User talk:Nforest

Welcome!
Hi, I got your e-mail just now. Still have not had a chance to read the web article yet. However, the fundamental problem you have to face (even if you convince me on all the technical issues) is WP:NOR, which is cruel but necessary. I ordinarily do not revert technical material I think is correct even if it is not well-sourced, but we are really supposed to, and many other editors will. In this case, the idea did seem ill-conceived on several different grounds, and I felt that defending the technical respectability of Wikipedia called for quick action. As you will see on the talk page, I did offer three points of criticism there, and actually ran actually into criticism myself for being too "long-winded", instead of just slashing, based on WP:OR.

I'll withhold further comment until I have had a chance to study the page. Meanwhile, you might want to study the links above some of the rules that run this place, especially the "five pillars", and "Policies and guidelines"

Cheers, Wwheaton (talk) 06:55, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Hi, I have looked at the web article you reference, and it has problems that are so extensive and deep that I think there is not much hope of an easy fix. Even a complete explanation would require material equivalent to a course or two in physics and astrodynamics, and that is too much for me to undertake. However, the objections I raised on the article talk page summarize the major issues re geothermal power. Texts on the thermodynamics and kinetic theory of gases, and the physics of atmospheres in a gravitational field, give the basic conceptual issues more thoroughly, though none of them treat your particular application.

If a gas existed with molecular weight much much less than air, say 100 or 1000 times less, then things might be different, but no such matter is known; and if it existed at all, Earth's gravity could not hold it, so it should have escaped into space. The issues of the general abundance of solar energy in near-earth space, and the practical matter of competivity with other power sources even on the ground, would remain.

Sorry that is all I can do.

Regrets,

Bill Wheaton, Wwheaton (talk) 18:09, 31 May 2008 (UTC)