In reply to James Bowery's message of Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:32:38 -0500: Hi, [snip]
While interesting, there are two problems, one with the prototype, and one with the general concept. 1) The vortex is driven by a temperature differential, so a height of 100 m will have a low temperature differential, resulting in an underestimate of the power output of a larger version. This could lead to a promising research avenue being incorrectly judged a failure at the first hurdle. (Real tornadoes and hurricanes have their top at an altitude where the air temperature is significantly lower than at ground level, or at least have access to a stream of cold air - as is frequently the case in "tornado alley".) 2) A vortex over the ocean will probably "decide" to leave the device altogether, and go off on it's own, in search of "greener pastures", i.e. warmer water, since the water available at the base of the device will rapidly cool. Granted this cold water will sink, drawing in other warmer surface water, but this circulation process is not likely to be fast enough to prevent the vortex from simply "uprooting" itself and "taking a hike". Any surface wind that may be around will hasten this process. This is likely to be the primary problem with this concept. >The most newsworthy events are, for some reason, never reported by news >services. For example, experiments that could change the world are >imminent. > >http://jimbowery.blogspot.com/2013/08/breakout-labs-funded-prototype-of.html Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
