how much power does the zpm produce?

[mightydefiant]

You did make it five, lol, good work!

Owen Macri

No it was seven...
briguy213 me briguy213 Chachi briguy213 briguy213 me then you
And the flux cuppler is on the gate, its the home symble! The primid shape are two of three lines, and the sun/moon is the thrid line.

[_Owen_]

Lol, well now we officially know that I can't count! Of course the flux capacitor is on the gate, but they had to hide it so Mckay wouldn't rip it off. lol.

Owen Macri

[mightydefiant]

but they had to hide it so Mckay wouldn't rip it off. lol.

Owen Macri

Mckay Mckay Mckay Mckay, you like him or something? And wanna bet that Sam knows its there, but doesn't want Mckay to know, after all she is the smarter one, and hoter too.

[_Owen_]

No, I just wouldn't want to be around when someone said something about the Flux Capacitor. lol, actually he is pretty cool, but I don't like him the way you are talking about, I am a guy you know.

Owen Macri

[Col. Newman]

1.21 Gigawatts!

square that and you might be getting close

[Col. Newman]

Mckay Mckay Mckay Mckay, you like him or something? And wanna bet that Sam knows its there, but doesn't want Mckay to know, after all she is the smarter one, and hoter too.

wrong McKay is smarter, and I like his attitude too

[jaden10]

Before I start, Marci, Do you have a beeper service that lets you know when there is a new message on this board? You respond quicker then anyone else. Just wondering.

Ok here is my take, and anyone who read my paper on Transporter Technology (I did have help writing that btw), know that I can put this down rather simply (well as simply as my long winded answer can be).

When I first heard of a ZPM and heard of the power it can produce (both explosive and controlled) I tried (haha) to write down what we know in our limited science that could produce it.

We know when a ZPM is sabotaged it can literally obliterate a entire Solarsystem, which suggests that a uncontrolled discharge has the power of a supernova from a red giant, which from what I read and figured out through calculations (my own time btw) has 48 to the 800th power of a 1000 megaton nuke, the amount of power that can be produced in a control fashion from such a nuke could if done in a efficent way power this planet for over 27419 years (I rounded it up, it was actually 27418 years 2 month 28 days give or take 5 3/5th of a hour). Now understandably something that can put out that much energy with our level of technology would be huge, I can't conceive how big it would be, But I estimate something along the size of mars. Now what I find impressive is that something the size of a lunch pale can produce so much power and be so distructive. (and I am not saying it isn't possable, but I also belive that there are planets that have beings that have that type of technology).

And when you think about it, with the level of technology that Atlantis has one would think that everything in that city would be so damned efficent that you could run that whole city with one ZPM with shields up running at full power, with the Gate running all the time and all the lights on and everything else on and still have enough power to run that city for the good part of 20 millenia.

Now why did 3 ZPMs only last 10000, Think about it, it was underwater and the pressure of the water had every square inch of that shield stressed. And the ZPM's had to work over time to keep it up and going.

[_Owen_]

No but I want one! Look in the about the forum section I started a thread asking for a feature that gives a pop up mesage everytime someone posts in a thread, instead of an e-mail, like the Private Message function. But no one listend.

Lol, I just remembered that you sent me that, I checked my e-mails at a friends house and I didn't want to download it there so I left it and forgot, lol, I just downloaded the attachment now, I will read it now. lol.

That is a lot of power, but your calculations could be very far off. Carter said that the ZPM could desimate our solar system, but that doesn't mean that the explosion couldn't extend further, there a considerable void between our galaxy and Alpha Centauri, the blast could extend well into that region, giving the Zero Point Module far more power than you have estimated. But seeing as we have no way of knowing I would say that your estimation is a logical answer. And wow that is a lot of power.

I would have to agree with you, in "Rising" Colonel Marshall Sumner, said that they were probably under several hundred feet of ocean. Now all of that water above would provide considerable wieght on the shield, as well, we are assuming gravity is the same on both planets, which is unlikley. So if gravity was stronger on that planet the force upon the shield would be even stronger, because the water would weigh more.

Owen Macri

[Col. Newman]

gravity would be about the same because both planets are about the same size

[jaden10]

That is a lot of power, but your calculations could be very far off. Carter said that the ZPM could desimate our solar system, but that doesn't mean that the explosion couldn't extend further, there a considerable void between our galaxy and Alpha Centauri, the blast could extend well into that region, giving the Zero Point Module far more power than you have estimated. But seeing as we have no way of knowing I would say that your estimation is a logical answer. And wow that is a lot of power.
Owen Macri

Actually I had to go back and watch that episode "Zero Hour" Where Baal wanted "Camelass" (I already miss those quips).
And also where the plant was taking over. "Attack of the killer Ferns"

I went straight to that Episode and Carter Said Verbatim "I was reading Dr. Lee report about the tainted ZPM, I think he may have underestimated the explosive potential. It could have destroyed the entire solar sysem" Jack said "Whats the differance? Sam "Well my point is if we figured it out, so could Baal, he could use it as a weapon against us"....

[_Owen_]

Yes she said it could destroy our entire solar system, but she didn't say what its' blast range was, the explosion could have destroyed the entire solar system, but stil extended well out into the void between us and Alpha Centauri, etc.

*---------------- ) **

*=Sun
----=Solar System
)=Extent of blast
**=Aplpha Centauri

As you can see, it does destroy our solar system but the blast also extends out further, this would greatley increase the energy potential of the Zero Point Module.

Owen Macri

[aironoeus]

Hey, a tainted ZPM means it has been tainted. The "tainting" could be a radioactive substance, naquada or something else. We don't know how it was rigged so don't try to figure out the electricity it can put out based on that unique circumstance in the story line. Using it as a version of supernuclear bomb is completely different than how much average watts it can put out. It is sort of being implied in that episode that it was being used as a nuclear source in which case that implies turning all of the matter contained within it plus the added chemical into energy all at one time. That's totally different than using it as a source of electricity otherwise the ZPM would shrink as each of its atoms got converted into energy. We've all seen spent ZPM's being carried around so clearly some parts of it are not being converted to energy. Besides a "Zero Point Module" implies that it is an "open system" (like a solar panel is an open system) getting its energy from the environment. When they use the term "used up" on the show it could simply mean that nanostructures within the device have been affected by heat and are degrading and so it is no longer functioning at optimum. Or they could have really tiny super strong nanomagnets in there forming parts of the structure that are reacting with an isotope of some regular element (like carbon or lithium) to trick it into beta-decaying and reverting back to its original form and the environment is forced to furnish the energy. The nanomagnets could be de-magnetizing over a period of time because of the high currents involved within in a small amount of space.

How much power?


Let's try to work from "the bottom up" on figuring out the power these fictional things put out.
We know that it was powering the shields and that there was an episode where since they didn't have a ZPM they substituted lightning. Remember that the electricity from the lightning was running through the hallways and so those conductors in the hallways have to be either ultraconducting or superconducting or there was an ultraconductor somewhere down the line from it otherwise those hallways would have melted from the heat of resistance so that tells us that we can just drop trying to figure out volts because a superconductor will just suck down the voltage and turn it into amps. So we can just deal with the total wattage or power.

A lightning strike has between 11 gigawatts for a small lightning strike and the rare mega strike has 300 gigawatts.
The storm that was depicted on that episode was very large. Normally each strike has three steps in it where you get a back and forth action "ground to sky, then sky to ground" three times within 90 milliseconds. Those big lightning rods and the fact that they were running the power through a circuit that had superconductors in it and then over to the shield means there was probably no return strike. In other words each strike got used up to power the citys shields. Since the thing wasn't flickering on and off they must have had supercapacitors somewhere in the line (which is perfect because supercaps take low voltage high current) or there was some additional beta-emissions (neutrinos) going on somewhere in the city that we are not being told about because of the lightning or its electricty that is striking some naquada and causing it to also power up (which would be a neat trick to gain even more power).
So lets figure out an average strike for that small amount of time on that episode. Let's say that we'll take the lowest 11 and the highest 300 (seems possible they would have had some megastrikes) and add them together and divide by 2 to get an average. A 155 gigawatt average strike (maybe I'm being too generous) ......say every 30 seconds means that they would have to divide the 155 gigawatts over the period of 30 seconds.
So 5.1 gigawatts to only keep the shield powered. Obviously this is an extremely rough estimate and the figures could be changed, but it kind of gives us an idea. Seems like it might be the correct order of magntitude to hold off a bunch of fast swirling moist air. Maybe it could be a little higher.

[_Owen_]

I think it is safe to say that the ZPM was "altered." The ZPM glowed blue, and for a natural function of it to change it would have to be altered, not just sprayed down with plutonium.

Owen Macri

[LiquidBlue]

Besides a "Zero Point Module" implies that it is an "open system" (like a solar panel is an open system) getting its energy from the environment.

I must politely disagree. I believe that it has been well established within the show that the ZPM is possessed with a maximum amount of energy that can be delievered. The ZPM has been consistently potrayed as essentially a battery.

The ZPM is an open system, but this because it delievers energy to the surrounding environment. In "Rising", McKay explains that the ZPM derives its energy from a self-contained region of subspace and explains that a ZPM is depleted when it reachs maximum entropy.

Of course this discussion has raised a good point. We must be aware of the difference between energy and power. Aironeus seems to believe (I hope I do not put words in your mouth, this is how I understood your post) that the ZPM is not instriniscly limited to the amount of energy it can deliever over its lifetime, that the ability to deliever energy is impaired by damage to the unit (damage that may be linked to its use or heavy use). He has provided some calculation that provide a lower limit on the power provided by the ZPM.

My feeling is that the ZPM has a maximum amount of energy that can be delievered over its lifetime (again the battery idea). It further seems that the amount of power that can be delievered by the ZPM is essentially unlimited -- I base this on Camulus's ZPM.

This is how I formulate my question. Assuming the ZPM acts more like a battery. How much longer can Ra's ZPM last? I wonder if the Atlantis team will find more functions of Atlantis that may require large amounts of energy.

[_Owen_]

You are both half right. Liquid blue more so. The Zero Point Module derives its' energy from a self contained region of subspace-time, so while it is deriving its' energy from what you could call "the environment" (aironeus). However seeing as it is a self contained region of subspace that its' energy is derived from, it cannot continuously gain energy, there is only so much located within the self contained region. (Liquid Blue) But, esentially the Zero Point Module is like a solar panel that gets its' light from a battery powered flashlight, the batterys in the flashlight will run out.

While you are both right, it is on diffrent points.

Owen Macri