So, about that "unlimited range battery"

[Occulus]

I have two or three questions about the battery described in this LBN post.

First, to quote the publicity link about the announcement:

Any time a brand-new company claims it will reinvent the auto industry, eyes roll. After all, it takes years of development and tons of money just to get a single new car off the ground. We suspect that the company has some new technology to deliver, and an internet search provides a few possible hints. For instance, PetroZero quotes a company source as saying, "There are solar type panels throughout (none visible) the car, that will turn heat into energy."

Note the bolded part, and then read this.

To quote the end:

Unfortunately, the resulting current generated alternates at rates too high to be converted to DC with current technology -- new manufacturing processes will needed -- but once that problem is solved, nanoantennas should easily best solar cells in efficiency and production costs.

There's a lot of very justified skepticism going on in the LBN thread; I myself posted what I think might have happened.

Am I totally off my rocker here, or- knowing what little I already know about nanomaterials and the development status of the same- am I off my rocker for giving this any attention at all?

Because if the auto company figured out how to make the current usable, well, they can prove the concept... right?

[cosmik debris]

1. It never hurts to wait a few weeks before you make up your mind

If this is real, it will be proved soon enough.

If it is bogus, it will be disproved soon enough.

As for alternating too fast, that is obviously bogus.

Even I can design a circuit to turn AC into DC. Frequency is not the issue, it is voltage and current that create problems.

You should also pay attention to the claim about "solar" panels that "turn heat into energy". That is the kind of phrase that a dumb ass with no physics background would use. (heat is already energy, and solar panels turn light into electricity)

This has all the hallmarks of a scam. Let the others discover it in their own time.

[realisticphish]

2. unless you have another agent

(and this is reaching WAY back to physics class) i don't think you can get electricity from heat. you can heat water, which turns turbines, but theres no direct way to get power from heat

[Orrex]

3. Thermocouples?

Here's one article I found, offered without comment or critique; I know just enough about science to know that B5 geeks are even geekier than Star Trek geeks.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question136.htm

[bad_robbie]

4. Seebeck effect

Thermocouples (among other things) use the Seebeck Effect, which converts a temperature difference into a voltage. The other side of the coin is the Peltier Effect, which creates a temperature differential from a voltage. The two effects are often discussed together. I don't know of any terrestrial use of the Seebeck Effect to actually generate power (as opposed to being used as a temperature sensor). See the Wikipedia article for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect.