Sunday, November 21, 2010

Iron Man

I picked up the DVD of Iron Man in the supermarket about a year ago and have only just got round to watching it. What can I say? It was great fun and, if you haven't seen it, I recommend you do.



Of course the usual big hole was there: power supply. In this they got round it by 'genius creates a palm-sized fusion reactor in a cave'. It's the kind of thing we saw a lot in SF many decades ago but we're too wise to go with now ... or could it be that we're too cynical and pessimistic? Thinking on this sort of thing let me to You Tube where I note that military exoskeletons are getting closer:



However, note the power cables. Power storage is always going to be a problem ... unless of course you actually wear the battery?

6 comments:

Fader209 said...

Gotta love Iron Man!

Check out the sequel when you get the chance too as it expands upon the problems of his arc reactor and the greed of others wanting his tech.

The stories are a bit flimsy as the science is never properly explained and you just have to go with the flow of the movie that he is a billionaire genius....but then it is a comic book story after all!

Andy

Fader209 said...

Also if you haven't seen this yet check out District 9, best sci-fi movie in recent years :)

Clicky for linky

Andy

Brian said...

Ohh as i was about to say. Like Fader209, it get's better in the sequeal, as he makes one even better that the one in the 1st movie.

Perhaps someone here can update me, on those batterie that have no loss, tho currently only able to run at near 0 K (K for Kelvin).

Ryan said...

"Perhaps someone here can update me, on those batterie that have no loss, tho currently only able to run at near 0 K (K for Kelvin)"

I believe you are referring to superconductors which are materials that at certain temperatures (unfortunately at quite a bit under zero degrees C) have no electrical resistance so can transmit and store charge with no loss. I think I remember hearing that the potential energy storage would be 100Mj per litre but im not 100% on that.

Before we discover room temperature (and higher) superconductors ultracapacitors will certainly help in that respect.

the iron man films are great! im always left wondering where the fuel for his rocket boots/gloves are kept though..

LarryS said...

Yea it was good- a bit slow getting started but worth sticking with. Iron Man 2 is good too-Mickey Rourke as a bad russian-gotta be good!

Neal Asher said...

Fader209, that's a film that divides opinion. I rather like it because of the 'Men in Black' weapons. But the on-message theme was a bit tedious.

Brian, take a look for Casimir batteries - interesting.

Ryan, I think the room temperature s-con is getting closer. I must update myself on the subject.

Larry, I will get hold of II. I just hope it doesn't descend into CGI choas like the last spiderman film.