your car of the track.
2) Steering. How do you steer (or brake, for that matter) a car, when there is no friction involved?
3) Price. You would have to buy massive magnets to lift the cars, and magnets of that size are not cheap (mind you, you want to build roads with them)
4) Electronics. You would have to redesign your cars, since magnets of that size would forget up all electronic devices that exist as of today. Not to speak of people with implants, pacemakers etc..

That's all for now. Think about that :P

[otto-san]

lol'd a bit

Anyways, if you want all roads to be replaced by magnets, there are a couple of problems involved:
1) How to make the car stay on track? The magnets would just push your car of the track.
2) Steering. How do you steer (or brake, for that matter) a car, when there is no friction involved?
3) Price. You would have to buy massive magnets to lift the cars, and magnets of that size are not cheap (mind you, you want to build roads with them)
4) Electronics. You would have to redesign your cars, since magnets of that size would forget up all electronic devices that exist as of today. Not to speak of people with implants, pacemakers etc..

That's all for now. Think about that :P

This.

Newtonian laws don't well allow this.
Also, what if you veer off the road? Your magnets no longer work, your big expensive car is just sitting there, right?

[Oasis]

lol'd a bit

Anyways, if you want all roads to be replaced by magnets, there are a couple of problems involved:
1) How to make the car stay on track? The magnets would just push your car of the track.
2) Steering. How do you steer (or brake, for that matter) a car, when there is no friction involved?
3) Price. You would have to buy massive magnets to lift the cars, and magnets of that size are not cheap (mind you, you want to build roads with them)
4) Electronics. You would have to redesign your cars, since magnets of that size would forget up all electronic devices that exist as of today. Not to speak of people with implants, pacemakers etc..

That's all for now. Think about that :P

Opposites attract handicap. 3 and 4 are legitimate however.

[keonesan]

lol'd a bit

Anyways, if you want all roads to be replaced by magnets, there are a couple of problems involved:
1) How to make the car stay on track? The magnets would just push your car of the track.
2) Steering. How do you steer (or brake, for that matter) a car, when there is no friction involved?
3) Price. You would have to buy massive magnets to lift the cars, and magnets of that size are not cheap (mind you, you want to build roads with them)
4) Electronics. You would have to redesign your cars, since magnets of that size would forget up all electronic devices that exist as of today. Not to speak of people with implants, pacemakers etc..

That's all for now. Think about that :P

Think of a bumper car. Hurp durp.

Also there was something a while back where they made like glass roads what acted as solar plates as well. It could generate a lot of power if most of our country's roads were replaced with those solar roads we could generate a lot of power but it would obviously cost a lot. On a side note the inventors said it would be possible to use those roads to power electric cards.

[orange wolf]

lol'd a bit

Anyways, if you want all roads to be replaced by magnets, there are a couple of problems involved:
1) How to make the car stay on track? The magnets would just push your car of the track.
2) Steering. How do you steer (or brake, for that matter) a car, when there is no friction involved?
3) Price. You would have to buy massive magnets to lift the cars, and magnets of that size are not cheap (mind you, you want to build roads with them)
4) Electronics. You would have to redesign your cars, since magnets of that size would forget up all electronic devices that exist as of today. Not to speak of people with implants, pacemakers etc..

That's all for now. Think about that :P

Already did, Instead of wheels, they are six axis + magnets controllable via steering wheel, breaking involves tilting the magnets forward to slow speed, computers elevate the cars movement, and of course it's not something I'd ever consider throwing to a patenter, the cost to replace every road in the world is just not possible, let alone finding enough magnets.

BUT, I really didn't consider the electronics thing, touche' Haha.

[King Leo]

Possible alternative to this: Superconducters
If you can develop a material that is superconducting at room temperature, that would revolutionize our entire society!
The resistance would be muuuuch lower than for your ordinary magnets (0 ohm)
so you could save alot of energy. But the problems with steering, possibly electronics and most importantly price are still there. Not to mention that most (of todays) superconductors only work below 200 Kelvin :P