🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1goebdINNik@gap.caltech.edu> carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:
>
>But enough energy to move that vehicle
>on the order of 100 miles at freeway speeds is still around there someplace. 
>It didn't just vanish.  And that's a LOT of energy.  And it got dumped FAST.
>
>In other words:  BOOM!

I am not going to argue the above point, but consider this.  If you are
going to measure danger by the amount of stored energy, then which is
more dangerous when it explodes?  A flywheel that has enough energy to 
move a car 100 miles at freeway speeds, or a tank of gasoline with enough 
energy to move a car at greater-than-highway speeds for 300 miles?

>Unless you wrap the flywheel in a massive enough container that it can absorb
>all that energy without vaporizing, you're going to have an explosion.

Why bother, we don't wrap our gas tanks in a container that would contain
their explosion?

The point I am trying to make is that flywheels may be dangerous, but driving
around with 20 gallons of gasoline strapped to the bottom of your car in a
thin sheet metal container is A LOT MORE dangerous.  But we consider that 
risk as acceptable considering the convenience that we get from our cars.
So, why the worry about deriving the same convenience from a lesser danger?
Because people are not used to doing it every day...