Michael M. Butler wrote:
> One of the big problems here is "is air free"? The most compact energy
> density ratings will come from things that react with air (the rusting
> nail, other combustion, etc.) If you don't weigh the air, and there's
> always plenty of it, you are talking about something that puts
> self-contained systems like batteries at a disadvantage. That might be
> OK for your system, or it might not.
The plan was to consider totally self-contained reactions at first. One reason
is that I'm not going to assume that every life form has an O2 atmosphere. I
don't want someone to not mention a nifty compound that needs to burn in
flourine, on the assumption that it can't compete with a chemical that combines
in free-oxygen. To a flourine breather, its the O2 reactions that are going to
be nasty things...
--
Stirling Westrup | Use of the Internet by this poster
sti@cam.org | is not to be construed as a tacit
| endorsement of Western Technological
| Civilization or its appurtenances.
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