In case it helps any reader, I recently discovered the [cmd + shift + a] / [control + shift + a] shortcut in chrome for ‘vertical tabs-ish’ in searchable form
From memory, we enjoyed a heatwave in Jul - August ‘21 in UK/France.
Beyond demand pressures on the interconnected European market due to secondary effects of the heat and the COVID rebound, it’s likely nuclear output was reduced as the cooling potential of water sources was reduced - I vaguely remember articles on this before the cracking issue stole ‘headlines’.
Reduced nuclear output in France results in increased demand for less cost efficient national or more-expensive-than-nuclear international (interconnected) generators.
They are misrepresenting reality. The cooling potential was fine, it is just that France has regulation for how hot the water is allowed to be at the release in order to not raise average stream temperature too much.
It is mostly to protect the ecological system, nothing to do with any technical problem. They calculated that after going through the cooling process the water would be too hot and thus, they didn't restart the reactors.
Because that is second important part, this alone wouldn't be news worthy because reactors could be running in other parts of France and electricity shifted around. But the thing is that after a lack of care/maintenance for its nuclear industry (due to political powers and belief that we could do without in the long term) after the lockdowns of COVID, France had a lot of reactors that needed repairs/inspections/maintenance; all kind of compliance for regulatory approval. So, the heatwave problem was doubling down on an already reduced capacity but most of the time it shouldn't be a problem at all...
A flawed model to understand this would be to picture a hexagon with nodes on the vertices. Then, consider a hexagon with one main node in the centre.
When electrons are tightly bound into nodes in and between the vertices, they are energetically ‘stable’. They, therefore, do not like change.
When electrons are shared equally between all nodes and are mobile, they could be considered to be ‘more active’. As the electrons are not tightly bound, it is ‘all to play for’ and some change in state may be accommodated.
The optical activity described occurs because the equally shared, ‘central node’ electrons are ‘free-er’ and have the flexibility to accept unusual states. This is because in the multi-node model, the electrons may be considered tightly bound to each node and so any the effect of any change in the state of a given electron is highly concentrated and local.
In the shared electron central node model the electrons are ‘more mobile’ and so any change in state has a distributed and shared effect across all electrons, rather than only those in a given node of the multi modal model.
To emit light, an electron must absorb enough energy to reach ‘the next level’. In the multi nodal model, the next level is extremely far away and may require so much energy that the molecule will disintegrate rather than emit light.
In the equally shared central node model, the next level is ‘accessible’ in that, whilst unstable, the mobile bulk of electrons in the molecule can accommodate the change and radiate the excess away.
The exact colour of light is determined by the energy required to reach the next level, in most cases. This is a consequence of the delocalisation of electrons in dyes, which may be considered as following the shared central node model. A further consequence is increased reactivity.
This explanation should be considered poor and ignores a lot of nuance and theory (whilst relying on a hazy memory). Likewise, it neglects to explain intriguing phenomena such as the anion-pi interaction. In any case, I hope it is not ‘too wrong’ and helps!
Exactly this. Having worked such jobs in my youth; you don’t do it for the prospects…
As you say, it’s a matter of scale. Shitty jobs have always existed, they will continue to do so. Is a job in home removals - a gruelling, backbreaking task - truly better than that of an Amazon courier, engineer, or warehouse employee? If we want to be particularly extreme, we can swap removals for mining, farm work, or heavy manufacturing.
In the long run, damaged joints n’all, I expect that the average ‘shitty job’ of today - in developed nations - is still an improvement on what came before.
Yes, a lot of this comes down to outsourcing risk and danger (e.g. from manufacturing). I’m interested in hearing opinions on this - it’s a working idea.
A fascinating watch. It is a shame that the economics do not play out in such a way that recovery and resale is feasible. Sadly, I do not expect most governments to be as proactive as Norway’s on the matter.
The documentary suggests that even covering a wreck with sand as a preventative measure costs 10s of millions of €s. Surely an opportunity for a lower cost solution exists here?
On your point on time: Carlo Rovelli’s book, The Order of Time, addresses our interaction with and perception of time extraordinarily well.
If you haven’t read Rovelli’s beautiful account of the relationship between time, entropy, and space, I highly recommend purchasing it from your local bookstore. The hardback version is especially worth acquiring!
