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same shit every day, on god (mander.xyz)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (15 children)

I wonder how fast we could get a steam train to go if we stuck a suitably shaped non-critical amount of plutonium in the firebox.

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    And replace the pistons with a turbine...

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    if we stuck a suitably shaped non-critical amount of plutonium in the firebox.

    Non-critical? There isn't much energy released from natural decay compared to criticality. We created things like this to power space probes like the Voyager I and II craft. 4.5kg of this Plutonium created about 2500w of thermal energy the the beginning of its life and the power declines from there.

    source

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    So I need 80 tons of it in my firebox?

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Well, you'd then have another problem. Unlike coal/wood/oil fuel, you can't turn off radioactive decay.

    You'd have megawatts (gigawatts?) of thermal energy boiling off all your water pretty quickly, and likely eventually melting down your steam engine firebox, and it would be that hot for decades!

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    You can boost it by hollowing out the middle and filling it with tritium, but plutonium is dense, so 80 tons will probably fit in the firebox just fine.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    but plutonium is dense, so 80 tons will probably fit in the firebox

    I feel like there's a thing that will happen when I put that much in such a comparatively small place.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    It'll heat up the firebox, which is exactly what the firebox wants to happen. It's not like we're using precisely-timed explosives to briefly make the mass much more than critical and counter its desire to blow itself apart for long enough that it blows other things apart, too.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (2 children)

    Hilariously this was a plot point in a book I read recently. Isambard Kingdom Brunel replaced the firebox with some poorly shielded uranium, but the initial locomotive that was to demonstrate the technology was sabotaged and exploded, killing his parents.

    This same book also had a fictional mad inventor who created a part newt-human hybrid named Victoria with womanly assets if you catch my drift, who upon failing to educate it he sent to a brothel because he couldn't stand to "dispose of it" but when the princess and heir to the throne Elizabeth went missing, the newt-human hybrid Victoria was installed on the throne to prevent a constitutional crisis. And this is all events that occurred in the first 2 pages, so I'm not even spoiling anything!

    spoilers for ending of the story Victoria in A Steampunk TrilogyTo spoil where the Queen to be Victoria was so well hidden that she couldn't be found, she was in fact working in the newt-human hybrid Victoria's room at the brothel! Seriously bonkers stories in that book!

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    aaaaand saved

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    I'll be real, I absolutely loved the first story, it took a little bit to get into the second one (but thoroughly enjoyed it after all) and I gave up partway through the third one because I was struggling to get pulled in and my library book was due soon anyways. So absolutely worth it for the first two stories at least, and hopefully you enjoy the third one more than I did!

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Nuclear Powered Steam Locomotives

    Pros:

    • Looks cool as hell.
    • Only needs to be refuled every 25 years.
    • It's a steam locomotive.
    • It's a steam locomotive.
    • Did I mention it's a steam locomotive?

    Cons:

    • Have to replace the fireman with a nuclear engineer.
    • Still have to stop to grease bearings and take on water periodically.
    • Hazardous radioactive materials.

    Pros clearly outweigh the cons. What are we waiting for?

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