If ZPMs are supplied by Zero Point Energy and Zero Point Energy is made out of a vacuum (a.k.a nothing, or as close to nothing you can get) how can one possibly run out of power?
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Law of conservation of energy?"For now, you are in need of food and rest, and I am in need of armor" -
Remember that ZPMs derive their energy from vacuum in other realities or something. The Atlantis episode where they find that experimental power source explains it. That energy source is derived from vacuum in our reality. Mckay mentions that it would be everlasting if it worked. Maybe due to science beyond us only a certain amount of energy can be obtained through vacuum in other realities.
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A ZPM has contained sub-space inside it (aka what's around a ship in hyperspace). So how it depletes... I dunno.
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Because there would be no need to keep looking for ZPMs.
It's called a dramatic device, people.
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The vacuum's energy is 0.
ok, now you extract energy from the vacuum, say one unit, how much do you have left?
0 - 1 = -1
ok, now extra more units.
-1,-2,-3.....
At some point, there will be so much negative energy crammed into the thing that you can't suck out anymore. The ZPM is ofcourse only about a cubic foot of space in there.Comment
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Thanks. I read an Article on Zero Point Energy recently and Stargate instantly popped to mind almost imediatly followed by "how would that work".Originally posted by Alexein
The drama factor might fit in their somewhere too....
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I don't think they deplete but some part in the ZPM simply wears out over time with use.sigpic
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Zero point energy is in name only. It cannot be used to do work.Originally posted by sci_fi_child"Thermodynamics is the only physical theory of universal content which, within the framework of the applicability of its basic concepts, I am convinced will never be overthrown." — Albert EinsteinComment
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Exactly like UltramarioMan said, the ZPM's doing run out of power, they reach maximum entropy. Which I think means that the avrious buffers containing the subspace region break down, because of this the ZPM fails.Comment
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thats not how ZPE works, and i guess not how a ZPM works ethier.Originally posted by Alexein
http://www.zpenergy.com
that may help explain, there is heaps of stuff there.Comment
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Entropy is the Key
Entropy is a measure of energy dispersal (how spread out energy becomes), by performing actions you increase Entropy in the universe. The important thing is that Entropy has an upper limit, "Maximum Entropy" after this no more actions can be performed. So the universe "ends"
By extracting energy from a pocket universe (the ZPM) you increase its entropy but by the simple fact that the pocket universe is so much smaller than our own its Maximum Entropy is reached much more quickly and then no more energy can be extracted, leaving it depletedsigpicComment
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Dude, Stargate is a TV show, it doesn't have to follow the real laws of physics exactly.Originally posted by SmallTimePerson
If it did, i'd be complaining how they don't suffer time dilation effects when moving at sublight.
Also, there is no certainty that Zero Point Energy even exists or can even be used.
Calculations using classical mechanics show the vaccum energy to be close to ZERO. While calculations using Quantum mechanics show the energy to be on the order 10^120 or something.
If there was THAT much energy in a vaccum we would all be dead. The tremendous pressure from such an energy field would blow apart all matter.
Observations of the universes expansion pegs the vaccum energy as possibly being somewhere at ~0.67
clearly, there is something wrong with our numbers that we can't quite figure out.
If we can't figure out this discrepancy how can we figure out a way to extract the energy? Granted, sometimes things are done without a full understanding of them (science is full of weird and wonderful accidents.). But i would bet good money that no one has built a useful working Zero Point Energy system.
So until someone does, how the ZPM in stargate works is fair game for anyone to theorize. Heck that red cylinder can have a hamster on a wheel for all we know.
The closest we've gotten to ZPE is a Casimir effect experiment. The problem with that is that it gives you a pulse of very LITTLE power 10^-15 joule, and then its done. No constant source.
There is also a more fundamental problem with Zero point energy, once you take away the minimum amount of energy a vacuum has, what do you have left? Less than minimum? how does that work?
So will reassert that the Stargate ZPM works by ripping energy out of a vacuum and leaving behind negative energy waste which also results in maximum entropy inside the artificial universe crammed inside the module of finite size. Once its filled, its unusable.
(by the way the numbers above i didn't pick out of my ass, they came from the article "Exploiting zero point energy" by Philip Yam in Scientific American Magazine December 1997 page 82-85. And from the lectures of Dr. Robert Abraham Professor of Astronomy for the University of Toronto.)Comment
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Right... and the Hampster eventually has a heart attack. My god that's brilliant!So until someone does, how the ZPM in stargate works is fair game for anyone to theorize. Heck that red cylinder can have a hamster on a wheel for all we know.
Seriously though... it's TV people. If the BC-303 could stand up in a one-on-one fight against a Hive Ship or Ori weapons platform, there's no more show; the challenge of figuring out how to beat them is over. They find a storehouse with 1001 ZPMs and oh look at that, we've got power for everything we ever need and then some. McKay and Sam figure out a way to replenish ZPMs and same thing.
Sure it's not the end of the show if all that crap were the case, but the show is pretty damn boring.Comment
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ZPM's are another pet peeve of mine. The whole issue of ZPM's irks me. What are the odds that they arrive on Atlantis JUST as the ZPM is failing. What are the odds that all other ZPMS are either dead or inaccesible? Come on! Give me a break. Either find a ZPM or figure out how to replenish/replace it.Comment
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