From: Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@s...>
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 16:02:46 +0300 (EEST)
Subject: Math
I feel silly. Work equals force times distance. Given Roger's 100km and 10 tons we'll try a constant force slightly more than gravity (F=ma or Fg=10 tons * 9.81m/s2) We'll approximate g at 10 and constant, which is not correct, but gets us in the right ballbark. Thus: W = 100 000 m * 10 000 kg * 10 m/s² W = 1E5 m * 10E4 kg * 10 m/s² W = 10E10 kgm²/s² That's 10E10 joules, or 10E4 MJ (which already is a unit of energy) Divided by 3600 seconds, that yields 2.8MW-hours... or 28MW-hours at the 10% effiecieny you mentioned. Interestingly, my wife is just designing a 20MW power plant for an industrial installation.