T&L Publications

Lemon Tree very pretty
and the lemon flower is sweet
but the fruit of the poor lemon
is impossible to eat.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> Maybe a Time Machine approach so the lemon loving robots live on the surface and potato robots live under the earth. The Lemonoi and the SPudniks. The underground dwelling SPudniks make vodka and every so often they come to the surface to steal the Lemonoi lemons so they can have vodka with a twist. <hr></blockquote><p>Now thats funny.

Thanks Dale, you got the first part of my response. <p>The second part is in the original post. To quote the original story <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>"Spread out among the field are "kennels". That's where the little robots are recharged. Of course the robots, from time to time pick up anodes and cathodes from the rotting mass of lemons on the ground, and place them into the fresher lemons on the trees." <hr></blockquote><p>In a car battery, for example, the plates of the battery are decomposed when lights, accessories, or the starter is engaged. The plates, deteriorated by the acid in the battery, give off electrons. Once the engine is running it spins the alternator. The alternator is made up of two types of coils, rotating and stationary. (There are normally three of each type in a common car alternator.) The spinning coil is given a small amount of battery power to turn it into a magnet. Energy provided by the engine (from the burning gasoline) spins the magnetic coils inside the stationary coil. The mechanical energy is then converted ito electrical energy inside the stationary coils from the magnetic field induced from the rotating coils. Once this process stabilizes (during the first few milli-seconds of spin-up) the alternator produces more electrical energy than the car consumes. Some of this energy goes into reversing the chemical reaction that took place to decompose the plates in the battery. Electrons are driven back into the metal plates of the battery from the alternator energy. In the original story the plates are simply picked out of the decaying lemons and put back into fresh lemons. THIS CANNOT LAST FOREVER!!! Eventually the plates would no longer be metal plates; they would corrode into some oxide of metal. For this to last the plates would have to be converted back into metal again. So the next thought is to use another fresh lemon battery to recharge the metal in the decayed plates. Which goes back to my first statement on the subject; the battery factory that runs on the batteries it makes. The energy has to come from somewhere. You cannot just spontaneously make energy from nothingness.

The energy to create the lemons is solar.<p>And to create wood for burning in power plants.<p>And to create potatoes for lemon-like batteries.<p>And to change the "rust" back into metal.<p>Farming is a solar energy supplied enterprise.

Did someone say science FICTION? OK, good sf is based on fact, but a writer has leeway with the truth. Perhaps this should be Science Fantasy?<p>Dean - loved Silent Running when I saw it premiered on TV. Just rented it last year - even made my non-techie sister-in-law fall in love with the little bots. Definitely says something about a good story...<p>CeaSaR

The little robots could make recordings and use them in the off season if you could bring the plot to something like a replicator. And change the field to strawberries or kiwi or something not so earth like as a lemon battery.

Wouldn't it be easier to use a solar cell?

I think it's time to send this topic into solar orbit.