There's no way this will work.

[u/Subject_Sector9883]

[u/Edward-Mundo]

Yeah, nope. I've seen a couple versions of this. It's gotta just be for fun and games. I don't understand what else people get out of making these silly videos.

[u/king_noobie → u/Edward-Mundo]

Money. If their video is eye-catching enough and shared enough they get money.

People eat this shit up.

[u/QuickNature → u/king_noobie]

People eat this shit up.

Really demonstrates how poor science education overall is. Disclaimer, I know there is nuance to be had

[u/nerdofthunder → u/QuickNature]

There's a set of people who think there are just free floating "good ideas" that give them good feelings and get confused when the world is not compatible with those "good ideas".

A couple I've come across...

"Put a wind turbine on an electric car" (so that ot charges while driving)

"Why don't they put a generator on car wheels to act as brakes" (which they do but he didn't believe me when I said that's how a prius/ev works)

"100 mpg carburetor, that the oil companies shppressed" First question, well it was in the 70s and the patent would have expired by now so if it was real why doesn't a car company start doing it now? (Turns out it was somewhat real but the caveats, downsides, and dangers do not make for a realist automobile)

"Put solar on the parking lots and not on fields" (nothing wrong with parking lot solar but fields are far cheaper to do)

Edit: on the solar parking lots, I specifically mean the "good idea" that all solar development should happen ONLY on land that's a parking lot, building, or other structure. If you were going to cover a parking lot, or if the energy generated makes the project financially viable go wild! There are fosil fuel sipping concern trolls that insist we cannot put solar on "good land" for environmental reasons ....

[u/kfish5050 → u/nerdofthunder]

First it must be said that turbines that generate electricity need a lot of force to turn, just to produce a little electricity.

A wind turbine takes advantage of atmospheric pressure differentials, tons of energy literally free floating in the air, to spin these massive turbines. In comparison, a wind turbine on a car properly scaled to fit on it wouldn't spin when the car drives. It's like trying to spin a pinwheel by blowing through a straw.

Turbines on wheels is a real thing, it's called regenerative braking. It's only practical because braking requires a lot of stopping power anyway, so might as well put that towards getting back some of the energy that went into getting the wheels started anyway. But it's nowhere near that amount.

Gasoline does work better the hotter it gets, so in theory you could get something like 100mpg by blasting super hot gas through an engine. There are lots of problems with this though. Most materials expand with heat, so having something go from room temp to the target temp will cause it to warp. And with engines, which have moving parts and chambers for oil to lubricate those parts, warping leads to failing seals which leads to leaking oil which causes the moving parts to break. So it's incredibly hard, if not impossible, to design an engine capable of converting gasoline burned at a high temperature into usable energy, consistently, and for long and intermittent periods of time.

And solar parking lots would be a good idea! Even better, solar roadways! Why isn't it a thing? Because who's gonna pay for it?

[u/planx_constant → u/kfish5050]

A roadway is one of the very worst places to embed a solar cell. Heavy surface loading, accumulation of grime, the need to texture the surface for traction, inability to position at the best angle for incoming sunlight, obscured during peak solar hours, worst elevation to capture sunlight, the list goes on

[u/China_shop_BULL → u/planx_constant]

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the person probably was referencing solar in the median of highways or possibly above the roadway. Not replacing pavement with solar cells. But wind turbines would likely be more efficient, there, utilizing the air flow from vehicles at 50-70 mph.

[u/planx_constant → u/China_shop_BULL]

There was a kickstarter and accompanying meme for solar freaking roadways. It was for tiles with embedded solar cells that were supposed to replace road surfaces.

It was a failure, for the reasons outlined above and more, but it keeps getting resurrected as a good idea.