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Post by rmc on Sept 29, 2021 22:12:21 GMT
Aluminum (Aluminium)?
Plutonium?
Titanium?
I'd list steel, but it's been around for longer than the above. Apparently, a lot longer. And, is likely part of the iron Age.
Some other metal maybe?
Or is it "None" because, you know, "Space Age"...
But, if it were a metal, would ours be the Aluminum Age, for instance?
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Post by the light works on Sept 30, 2021 1:30:33 GMT
I like the idea of calling it the space age polymer age.
I guess technically we're post space age. maybe we should be the lithium age. that would cover our battery technology AND our gradual degradation in mental health. (as a species)
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Post by rmc on Sept 30, 2021 10:37:33 GMT
I like the idea of calling it the space age polymer age. I guess technically we're post space age. maybe we should be the lithium age. that would cover our battery technology AND our gradual degradation in mental health. (as a species) Yes. A couple of very good arguments for lithium. In regard to its use in batteries, are they actually trying to move away from lithium, or more toward it, merely utilizing better ways to prevent fire? |
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Post by wvengineer on Sept 30, 2021 11:22:00 GMT
You could make the argument for silicon. Okay maybe not a metal, bit it is what semiconductors and by extension the whole information age is based on.
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Post by wvengineer on Sept 30, 2021 11:33:47 GMT
In regard to its use in batteries, are they actually trying to move away from lithium, or more toward it, merely utilizing better ways to prevent fire? Lithium is toxic and expansive. There are currently only a few good locations to mine for it in the world. The largest is in China. So part of the thinking is that if we don't completely trust china, we don't want to be reliant on them for the raw ingredients for something that is growing to be more and more a part of our lives. Bewynd that, there are questions about if the world has enough lithiym to really support the demand that people are foreseeing over the coming decades. Lithium-Ion batteries have their issues. Energy density is good, but not great and heat is an issues in various forms of use. So new batteries are under development. Some are just trying to make a better battery and will see where that takes them for raw materiel usage. Others are working to develop batteries that use more commonly available materails so they can reduce cost and bring battery use to more and more parts of life. Right now, there is a huge demand for a better battery. SO we'll just have to see what comes out in the long run. |
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Post by rmc on Sept 30, 2021 11:44:50 GMT
In regard to its use in batteries, are they actually trying to move away from lithium, or more toward it, merely utilizing better ways to prevent fire? Lithium is toxic and expansive. There are currently only a few good locations to mine for it in the world. The largest is in China. So part of the thinking is that if we don't completely trust china, we don't want to be reliant on them for the raw ingredients for something that is growing to be more and more a part of our lives. Bewynd that, there are questions about if the world has enough lithiym to really support the demand that people are foreseeing over the coming decades. Lithium-Ion batteries have their issues. Energy density is good, but not great and heat is an issues in various forms of use. So new batteries are under development. Some are just trying to make a better battery and will see where that takes them for raw materiel usage. Others are working to develop batteries that use more commonly available materails so they can reduce cost and bring battery use to more and more parts of life. Right now, there is a huge demand for a better battery. SO we'll just have to see what comes out in the long run. great info. I always thought China has a history of being important to the world.. gun powder, silk, the silk road... etc. To me, if China continues to be a factor in various things, I can't really hold it against them, given their world history. But, if they become a tyranny, that is the dividing line. Question is are they becoming one, cannot become one, or already are one? So, lithium has a sort of brief appearance on the stage regarding this thread's topic. For that reason, and even though it is toxic, I feel that future historians will call the past 100 years and on, the Aluminum Age. My guess. |
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Post by the light works on Sept 30, 2021 14:46:04 GMT
of course, the ages aren't all named specifically after metals - they are named after the predominant technology of the age. it just happens that metals make useful tool materials, so they tend to be predominant, but can be overshadowed, hence space age and information age.
so would that make us the AI age?
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Post by rmc on Sept 30, 2021 17:16:42 GMT
True.
After all "Stone Age" isn't so much about metal is it.
That's likely why "we" more or less guess or call ourselves the "Space Age".
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Post by the light works on Sept 30, 2021 17:37:14 GMT
True. After all "Stone Age" isn't so much about metal is it. That's likely why "we" more or less guess or call ourselves the "Space Age". and why most synthetics around us are technically space age polymers. |
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Post by rmc on Sept 30, 2021 18:59:16 GMT
True. After all "Stone Age" isn't so much about metal is it. That's likely why "we" more or less guess or call ourselves the "Space Age". and why most synthetics around us are technically space age polymers. To be fair, though, I did try and field this concern about the topic early on, asking to forgive that fact, and consider instead what metal it would be if there had to be one. I'm guessing Lithium is still your entry. It's good. |
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Post by the light works on Sept 30, 2021 19:28:33 GMT
and why most synthetics around us are technically space age polymers. To be fair, though, I did try and field this concern about the topic early on, asking to forgive that fact, and consider instead what metal it would be if there had to be one. I'm guessing Lithium is still your entry. It's good. and I managed to resist suggesting heavy metal until now. but yes, I'm sticking with lithium. |
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Post by rmc on Oct 9, 2021 17:28:19 GMT
Trying to extract lithium from lithium batteries today show how little lithium there actually is now. In fact, the main metals are, oddly enough, ALUMINUM, copper, nickle, and magnesium. Though those amount to the main ingredients, the actual active ingredient is still, of course, lithium, but as lithium oxide.
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Post by the light works on Oct 9, 2021 18:14:30 GMT
Trying to extract lithium from lithium batteries today show how little lithium there actually is now. In fact, the main metals are, oddly enough, ALUMINUM, copper, nickle, and magnesium. Though those amount to the main ingredients, the actual active ingredient is still, of course, lithium, but as lithium oxide. and it still amazes me that cordless microphones are still not made to run on lithium ion rechargeable batteries. it seems to me like that is the PERFECT application, because they are rarely in a venue that needs a rapid charging cycle. - and slow charging li-ion batteries gives them almost infinite service life. (it is the heat from fast charging that degrades them) |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 9, 2021 19:03:48 GMT
Professional sound men have never wanted to depend on rechargeable batteries. They want to put a fresh battery in the microphone at the start of a show and know it’s going to last for the six or eight hours required and then throw it out. The last thing they want is to show up for a show and find that someone forgot to put the microphones on charge.
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Post by ironhold on Oct 9, 2021 21:27:13 GMT
Professional sound men have never wanted to depend on rechargeable batteries. They want to put a fresh battery in the microphone at the start of a show and know it’s going to last for the six or eight hours required and then throw it out. The last thing they want is to show up for a show and find that someone forgot to put the microphones on charge. Long-running tabletop gaming - themed comic Knights of the Dinner Table had a story arc where a couple of individuals in a gaming group decided to explore some steam tunnels under their city, a reference to a long-running real-life urban legend about players wandering into steam tunnels while attempting to "play" the game for real. As part of it, the radios they had were using rechargeable batteries, and no one had remembered to recharge them. Thus they were stuck in the tunnels for a few hours before they finally wandered out, only to learn that a search and rescue operation was on for them because they hadn't returned on schedule. Oops... |
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Post by the light works on Oct 9, 2021 23:21:51 GMT
Professional sound men have never wanted to depend on rechargeable batteries. They want to put a fresh battery in the microphone at the start of a show and know it’s going to last for the six or eight hours required and then throw it out. The last thing they want is to show up for a show and find that someone forgot to put the microphones on charge. yeah, there's a debate in the digital camera world about that, too. on the one side there's the ones who want to be able to run to the store and get a pack of batteries, and then there's the ones who have a better use for $5.00 per use. I like being able to just throw my batteries in the charger for an hour if I know I'm going to be using my camera in the near future. but with mics, they could just be stored in a smart charger. |
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