Could we stop Yellowstone from erupting with a giant geothermal power plant?

Post by its_ethan » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:47 PM UTC

rcoveson wrote: post #11

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Betteridge's law of headlines aside. I feel like the scale of the topic is almost completely human inconceivable when trying to tie it to a realistic engineering task. It seems like a fun what-if, but when you do that you are using making giant hand waving excuses, and not anything that looks like a factual claim.

> Betteridge's law of headlines aside. Godwin-Bettridge-Graham law: Any headline that ends in a question mark which is posted to HN will have Bettridge's law of headlines mentioned at least once in its first dozen comments.

Post by more_corn » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

Post by sbierwagen » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

elil17 wrote: post #36

its_ethan wrote: post #2

"If heat could be bled off of the magma chambers, cooling and solidifying them, not only would that stop the volcano from erupting..." Where does the confidence to make this claim come from? I can imagine that the consequence of this might actually just be strengthening the "barrier" the magma has to erupt through, and when it finally builds up enough energy to do that, it'll be stronger in proportion to how strong t…

I have a lot of skepticism about anything I read from constructionphysics.substack.com. I'm a mechanical engineer, not a civil engineer, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but it reads like it's written by someone who does not have a solid understanding of engineering fundamentals. For example, they suggested in their "How to design a house to last for 1,000 years" series that you'd want to build such a house o…

Post by dylan604 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #39

What about drilling (maybe nuking) a hole to create a "small volcano to relieve pressure?

Post by nonethewiser » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:57 PM UTC

elil17 wrote: post #36

its_ethan wrote: post #2

"If heat could be bled off of the magma chambers, cooling and solidifying them, not only would that stop the volcano from erupting..." Where does the confidence to make this claim come from? I can imagine that the consequence of this might actually just be strengthening the "barrier" the magma has to erupt through, and when it finally builds up enough energy to do that, it'll be stronger in proportion to how strong t…

I have a lot of skepticism about anything I read from constructionphysics.substack.com. I'm a mechanical engineer, not a civil engineer, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but it reads like it's written by someone who does not have a solid understanding of engineering fundamentals. For example, they suggested in their "How to design a house to last for 1,000 years" series that you'd want to build such a house o…