News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq by eagerpace on Friday August 13, 2021 @10:29AM (#28169292)
I'm not a fan of the gym, as I prefer to stay active other ways, but I often wonder if the effort and energy expended there could be put to better use? This is perhaps an example of that.
Re:First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq by dragontamer on Friday August 13, 2021 @10:36AM (#28169419)
How many men do you need before you have one horsepower?

One horsepower is .7 kW. A horse working for an hour nonstop would be .7kW hrs.

Now, how many men do you need working constantly before you have comparable strength to a 20kW generator sipping a little bit of gasoline?

Re:First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq by kaybe on Friday August 13, 2021 @10:50AM (#28169579)
Here is an olympic cyclist barely managing to toast bread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ

Electricity is nice.

Re:First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq by dragontamer on Friday August 13, 2021 @11:48AM (#28170470)
The idea that a singular man can output a horsepower (~700W) for enough time to toast bread is still very impressive to me!

Clearly an Olympic-level athlete. That being said, I can't help but imagine that with some optimization, it could make the electricity generation a bit easier (maybe more RPM but less torque needed?). Clearly, the video shows him straining and pushing.

Power == RPM * Torque, converting to less torque but more RPM with gears probably would be easier.

Re:First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq by rhn_mk1 on Friday August 13, 2021 @01:20PM (#28171761)
> A horse working for an hour nonstop would be .7kW hrs.

More like 8.4kWh.

> data from the horse pulling contest at the 1925 Iowa State Fair showing that peak mechanical power output of a horse is 12-14.9 HP.

https://doi.org/10.1038/364195a0

Re:First batch of student’s washing machines shipped to Iraq by Animats on Friday August 13, 2021 @03:14PM (#28173201)
That's peak. Average is much lower. 1 HP is supposed to be a horse on a treadmill for a full day of work. A horse in acceleration is outputting far more than that for a few seconds.