No More Trash: PyroRobots!

A teaser, with hair metal and robots.

Why business, art, and science are all, basically, the same thing.

So here's the basic idea: nothing ever goes away.

We're not just talking about Dunkin Donuts' styrofoam cups or the waste from Chernobyl. We're talking about everything. This is the Law of the Conservation of Energy and Mass.  Questions? iBlogAmerica brings you a demonstration.

PyroRobot Experiment

Take the most easily pictured reaction: burning paper. Let's be super nerd pyros in this thought experiment. Picture a perfectly sealed room-- nothing can get in or out of it. Imagine that room is sitting on an enormous scale that measures mass. Imagine there was a device that could also measure the precise amount of energy in that room-- light, heat, every type of energy possible.

Now for the fun part. Build a PyroRobot. Just because you've always wanted to. It's whole job is to take a match, strike it on a matchbook, and then touch the burning match to something (sure, we could just have a flame throwing robot or something, but I like the retro vibe of my PyroRobot.) Put the Pyro Robot, a match, a matchbook, and a newspaper in the room, then turn on Def Leppard. It's a lot of work, sure, but that's why you've got Def Leppard with you. To pour the sugar on it.

Ok, anyway-- proceed with the inevitable robot burning experiment and you'll find something wonderful: the law of the conservation of energy and mass. When the paper burns, it leaves ash and smoke-- but it also releases the energy of the paper into the air in the room. The newspaper suddenly appears to be so much less stuff but, in fact, the mass and energy have just a done little switching hands. It's like a game of poker: at the end, your money might be in someone else's pocket, but there isn't any more (or less).

Imagine if we took this idea away from the PyroRobots (they must be stopped!) and started applying it to less cool but way more pressing problems.  Imagine, also, that you downloaded "Pour Some Sugar On Me."  Because you know you want to listen to it. Right. Now.

Next post? I'll talk about how my idea of “The No Trash Principle” could save, well, everything.

Got your attention?