Answer to waste problems

[Boltrig]

Im loathed to post this in general, because you tend to get the more intellegent people in politics.

Is it possible, in theory, to deconstruct molecules down to an atomic level and reconstruct them as more usefull elements.

I was reading another thread that put me in mind of a device in doom 3 that was made for that purpose. Granted its just a videogame, but what I wanted to know is Is the theory sound?

In the future, with a higher technology base, would it be possible? If not what are the barriers?

Think about it. Nuclear waste isnt a problem any more. Landfills will be olsolete. Exit gasses from power plants / factories could be trapped and turned into pure O2 before release. Most problems would be pretty much solved.

Please dont reply with all sorts of insults, I know nothing about chemistry / physics. My course is in computer programming. This is a genuine quest for enlightenment!

[Korriken]

you would have to break molecules down to the molecular level, which would require vast amounts of power in order to do. so.. how are we gonna get that much power? There's a question that if you could answer, there is always a chance it could happen.

[Korriken]

lol jeez, I feel stupid. break molecules down to the molecular level?

what i MEANT was. Breaking molecules down to subatomic particles, which we could rearrange into usable atoms, then into usable materials. but that would allow us to LITERALLY reshape the world around us however we see fit and could possibly throw everything out of whack.

[ERPMISTER]

Ha!

[EndGameOmega]

At 4/19/07 12:43 PM, Boltrig wrote: Im loathed to post this in general, because you tend to get the more intellegent people in politics.

Is it possible, in theory, to deconstruct molecules down to an atomic level and reconstruct them as more usefull elements.

I was reading another thread that put me in mind of a device in doom 3 that was made for that purpose. Granted its just a videogame, but what I wanted to know is Is the theory sound?

Sound? Yes, you can decompile a molecule into it's respective components; actually this is what refining is, and a significant part of current recycling efforts.

Can you then brake this elements down into sub-atomic components? Yes, but it carries a HUGE energy expenses and has rather limited use in wide scale reprocessing efforts. The only place this even makes sense is for generating elements that don't exist in nature, Californium as an example. But for massive recycling? No.

In the future, with a higher technology base, would it be possible? If not what are the barriers?

Well anything is possible. Molecular brake down makes sense from an economical and energy stand point in some cases. But with subatomic rearrangement, I don't see much changing in the foreseeable future. It just has a lot of physical barriers, like energy expenditure, and equipment size.

Think about it. Nuclear waste isnt a problem any more. Landfills will be olsolete. Exit gasses from power plants / factories could be trapped and turned into pure O2 before release. Most problems would be pretty much solved.

Energy. You can't do what your suggesting. There are options when dealing with this stuff, but not the kind of reprocessing your suggesting.

Please dont reply with all sorts of insults, I know nothing about chemistry / physics. My course is in computer programming. This is a genuine quest for enlightenment!

Well, then I hope I've helped you. You shouldn't feel ashame or embraced that you don't know something. There was a time I didn't know jack about physics, but I asked questions, and I learned.

At 4/20/07 12:28 AM, ERPMISTER wrote: Ha!

Umm... No. We already have machines like that, there called bacteria. The whole gray goo concept while interesting to contemplate, isn't very likely. These machines would have fundamental limits on how quickly they could replicate them selfs, also the ability to move in the world would be slow, and they would be susceptible to various environmental effects. Additionally these devices would most likely be unable to effect the subatomic world very much, if at all.

[Altarus]

Possible, yes; economically feasible, no.

[DeathDementor]

thinking about it i think that u could be right not that i have played the vidio game and onley have the basic understanding of sceince chemisry ect. but i think thatcould be possible turning harmful gasses ect in to pure air so that would work if we can figuue out wat to add to these deadly gasses to change them this to then would solve global warming