Earlier quoted context omitted.
HackerNews truly does pull from a large swatch of interesting people, doesn't it?
boiling it down, what would you say is the link between most common HNers?
Curiosity.
Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
201–210 of 277 posts
Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just because you pay a positive non-zero amount for less than a quarter of the energy in, it does not mean that a device has greater than 100% efficiency, which is not possible. If heat pumps are 400% efficient then log burners in cabins in the woods are even better.
All energy from log burners comes from the fuel, and some ashes remain unburnt. They're under 100% efficient at converting fuel to heat. You put in x fuel and A heat pump takes heat from outside the system. You put in x fuel and you get >x heat. Getting more energy than you put in makes the efficiency over 100%.
> They're under 100% efficient at converting fuel to heat
I think only matter-antimatter reaction comes close to 100%. Burning fuels isn't even 1% of that.
Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
The doctors that sign off the cremation have to provide info on pacemakers/artificial joints and so on to the crematorium
> artificial joints Would you have to remove the joints as well then? How are you meant to properly dispose of something like a knee or a hip?
Make it a modern art piece? Titanium hips look pretty dope
Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
The doctors that sign off the cremation have to provide info on pacemakers/artificial joints and so on to the crematorium
> artificial joints Would you have to remove the joints as well then? How are you meant to properly dispose of something like a knee or a hip?
But, for real, there’s companies that recycle artificial joints.
Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#205Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#206Any chance we can get a nuclear-powered iPhone which lasts 4 years?
Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
A heat pump warms a home more efficiently than using the same amount of electricity for resistive heating. It can do this because it's not generating the heat from scratch; it's moving heat from outside to inside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump#Performance
A local company has developed a heat pump with a thermal energy storage system. Not sure how they do this, but I imagine there is some sort of insulated cinder blocks on a secondary loop that shuttles heat/cold to where it needs to go. (1) https://stash.energy/en/product/
They try very hard not to be specific, but the industrial heat accumulators are usually just water.
Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#208Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#209Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers
#210If it is a dead body and it is being cremated you take it out so it doesn't explode in the crematorium. I say this as a former funeral director who had to remove them.
>Pacemaker explosions in crematoria: problems and possible solutions https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1279940/
Fascinating read and a lovely example of a simple and pragmatic socioscientific study. Cool!