
Earth’s continental plate movement can cause problems for GPS (2016) - furcyd
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/australia-moves-gps-coordinates-adjusted-continental-drift/
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maxxxxx
Seems GPS is a great way to confirm the usefulness of theories that were once
controversial. You need an understanding of relativity to make it work and now
continental drift also plays a role.

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okket
Previous discussion from 2016:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12188144](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12188144)
(53 comments)

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arethuza
I wonder how fast a continent would have to move before you could practically
extract power from its motion?

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raxxorrax
Probably a lot faster...

In a panel that discussed ideas on how to store energy there was a peculiar
idea: Cap a large mountain and elevate its top by pumping liquid into it. If
you need the energy again, just extract the fluid an generate the needed
energy.

It was probably not feasible because we are lacking efficient and low-
maintenance pumps, but it convinced me. Hope to have my own battery mountain
one day...

But a similar fluid/pressure approach might indeed allow us to extract energy
from continental drift.

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delinka
Lifting blocks. Filling reservoirs. Moving loaded train cars uphill.

These all store energy be resisting gravity until recovering the energy by
allowing gravity to do its work. Some are more practical than other. I'd have
to say this mountain capping plan is the least practical I've ever seen.

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cjsawyer
At that huge scale and tiny speed the structural material being compressed
would prevent any useful power transfer. It seems like there are lots of ideas
like this from engineers who partially understand other disciplines, a little
nugget of a good idea but with knowledge gap issues that prevent feasibility.
I still think they’re a good thing because eventually someone will float an
idea with potential. There’s no harm in throwing ideas at the wall to see what
sticks!

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quirkot
It's pretty crazy, but we're all just riding ships of bedrock that float on
oceans of magma

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abhishek0318
This article is from 2016. Edit: They fixed the title.

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arethuza
Should really be (20.5cm) though?

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leeoniya
so much nonsense/editorializing in the article & headline.

how does this float to page 1? (pardon the pun)

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nate_meurer
Are you in the right thread? I don't see any editorializing in this article.

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leeoniya
> "Australia Is Drifting So Fast GPS Can't Keep Up"

it's not GPS that can't keep up, it's people who who decided that this data
was more immutable than it actually was, and now they're stuck with firmware
that's difficult to update.

> A significant correction must be made by the end of the year for navigation
> technology to keep working smoothly.

4.9 ft is not significant for navtech to work smoothly. there are still people
involved. because GPS is not something that is accessible everywhere at all
times. 5ft is a correction that a human can reasonably make. although if you
wanted to snipe an individual from orbit without human involvement, then 5ft
is a big problem.

> The last adjustment there, in 1994, was about 656 feet.

now, that was significant.

