Timeline for Why would a ship that is able to recycle all water consumed have trouble running out of water?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 8, 2017 at 22:28 | comment | added | Basic | @stonemetal The cup isn't [half] full or empty, it's the wrong size... Water isn't a discrete unit. Multiple references were made to rationing (shrinking the size of the cups). Plus, usage would be spread out over time. It seems to be more of a peak flow issue. Think of it this way... The Tank is a buffer (or battery if you prefer electronics) As water is used, it empties. As it's recycled, it fills. Thus it can handle peak demand greater than the recycling rate for short periods. The larger the tank, the longer the system can provide water at peak times. It has to be topping off other ships. | |
| Mar 7, 2017 at 20:49 | comment | added | Dewi Morgan | That's a really clear and concise way of explaining it, @stonemetal :) And then we can go into more detail and saying "by rationing, they can probably get by for a while with only 40 cups being full at once, but at some point, even with rationing, they're gonna need to use at least 50 cups at once, and then they're in trouble." | |
| Mar 7, 2017 at 6:53 | comment | added | stonemetal | @Catija It has nothing to do with retention. Think about it this way. They have a pitcher full of water. It holds enough water to fill 100 cups. They loose 60% so now they can only fill 40 cups. They still have 100 cups that need water, so they are going to run out of water before they fill all the cups. It doesn't mater that after the cups are full they are going to recycle the water back into the pitcher, because they can't fill the cups in the first place. | |
| Mar 6, 2017 at 23:02 | comment | added | Catija | Except, based on the question, they were able to retain 100%... so this doesn't apply in this case. | |
| Mar 6, 2017 at 16:37 | review | First posts | |||
| Mar 6, 2017 at 17:05 | |||||
| Mar 6, 2017 at 16:31 | history | answered | Dewi Morgan | CC BY-SA 3.0 |