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All Our Energy Problems will be Solved!

I had read something about micro-singularities. Whilst fission produces a < 1% mass to emerge conversion gravitational collapse produces about 40% mass to energy conversion from memory. In theory small singularities could be a good source of energy but the stable half life of small singularities is short.

Unless something fell through a temporal wormhole I assume the article I read was entirely theoretical, but I wonder whether the thread may refer more to utilising micro-singularities rather than galaxy swallowing mega-blackholes.
 
Planigale said:
Isn't this the end of James Blish's 'Cities in Space'?
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Pretty much.

ETA: Ninja’d, and I didn’t notice the title mistake. I shall now meditate on my unworthiness.
 
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theprestige said:
1. Orbit at a safe distance.

2. Dangle some kind of collector into the energy-rich region.

3. Robert's your mother's brother.

I'm still working on the specifics, but the margins of my notebooks are a bit small for this kind of thing.
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Orbit at a safe distance with the equivalent of solar panels designed for the spectrum emitted by the black hole. Works with stars, why not black holes?

Possible issue is that it might not be possible to design a solar panel that can absorb X and Gamma-rays. So you may need to design a more robust ship to orbit closer and harvest the energy in some other way. Still probably not necessary to dangle that collector, just have it convert the energy to microwaves and send them back to your higher orbit that way.
 
Roboramma said:
Orbit at a safe distance with the equivalent of solar panels designed for the spectrum emitted by the black hole. Works with stars, why not black holes?

Possible issue is that it might not be possible to design a solar panel that can absorb X and Gamma-rays. So you may need to design a more robust ship to orbit closer and harvest the energy in some other way. Still probably not necessary to dangle that collector, just have it convert the energy to microwaves and send them back to your higher orbit that way.
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and you would still need a very long extension cord.
 
Skeptical Greg said:
My bad..

I thought maybe someone would be aware if there were thoughts regarding this outside of these hallowed halls..
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Fair enough.

I don't understand the suggestion, though. Can you elaborate on what you're looking for?

The only suggestion I've seen along those lines is Kardashev's scale of energy consumption, which suggests quite the opposite. Developing the ability to harvest more energy is a path to having more energy to work with, and working with even more energy.
 
Roboramma said:
Orbit at a safe distance with the equivalent of solar panels designed for the spectrum emitted by the black hole. Works with stars, why not black holes?

Possible issue is that it might not be possible to design a solar panel that can absorb X and Gamma-rays. So you may need to design a more robust ship to orbit closer and harvest the energy in some other way. Still probably not necessary to dangle that collector, just have it convert the energy to microwaves and send them back to your higher orbit that way.
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You don't need an extension cord, you use power beaming. Looking in to it a bit more, it looks likes lasers are probably a better choice than microwaves for this situation, as you can get much larger distances.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_power_transfer#Far-field_(radiative)_techniques
In the case of electromagnetic radiation closer to the visible region of the spectrum (.2 to 2 micrometers), power can be transmitted by converting electricity into a laser beam that is received and concentrated onto photovoltaic cells (solar cells).[89][90] This mechanism is generally known as 'power beaming' because the power is beamed at a receiver that can convert it to electrical energy. At the receiver, special photovoltaic laser power converters which are optimized for monochromatic light conversion are applied.[91]

Advantages compared to other wireless methods are:[92]

Collimated monochromatic wavefront propagation allows narrow beam cross-section area for transmission over large distances. As a result, there is little or no reduction in power when increasing the distance from the transmitter to the receiver.
Compact size: solid state lasers fit into small products.
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Gord_in_Toronto said:
Ouch Ouch! Ouch! Mind reading now are we?
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It's a question of interpreting the signals being transmitted.

Some people - charlatans and cranks mostly - claim to be able to detect and interpret signals that almost certainly do not and cannot exist. The vast majority of us make do with the signals actually being transmitted.

Kind of like how I'm using mundane telekinesis to move my coffee cup from the table to my face and back again.
 
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