Good idea, not-so-good comparison
Researchers at Colorado State University began working on laser ignition for heavy-duty natural-gas engines back in 2002, and more recently Ford and the University of Liverpool in the U.K. have teamed up to develop a passenger-car application. Here’s how it works: A near-infrared laser beam shines through a lens that focuses the light at a particular point (or possibly at multiple points) in the cylinder, generating intense energy that causes the air molecules to ionize. This creates a plasma discharge (it looks like a spark formed in mid-air) that ignites the air-fuel mixture. Such plasma discharges form in as little as 100 nanoseconds (100 billionths of a second — about as long as it takes the federal government to spend $13).
Really? Thirteen bucks in 100 nanoseconds?
Let’s see. That’s $130 in a microsecond, therefore $130 million in a second, or $7.8 billion in a minute. Blow this up and you’re over $11 trillion in a day, beyond even Harry Reid’s wildest dreams.
The President submitted a budget, in the much-abused Washington definition of the word, calling for a mere $3.55 trillion in spending for fiscal year 2010. This works out to $9.72 billion a day, $405 million an hour, $112,000 a second — or eleven cents a microsecond. In 100 nanoseconds, the Feds manage to spend, not $13, but a little more than a penny. Yes, folks, it’s true: it’s possible to overestimate government expenditures.
Then again, I’ve been doing this site for thirteen years. By the time thirteen more years have passed, they might actually be spending $13 in 100 nanoseconds. I shudder to think what the marginal tax rate might be by then.
fillyjonk »
21 October 2009 · 12:00 pm
Forget the money. I’m still scared about the idea of lasers in the presence of natural gas.
McGehee »
21 October 2009 · 12:07 pm
When they can use a laser to cause explosive expansion of plain old air, that’s when we’ll be able to stop pumping sludge and sending dollars to desert kingdoms.
Jeffro »
21 October 2009 · 2:02 pm
If those expenditures become commonplace, hundred dollar bills will be worth more as furnace fodder than actual cash.