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From: johng@metheus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.politics
Subject: Re: alternate, hopefully safe, energy sources
Message-ID: <265@metheus.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Aug-84 22:44:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: metheus.265
Posted: Sun Aug 12 22:44:25 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 30-Aug-84 01:48:20 EDT
References: <1494@proper.UUCP>, <43@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Organization: Metheus, Portland Oregon
Lines: 66

> From: eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder)
> Subject: Re: alternate, hopefully safe, energy sources
> Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
> 
> [9 August 1984]
> 
> With respect to being cooked by microwaves beamed down from a
> Solar Power Satellite:
> 
> ....This is 30% of noontime Arizona sun.  This was
> chosen intentionally to prevent people and animals from getting
> cooked.
>   
> ....Should a bird fly into the beam, it would feel very hot 
> (in the day) , or just warm (at night).
> If it felt uncomfortable, presumably it would fly away.  A person
> walking into the center of the receiver at high noon on a clear day,
> and who climbed upon top of one of the receiving antennas would
> probably pass out from the combined heat of sun and microwaves.
> 
> Dani Eder / Boeing Aerospace Company / ssc-vax!eder


That would be fine if heating due to microwaves was the same as 
heating due to IR radiation.  Most of what we experience as heat
comes from contact with warmer materials (mostly air) therefore
heat is transferred to the skin where all our heat sensing nerves
and sweat glands are.  Microwaves that produce heating interact
directly with water molecules and would therefore cause heating
THROUGHOUT the creature in question.  I hope I don't have explain
what happens when your CORE body temperature goes up just a few
degrees.  Since this is internal, the creature would not detect
the temperature rise in time.

Now that that's cleared up...

The whole argument about heating up creatures/people can be avoided.
There are three different interactions between microwaves and water.

1) The microwaves are reflected by the water molecules.  Excellent
   for weather radar, but not so handy for transmitting energy 
   through a relatively moist atmosphere.

2) The microwaves are absorbed by the water and converted into heat.
   Useful for microvawe ovens.  Also not too useful from orbit
   unless cooking some clouds/animals was you intention.

3) The microwaves completely ignore the water molecules.  This allows
   the most energy to be transmitted to the ground.  Also, the beam
   isn't obstructed by wet obstacles such as clouds, animals, fools,
   and protesters who will lie in the middle of the beam :-)

Agreed the uWaves in example 3 are of the lower frequencies (i.e. 
less energy), but considering the atmosphere in which they have to 
pass through, it is still probably the most efficient.


----------- Scriiblings from the sometime schitzophrenic desk of
----------- John Gregor.

	    ...!tektronix!ogcvax!metheus!johng (for the summer)

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.  If this were an
actual emergency, do you really think we'd stick around to tell YOU?