[HN Gopher] Can You Pump Water Without Any Electricity?
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Can You Pump Water Without Any Electricity?
Author : squircle
Score : 7 points
Date : 2024-06-07 01:42 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.wired.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.wired.com)
| serf wrote:
| A Wired article reminding adult humans that siphons exist.
|
| Feels like a bad sign for humanity that we're getting this simple
| in the citizen-science 'laymen' explanations.
|
| "Can you dig a hole without an excavator?" Wired circa 2029
| squircle wrote:
| Wait. Holes can be dug?
|
| > Feels like a bad sign for humanity that we're getting this
| simple in the citizen-science 'laymen' explanations.
|
| I agree. My gut says that if we stop reinventing the wheel and
| revisit time-tested tools we have at our disposal, there's
| plenty of low-hanging fruits to pick (in terms of innovation,
| future proofing, and practical everyday problem-solving.)
| moandcompany wrote:
| Their next article will discuss putting water on plants -- You
| know the stuff in our toilets.
| falcolas wrote:
| And Mentos will cause Diet Coke to explode. Wait, wasn't there
| a XKCD about that, specifically about not making fun of people
| for not already knowing everything you do?
| k310 wrote:
| Yes! I defrosted the small fridge, and a hand pump kept the spill
| tray from flooding the floor. Low tech can be fun.
|
| I haven't used the power weed-whacker in a long time. It raises
| too much dust. The little scythe works OK and is good exercise.
| Too bad I don't golf.
|
| Oh, and the lopper for smaller branches. Great for the biceps.
| squircle wrote:
| > Low tech can be fun.
|
| Indeed! My European-style scythe is one of my favorite tools. I
| recently picked up a "grampa's weeder" and am having almost too
| much fun pulling thistles.
| westurner wrote:
| Observed that the Second Law of Thermodynamics holds with water
| pumps, too
|
| A third way: evaporation due to relative humidity
|
| A fourth way to raise water without electricity: solar
| concentration to produce steam in a loop
|
| "Using solar energy to generate heat at 1050degC high
| temperatures" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40419617
| squircle wrote:
| > A fourth way to raise water without electricity: solar
| concentration to produce steam in a loop
|
| Nice. Perhaps some sort of system leveraging this application
| be used to charge batteries on a local, distributed grid? Or,
| simultaneously charge your electric car and heat/cool a home on
| a sunny day.
| westurner wrote:
| Is solar concentration more or less efficient than loud
| electric pumps at raising water for a water tower, which
| stores gravitational potential energy and pressurizes the
| tubes?
|
| Could heat a water tank full of gravel or sand.
|
| "Engineers develop 90-95% efficient electricity storage with
| piles of gravel"
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39927280
|
| How efficiently does a solar concentrator fill a tank of
| water at a higher altitude?
|
| (How) Does relative humidity at the top and bottom of the
| tube significantly affect fill/lift rate?
|
| Is PV to batteries to pumps more or less efficient than solar
| concentrated steam?
| mrjin wrote:
| Oh dear, we must have been moving water using our bare hands
| before electricity age.
| westurner wrote:
| - Herodotus > Life > Early Travels:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus#Early_travels ;
| https://www.secretofthepyramids.com/herodotus:
|
| > _For this, they said, the ten years were spent, and for the
| underground chambers on the hill upon which the pyramids stand,
| which he caused to be made as sepulchral chambers for himself_ in
| an island, _having conducted thither a channel from the Nile_
|
| - From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39246398:
|
| > _According to the video series on "How the pyramids were built"
| at https://thepump.org/ by The Pharaoh's Pump Society, the later
| pyramids had a pool of water at the topmost layer of construction
| such that they could place and set water-tight blocks of carved
| stone using a crane barge that everybody walked to the side of to
| lift._
|
| - "Egypt's pyramids may have been built on a long-lost branch of
| the Nile" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40410572 :
|
| - Edward Kunkel - "The Pharaoh's Pump" (1967,1977)
| https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Vq04nQEACAAJ?hl=en
| https://search.worldcat.org/formats-editions/4049868
|
| - Stephen Myers: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Steven-
| Myers/author/B003GNIQ4K : "How the Great Pyramid Operated as a
| Water Pump" https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPD2zVdMCA-
| gPa6RqoEHX...
|
| - Chris Massey: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Chris-
| Massey/author/B00DWXY3FU : "How were the pyramids of egypt really
| built - Part 1"
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJcp13hAO3U&t=401s
|
| - Lingams, though, produce electricity; and there may be
| electrode marks on some ancient prehistoric possibly geopolymer
| masonry stones. AI suggested that low level electricity in
| geopolymer would more quickly remove water from forming "blocks".
|
| - Praveen Mohan:
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe3OmUXohXrXnNZSRl5Z9kA
|
| - /? praveen mohan lingam:
| https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=praveen+mohan+l...
|
| - Was the Osireon a hydraulic lift facility without electricity?
| FWIU the Osireon is a floating megalithic stone block island over
| a different water source which flows when pressure is applied to
| it? [citation: one of the following yt videos IIRC]
|
| /?youtube osireon
| https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=osireion :
|
| - "Secrets of the Osirion | Who Built Egypt's Biggest Megalithic
| Temple? | Megalithomania" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx-
| zRw8HEAo&t=271s
|
| > _[...] it could be much older with its huge megalithic,
| perfectly cut blocks resembling those in the 4th Dynasty Valley
| Temple at Giza. Strabo, who visited the Osirion in the first
| century BC, said that it was constructed by Ismandes, or Mandes
| (Amenemhet III), the same builder as the Labyrinth at Hawara.
| John Anthony West says there were huge floods that occurred in
| the distant past and the river silt is evident at the site, so
| could easily be dated. The Osirion at Abydos in Egypt could have
| had therapeutic effects, according to Dorothy Eady (Omm Sety) who
| says she got healed by its waters, as did many others. It also
| has beautiful geometric 'flower of life' carvings on one of the
| uprights which have yet to be explained, and nubs, polygonal
| masonry and intricate, subtle striations and smoothing of the
| stones, which would not look out of place in ancient Peru.
| Whether it was 'discovered' by Seti, or whether he built it
| during his reign is discussed in this video._
|
| - "Pre-Egyptian Technology Left By an Advanced Civilization That
| Disappeared" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3uiMsqptOs
|
| - "The Megalithic Osirion of Egypt: Live Walkthrough and New
| Observations!" (2024) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TtsKKYLxPM
|
| - Osireion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osireion#Purpose
|
| - Interglacial > Specific interglacials:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interglacial#Specific_intergla...
|
| - Lake Agassiz > Formation of beaches:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz#Formation_of_beac...
| karaterobot wrote:
| I love that the illustration of the siphon filter violates half
| of the two rules of a functioning siphon filter that they just
| explained. You know less by looking at it.
| RobotToaster wrote:
| Do you think we should tell wired that steam engine pumps existed
| before electricity?
| madaxe_again wrote:
| I use a ram pump at home to lift water 70 meters from the river
| to a reservoir. I have to adjust it a couple of times a year, but
| otherwise it's a super effective way of keeping our water storage
| topped up.
|
| I'm actually considering running a hydro generator off it in the
| winter, when the pond is largely maintained by a spring, and
| getting the energy back out. It's only 100m3 or so of water, but
| allowing for efficiency losses, it's the equivalent of a ~17kWh
| battery.
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(page generated 2024-06-08 23:00 UTC)