Q:Hello,I'm doing a research project that requires me to report on five ethical missteps made by engineers/staff at the Fukushima plant that caused the disaster. I'm having trouble with this research because most of the information i'm finding centers around the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that caused so much damage.Can anyone point me toward any human errors that centered around poor ethical judgement?

If you just google human error fukushima you're going to get (a) a few articles from the summer of 2011; (b) a rash of articles from July, 2012; (c) a rash of articles from Oct-Nov, 2013; and (d) a rash of articles from last week (Feb 2014). Whether all will cite ethical missteps is unknown to me.

Q:For anyone well up on EMD E and F units: saw a rather frightful picture last night of an F unit slamming into a switcher. not pretty ofcourse. it was on a curve so the F unit fell to her side to the outside of the curve. but not before breaking in half right behind the cab. the picture caption remarked that this was a common feature of the Es and Fs. By design? for safety? or design flaw? first time id seen this type of damage to an F, and certainly have never heard this comment of them. can someone clarify please? Couple days ago i was doing some reminiscing of railfanning way back in the day. i was fondly thinking of the great time i had with the crews. got to thinking about more of the details. all the stuff they had shown me. then something popped into my head. torpedoes! back then, scary lil devices to me! but rightlyfully so. so while im here in questions, are track torpedoes still used (when needed)? are they still around? havent seen one in quite along time since ive thought about it.thank you!

No, none of the class 1's hvae F or E-units that they use in freight service. However, a couple class 1's, including CP NS do own active F-units that are used for business trains or other special passenger trains, such as CP's Royal Canadian Pacific, which is pulled by F-units.

Q:Hi. Wondering if someone could help me out with some info on how to change the output of a generator from 60hz to 50hz without a converter? Some advice would be appreciated. Thanks .

The frequency need depends on the application. clocks are a good example because they use the frequency as an internal timer. some devices will operate fine on a close but different freq. same with voltage, most devices know that voltage ranges. Depends on the variance.

Q:Can anyone help me figure out where I can find a diesel motor that can be used in a motorcycle? Can I take the motor out of a diesel generator or should I buy a new/used one made specifically for a motorcycle?

The military has some Kawasaki KLR 650's converted to diesel, try hunting for one of them at army surplus stores. You do realize that bio-diesel takes more energy to produce than gasoline right? That's why it has been abandoned as an alternative fuel. But by all means go ahead, a diesel bike would be cool!

Q:I have bought an ex hire Pike trafic signal trailer which contains a diesel generator. it looks very similar to this (

There is no way to convert the generator itself to 240. The simplest way would be to just use a 110 to 240v transformer to boost the output to 240. And your rated wattage will decrease by at least the ratio of 110/240.

Q:I'm after a small generator (no more than 2kw)I'd like the tank to last at least 3 hours on one fill and if it were diesel and silent that would be even better.If it could also have a built in inverter (for home use) that would also be good. It's for UK power so a 3pin socket would be preferable and 230v power is a must.

Something in my aged memory suggest you need 50 Hz. in the UK If so, A 197 volt @ 50 Hz. generator output would be the voltage AND FREQ. you would need. There is no such thing as a quiet diesel engine. I think LISTER engines builds SMALL DIESEL ENGINE WITH AN ATTACHED GENERATORoR SOME YEARS BACK THEY DID.

Q:how does a generator work powerlessly. i mean like if there is a black out people cna generate energy from like a generator. well then how come a generator work without the help of anything? (NOT TALKInG About the hydropower generator, the one that spins.

As pointed out generators convert mechanical energy into electricity. The mechanical energy is provided by an engine that uses some type of fuel like diesel or natural gas. All generators spin to produce power. well then how come a generator work without the help of anything? Backup generators do seem to magically produce electricity during a power failure Backup generators are fitted with automatic controls that handle the starting and placing of the generator onto the buildings power bus. The automatic controls are powered from the AC mains to keep a set of batteries charged. THe batteries are used at the beginning of a blackout to power the automation and start the generator. (Once the generator is running these batteries may then be recharged from the power produced by the generator or when the AC mains is re-established.) Electronic controls sense the loss of AC power and trigger a starting sequence. The generators starter is engaged to crank over the diesel or Gas engine. The controls monitor this process to ensure the engine actually starts and that an excessive amount of cranking doesn't occur. Once the engine is running and brought up to proper speed additional automatic controls disconnect the now powerless AC mains from the buildings buss and connect the Generator power to the buildings electrical panel. Based upon the size of the generator some or all of the buildings power may be supplied by the backup generator. Without the automation the process is still the same except a persone would have to perform the process of starting the gen and placing it on line. Its not difficult to do but does require some trainng. Automation performs this startup process quicker that what a humam would be likely to do.

Q:I could see how it could benefit certian classes of commercial trucks,heavy equitment;ect!but what about passanger cars though?

The same purpose of having a hybrid gasoline car. Bragging rights, feeling good, being green, and helping to solve a non-existent problem with so called green house gasses.

Q:I bought an old moving truck that I only want for storage. It will be parked on my off grid property. I would like to rig it to run a generator that could charge up a large bank of batteries for when my solar isn't collecting enough power. I know it can be done but I'm curious first, how to do it, and second, if it's worth doing? Thank you very much for your input.

For emergency and the occasional deep cell charge up, yeah why not. You could either use the alternator that came with it, and maybe add a few more, or head down to Harbor freight and buy a 10kv generator ($350)and hook it up to the back side of that 7.2 using a few parts from behind the Grainger parts counter. However, if this is a 7.3 Ford(International) motor we're talking about. You're better off selling it for parts and buying a brand new Honda or Onan generator. Those international motors are a headache.

Q:3 mi Island and Chernobyl catastrophies were also results of buffoons operating the plant. Is nuclear energy going to die because humans are too greedy, lazy, and stupid?

The biggest human error would be building a plant on a major fault line. But if you look at the insanely high cost of building a nuclear power plant, the difficulty of managing it (as you see in the news now every night), plus the costs of dealing with nuclear waste that will be toxic for thousands of years, it is clear that nuclear power is ridiculous. The only thing going for it is that it produces near zero greenhouse gases. Solar, wind, geothermal and conservation are far better in every respect.