ZPM's-(Spoilers)

[hail_jack]

Looking up the ZPM on Sci's Atlantis site ( http://www.scifi.com/atlantis/tech/) it had this to say about the ZPM'S..
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

"Ancient power source. Generates enormous power from vacuum energy derived from a self-contained region of subspace/time. Three ZPMs power the city of Atlantis."

Eh? Could somebody translate this into "normal" english...forgive my ingorance but I don't have a clue what they are on about...

[aAnubiSs]

Imagine two tanks with water, one with 1 meter water in it, and one with 100 meter in it. If you would connect these 2 tanks, the water would run over into the tank which had 1 meter in it. But eventually it would be 50-50, so no water would flow. Now change the tanks with our dimension and hyperspace. The energy in vaccum vs the energy in hyperspace(if they connect to hyperspace) Eventually the levels would even out.

But seeing that if they're using the ZPE the energy level should decrease, so hyperspace would fill it up again. Maybe if it's not used for a while the connection between our space and hyperspace would close. IE the ZPE malfunctions.


Check page2 for more talk about ZPMs

[Anubis]

Good explanation!

[Selmak]

sounds cool... what power source does the gate use?

[tfalls1]

Has anyone heard any hints as then why they can run out of power? Several of the boards have discussed this but nothing official from the people who have seen advance copies of the episode.....

[Lostinmyownvoid]

I'd don't think they so much run out of power as they get filled up and need to "discharge". But this is just what I've gathered from your explanations.

[Anubis]

I think they run out, and then need time to recharge. This seems like the way it works

[Jarnin]

Zero Point Energy [Wikipedia.org]

Ancient power source. Generates enormous power from vacuum energy derived from a self-contained region of subspace/time. Three ZPMs power the city of Atlantis.

ZPM stands for Zero Point Module. The module seems to have a compacted dimension within it, and it taps zero point energy from that dimension and converts it into electricity.
Think of it as a small electrical generator (module) that able to tap into a huge amount of fuel (zero point energy from the contained dimension).

sounds cool... what power source does the gate use?

Right now they use electricity that is pumped into supercapacitors, which are directly connected to the gate and released all at once in order to charge the gate.

Has anyone heard any hints as then why they can run out of power?

If they actually contain a pocket dimension, the module would expend energy keeping it contained. It's possible that the crystal material the module is constructed of isn't able to keep containment for more than a few million years. While the crystal breaks down, the modules capacity would shrink, and the energy it stored would bleed off. Eventually the energy runs dry, but it's not because the universe runs out of vacuum fluctuations or something silly like that.