Comments by "ke6gwf - Ben Blackburn" (@ke6gwf) on "Real Engineering"
channel.
-
The thing that everyone here is missing, is that 10 percent ethanol in gasoline isn't supposed to add ANY energy to it, it's to oxygenate the gasoline so it burns cleaner, thus directly reducing emissions, and working better with the catalytic converter.
They were originally using things like MTBE to do this, but then California discovered that it was getting into the water supplies and causing serious issues, so they banned it, and ethanol was found to be the next best thing.
It's not there to replace the gasoline, just to help it burn cleaner.
E85 is a different story, and I agree it's a bad idea, but this video is attacking E10 as if it's the same thing as E85.
25
-
@jgr7487 the US is NOT an Imperial country, we forked from the Imperial System at the same time we left the British Imperial Empire.
We share a lot of units still, but we improved and tweaked what at the time was the most common units, and created new ones as industry needed them, and we created the US Customary System.
So while everyone "out there" keeps repeating that we use the Imperial system in the US, we don't, and that's why it's different from the UK.
For instance, until a few years ago, the UK Inch was a few thousandths different from the US inch, and finally they agreed to make them the same, and so each adjusted their inch slightly towards the middle.
21
-
10
-
3
-
2
-
2
-
@neurofiedyamato8763 except it's not arbitrary exactly.
The Metre was defined back in the 1700s as 1 ten millionth of the distance from north pole to the Equator.
A metal bar was then made to represent this length, and it was the Standard of Length that was then used to measure the speed of light, so basically they found that light took a certain amount of time to travel from one end of the metal bar to the other.
Then when they found that the metal bar was constantly changing length, and the ability to measure the speed of light and define time became more and more accurate, they decided to use the last official comparison between the speed of light to that metal bar, and from now on, simply use the distance light travels in a certain time (based on tests with that metal bar) as the new Standard.
So it's not random or circular, you just have to remember that the speed of light is defined by the time it takes to travel the length of a particular piece of metal, and then they decided to reverse that and just use this derived time as the new standard, but it's still based on the measurements made with that metal bar.
On the other hand, I suppose it was random to make it 1 ten millionth of that particular distance lol
I wish that the meter was a little shorter, it would make it much more useful for things like carpentry.
That's the main reason I prefer USC to metric for carpentry, it's a lot easier working with inches and feet, because they fit the ranges I work with much better.
M is too long, and mm is too short and cm is so close to mm it's not that helpful.
If inches were 10 instead of 12 it would be perfect lol
But I often just use inches for normal lengths, and math works fine then.
2
-
@m00str No, there is only one Inch out there.
What you don't seem to realize is that before this standardization nearly 100 years ago now, each country had their own length standard, basically a piece of metal in a lab to calibrate everything else off of, and they constantly change length.
So for really precision work, there was no constant standard anyway.
Now they use the speed of light to define length, so it doesn't change anymore, and everyone uses the same standard.
So if you had a precision device from back then, it would not be accurate today, even if it was metric, because the metric Prototype was constantly changing length as well! Lol
And by now, anything that needs that sort of precision has already been depricated or recalibrated.
If I am using a ruler, the difference between the old inches is going to be less than the width of the markings on the ruler.
And buying a brand new ruler from China is probably going to be even further off! Lol
2
-
2
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
You usually get things right, but you really screwed up on the facts this time.
The inch was standardized in the US back in the 1800s, and had nothing to do with barley corns, which had been a British thing long before (though it is still the basis for shoe sizes lol).
We developed the US Customary system of weights and measures, based on the English units, but we actually standardized things instead of using barley corns or body part sizes, and so they didn't all match anymore with the English units.
We basically created a system that worked well for an industrial nation, and was given units to serve the different needs of industry. For instance, machinists use thousandths, surveyors use tenths of a foot, carpenters use fractions, etc, because they work well for the unique requirements of each.
Later England made their own standard system, the Imperial System.
During ww2, it was discovered that because the US Customary inch and the Imperial inch were a few millionths different, they were having problems with shared technologies and equipment.
So in the 1950s they decided to meet in the middle and make the Inch standard around the world, and the Imperial inch lengthed by 1.7 millionths of an inch and the USC inch shortened by 2 millionths of an inch. They picked this point because it also eliminated all the extra decimal points from the metric conversion and brought it to exactly 25.4 mm, instead of 25.46372846 or whatever it had been lol
So to claim that the inch was first standardized in the 1950s and had been based on barley corns all through the history of the United States, 2 world wars, and us leading the world in industrial growth and development, is either a lie, or shows that you think that metric is so much better that the inch doesn't deserve any respect or accurate history. It is just the common YouTube comment level of factless scorn on another group or belief system, and has no scientific validity or even basic accuracy.
Yes, for science and theory, metric is a lot better, but for instance carpentry is a lot easier dealing with 8 foot boards rather than 2440mm boards. And when using a tape measure, it is a lot easier to glance at a fractions scale than count mm.
So basically, we developed a logical and perfectly functional standardized system long before anyone else did, and built the largest industrial nation on it, and now everyone else is saying that we are stupid for not spending trillions of dollars to convert from something that works perfectly well for us to what someone else uses.
That's like saying we should stop speaking English because most people speak Chinese.
And since we already use metric wherever it makes more sense, trying to say that we should stop using US Customary when it makes more sense is just ludicrous.
Oh, and to make clear, US Customary is not based on the Metric System!
The conversion factor has been locked in between Metric, US Customary, and Imperial, but they still retain their own units.
Just like the metric system retained it's units when it was redefined by the speed of light and Plank's Constant.
So please if you are going to cast shade on our system of measurement, at least use truthful facts. It doesn't destroy your credibility as an engineer that way.
1
-
In your cost for nuclear fuel, were you just looking at the actual cost per pellet, or at the cost of refueling plus processing and storing the spent fuel?
Most of the cost of fueling a plant are in the shutdown and man hours to store the new fuel, open the reactor and replace the fuel, and then transport and store the spent fuel and waste.
With gas, the pipeline is part of the construction cost, and the gas just flows through it with minor maintenance costs, so just looking at the gas price works, but since refueling nuclear requires an extended period of time every few years where it's no longer making power, plus the costs of the refueling, that should be included in the cost of fuel, or as a separate cost of operation.
1
-
1
-
I know that when you are hating on people, facts don't matter, but I happen to be a mask proponent, and I also use metric when convenient, but you are totally wrong to say that the US uses Imperial units. We stopped using them in the 1700s, and use US Customary units, which is a different system from Imperial.
The inch didn't even used to match, until finally the UK and US agreed to each shift their respective inch slightly towards the middle lol
And the great thing about a free country is that we can choose to use whatever measurement we want, and so no one is forced to use USC over here.
However, we still have a vast installed base of USC machines and tooling that would cost billions to replace, so conversions may need to be made in some cases.
And enough with the arbitrary examples like a 1 mile bridge railing!
No engineer is going to put "1 mile" on the blueprints.
It will be in feet, or at least yards, and the math is no more difficult than figuring out how many bolts are needed in a 5280 meter guard rail with posts every 2 meters.
In addition, anyone who works with length for more than a few days will be able to remember 5280, just as you remember lots of conversion factors and stuff like Pi.
You get all drama Llama about how horrible it must be to have to REMEMBER THINGS, like somehow with metric no conversion factors or anything else needs to be memorized, that it's all just simple multiples of ten in science.
Now, if I am not arguing that metric isn't the best for science, and as I said, I use it when convenient, but you have gone beyond logic, ignored facts, and are instead far outside science into the religion of metric, and making arguments that sound like Trump, to prove your beliefs to the people who believe like you, and in the process telling others how they should think and behave.
I wish I had an intuitive feel for metric numbers, but unless we spend billions to change all the signs, football fields, books, tools, lumber sizes, (oh wait never mind, most of the world still uses USC lumber sizes, just called out in MM! I smirk whenever I see that! Enjoy your 2440mm 2x4s suckers! ;) ), machine tools, factories, laws, and our very language, and that's not something most of our citizens want or would support, and would take years to do.
And stupid videos like this just inflame the situation, and show the complete ignorance of the metric religionists of the basics of our situation or units.
1
-
I am sad when channels like this make a very nice video, and leave out the key fact. At 10%, it's just an additive to help the gasoline burn cleaner by oxygenating it, but he makes it sound like it's supposed to be replacing the gasoline.
I would agree with the video if we are talking about E85 etc, about trying to replace gasoline with ethanol, but at 10 percent, the energy content as a fuel isn't important, because it is there to reduce emissions by getting the gasoline to burn cleaner.
Since it moves the energy inputs to power plants where emissions can be better controlled, and away from the cars filling our cities, it has a net positive effect on our health.
Tractor emissions is a concern too, but the new tractors are pretty much all low emission engines with DPF filters etc, and as solar/wind gets used more for the processing, it gets better.
Now, it's just a Bandaid®™, and we should keep pushing to get away from ICE cars, as well as coal and NG power plants, and then we can convert ethanol land back to growing GMO food soaked with chemicals!....
But as long as we have ICE engine cars, ethanol does serve a valid purpose to help them run cleaner, and I think there is a balance of benefits there.
1
-
1