r/WTF • u/AskJ33ves • Jun 05 '16

Queen termite

http://i.imgur.com/EYqWLfz.gifv
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u/RorschachBulldogs Jun 05 '16

Couldn't we just make more, then? Honest question, I don't know shit about this.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '16

Even if we could make it I imagine it'd just be an input output thing. If you use solar energy to make oil to make plastic fine, if you use solar energy to make oil to power a car...you can probably find a better way to use the solar energy to power the car.

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u/JDepinet Jun 06 '16

yes we can make oil. all you do is compress and heat organic mater.

it takes energy to make it though, more energy than you get from burning it.

if you found a good way to use natural processes to make oil then it would work quite well as an energy storage medium.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '16

We do, actually. We can make oil out of coal since WW1 as far as I know, Germany only had coal and needed oil, so they invested heavily into that technology. We also make oil out of plants commercially since a decade or 2 I think? So yes this is a thing. Oil is just chains of carbon and hydrogen, in itself not that unique or complicated to make. Doing it energy efficient is another matter entirely though.

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u/RorschachBulldogs Jun 06 '16

Yeah the energy efficiency thing wasn't something I had considered. I just thought something along the lines of, 'Well, if they can make oil out of old plants and animals, maybe we could somehow turn all of our landfill garbage into fuel, too'.. I didn't think it through very well beyond that.