this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
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Science Memes

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A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

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[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

What? Hydroelectric power stations use gravity and the falling or flowing water makes the turbines turn. No steam.

Thermal plants (nuclear, coal, gas), including solar thermal plants, use steam.

[–] TheOctonaut@piefed.zip 32 points 3 months ago (3 children)

He means water vapour, ie the rain cycle.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] TheOctonaut@piefed.zip 9 points 3 months ago

I didn't say it was a good quip

[–] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

It probably was at some point.

[–] guy@piefed.social 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Would not like to be the technician working on the hydrostation where part of the rain cycle is steam

[–] bryndos@fedia.io 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I reckon some of the water vapour in the atmosphere will have once been steam rising and cooling. But probably not very much, so it's fair to say hydroelectric generation may happen to use some water that was once steam, but I don't think they can be said to rely on steam.

I think the thing that all dynamo based based electricity generators depend on in common is probably the pressure difference.

[–] guy@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I tried to make a joke about where the rain forms from steam and not regular evaporation. Imagine working in an environment where it's as a hot sauna all the time

[–] whoxtank28@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

The southern US 😖

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

Another couple decades of oil wars and we’ll get there.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago
[–] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 months ago

They use steam condensed in a pressurized environment