[DarkSpirit]

I think its the Pacific ocean

[Cheiron]

ok, people are growing impatient for the answer to what earth's biggest ocean is...so here goes (bare with me, it is an interesting story I think):

the following story is latest theories about the earth and it's history that astrophysicists believe actually happened, so don't blame me.... lol

We have to start 4,5 billion years ago when the Earth was quite young. It is believed that back then there was another earthlike planet between Mars and the Earth... some astrophysicists call that "Orpheus".

It so happened that Orpheus and the Earth got too close and at some point Orpheus hit into the Earth due to the mutual gravitational pull. The impact took off some of the crust of the Earth. Orhpeus reformed and slammed directly into Earth later, causing a huuuuge disaster that leaves the meteor that scientists believe caused the dinousaurs to dissapear to be a new year cracker in comparison.

During the second impact the cores of both planets fused creating a huge core in the Earth and the remains of Orpheus and earth that circulated formed the moon. The moon has no heavy core to speak of.

So the answer to what the biggest ocean is:

It is right under your feet. ... 3000 km under to be fairly exact. It consists of a large ocean of fluid iron and nikkel at a temperature of around 4000 - 6000 °C and under a very very big pressure. The ocean of fluid iron is estimated to be 100 times bigger than the Pacific Ocean and fills about 23% of the Earth's mass. (of course the Pacific Ocean is the biggest surface water ocean on Earth), but the iron sea beneath us is immense compared to even that.

The swirling iron core is what creates the magnetic field that earth has, reaching out hundreds of kilometeres into space, and as Studio 12 mentioned the atmosphere protects us from.... the solar wind (and other things). but so does the magnetic field the earth has. The moon has no magnetic field to mention.

Now... the Sun produces around 383 trillion kW per second (and no you can't imagine that even if you tried)... part of that continuous energy burst is a big flow of matter, metals, various isotopes etc... among them Helium 3 and various heavy metals that due to the lacking atmosphere or magnetic field on moon smacks right into it, and we should prolly be very thankfull to Orpheus for loosing the battle with Earth back then

Hence the interest in the moon and the relation to this topic.

Now for the more energy concerned utilization things:

We left off with Helium 3 and ITER fusion reactor.

Helium 3 has a core of 2 protons and 1 neutron.

Heavy Hydrogen has a core of 1 proton and 1 neutron.

When they are smashed together at very high speed, you get Helium 4 whith 2 protons and 2 neutrons + 1 loose proton.

Since Helium 4 is slightly lighter in mass than Helium 3 + Heavy Hydrogen, Einstein tells us that even if the mass loss is small, due to c, the speed of light ,it is HUUGE amounts of energy we are talking about.

Estimate is that we have around 1 million tons of helium 3 on moon.
100 tons of it = 1 year energy consumption on whole earth.

Another benefit the wise guys talk about is that, with ITER fusion reactor using just hydrogen, we would have radioactive waste still, but with using Helium 3, we would have none !

And as I said before: the problems to get the whole circus working is twofold: get the fusion reactor to work, and device a way to collect and transport He3 down here.

Social futuristic implications:

Well to muse a bit, let's turn to the wild west and the forming of USA. If the moon is colonized and it eventually grows into regular populations, many people that are occupied with these things believe it would in end create a new nation, as was the issue with USA. It might also render social inequality futile, and all the energy wars that are at core of what we see now.

It will be interesting to see just some of it... and I hope you find it interesting, I am not a professional in these matters though, so correct me if you want, but I think what I have stated is correct.
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)

[Cheiron]

For those in auditorium that hasn't fallen into a coma yet a bit more.

Let's turn back to fission nuclear power plants and look at problems and developments.

Unlike Denmark that said no to fission power long time ago (with a public debate that took 10 years) and which is a dead fish in danish politics today and prolly in all future, Finland embrased it.
25% of Finish energy demand is powered by nuclear fission energy, and they plan to build 1-2 more.
Even though making a nuclear program is the most expensive project in energy sector to develop, part of reasoning is: they already have it running, and can maintain existing plants for maybe 20-30 years still at reasonable cost. They also have a lot of heavy industry that craves a LOT of energy.... and ... they really don't like to be energy dependant on Russian energy export

The worlds largest fission reactor (a pressurized water reactor) is currently being built just about 250 Km from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, in a place called Olkiluoto. When finished it will produce 1600 MW !

They are drilling 4 km long shafts into the 1,8 billion years old bedrock to make permanent solutions for storage of radioactive waste, and of course the nuclear guys says that bedrock 400 meters down in Finland is stone solid... however there are critics that say that iceage etc and changes in volcanic activity can change that. As mentioned before ... 100.000 years deposit is a pretty long time, and god knows what can happen ... will eventual people in some distant future even understand the warning signs to stay the hell away from there???

Let's turn to Germany. 22% of their energy consumption is provided by nuclear fission energy plants. For ages the SPD and CDU (dominant left and right wing parties) have agreed to outphase that energy production form. However now they have second thoughts. CDU thinks that nah, we should hold on still, we have too much at hands now to get a stabile energy situation, cause things are looking bleak. CDU is first and foremost concerned about the rising oilprices and the climate agreements they have signed, but maybe the Russian ghost is also lurking in the backalleys of political talks

While this CDU change suddently came, Germany is facing their biggest environmental scandal ever prolly.

It has to do with the area around a little town called "Asse"

Schacktanlage Asse 2 is an old saltmine shaft, that has been used to deposit around 120.000 barrels of nuclear waste from majorly Kernkraftwerke Brokdorf. Problem today is... the barrels are in danger of leaking, nobody knows really. There is a big risk that the radioactive waste will seep into the groundwater, and it is big big issue in Germany. People are infuriated that it wasn't better contained. Measurements say that the radiation around the shaft is 8 times bigger than allowed today ! People in and around Asse don't know if they can drink the water or grow vegetables even today, and it can spread to a much wider area than that.

Personally, I understand nations that already have fission plants running, I also understand their energy concerns... but in the long run, the risk, the risk....

So... hmmm 100.000 years of containment... think good now, is it worth the risk, can you put a guarantee on that it is safe, if you had to make the decision?
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)