My dad spent the better part of 20 years underwater in a nuclear subarine. He had a better chance of being attacked by a shark in said subarine than nuclear radiation.
People often fear what they don't understand. Example: Yellowstone super volcano It goes off every 700k-800k years. Civilization hasn't even been around for 12k. Example 2: Microwave ovens They don't produce anything carcinogenic and will kill a cockroach the same way it boils water. Also, flies are more resilient to radiation than cockroaches.
@@godswatching2863 Yes, if you watch the channel Smarter Everyday, Destin spent some time in a nuclear sub. By regulation, the crew has to wear a radiation detector... And after his trip, his detector basically said he was exposed to LESS radiation than he would have gotten in his living room. The ice, water and metal above him in the sub protected from more radiation from the sun than the nuclear reactor did. I do not know about the sound.
I served on a nuclear submarine and spent all of my working hours in the nuclear plant. I received less radiation dose while at sea (protected from background radiation sources such as the sun and rocks) than anyone in the general population recieves in the same amount of time. Also, nuclear subs have batteries too and can run just as silently as diesel boats. The only real disadvantage is cost.
Nobody is arguing that Nuclear subs radiate the personnel when it's working right mate. That's never been anyones problem with Nuclear. Its what happens when it goes wrong with Nuclear.. in which case its the worst thing we know about as humans. Nuclear power has went wrong a load of times so don't act like it's completely safe. If any reactor gets damaged to the point it goes super critical then everyone near it is absolutely F-cked!
Your last point for nuclear subs is completely false. Those reactors are pretty bullet proof as for shielding. It's highly unlikely for anyone on the crew to be exposed to any abnormal amount of radiation.
The snort? No, it's called the snorkel mast. As far as the rest of the claims, here is a factual pro/con of each. Diesel pros: Quiet, do not need to run pumps to cool reactor 24/7/365 Can operate with a smaller crew Diesel cons: Require the sub to either surface or go to periscope depth to recharge batteries. The diesel is VERY loud during this time. Smaller, little room for amenities. Requires refueling either in port or at sea. Nuclear pros: Only constrained in submerged time by food supply. Do not need to be refueled for 15-20 years. Nuclear cons: Require the use of Reactor Coolant Pumps to keep the coolant at safe temperatures, these electric pumps put out certain noise types that can be tracked by others. Costwise, there is not a significant difference IN THE LONG RUN due to maintenance and the fact that a nuclear submarine can do the job of 4 diesels due to logistical limitations of said diesels.
Bo Hunt At low power settings nukes don't need the pump for cooling, the reactor will cool with natural convection. And that was with the LA and that was the LA and George Washington classes the seawolf class are supposed to make them sound noisy in comparison
How do I know how loud a diesel sub is when recharging batteries? Because I served on a nuclear sub and sat there and watched our sonar guys track them. And yes, most diesel boats still surface to charge batteries. While it is possible to do with the snorkel mast, it is much easier to just surface and do it. And what exactly is a nuclear engine? You mean reactor? The reactor itself is completely silent. The only noise from the system comes from the coolant pumps, and they are quieter than ANY diesel engine that is running. As far as refueling, maybe you should look into the actual range on modern diesel subs. They aren't all that. No where near the range of a nuclear powered vessels 25 year range. Come back when you get some knowledge of submarines. Better yet, go earn your dolphins.
I have a very simple solution to this problem. Simply put a set of large gills on the sides of the diesel submarines and they'll run just fine underwater. No need to surface anymore.
Diesel subs are better at slipping into areas they really are not allowed to be and doing pretty serious damage. In the naval exercises near Hawaii in 2000 an Australian Collins class submarine managed to sneak past the defenses of a US carrier task force and score a simulated kill on the carrier. www.cuttingedge.org/news_updates/nz1839.htm
+1973Washu Yes that did happen and it has also happened hundreds and hundreds of times with Nuclear Fast Attack Submarines. How do I know this, I was a Fast Attack Sailor in the 1970's, yes all the way back then. I made my career outside of the Navy working on R.O.V's, more underwater stuff and have kept up with all things underwater, including Military through Publications. This video tells the basics but in a very twisted and distorted way.
In my point of view. No point to put batteries in nuclear submarine. Nuclear reactor cannot be shut off completely as diesel engine do. There will be around 7% residual heat even it is shut off. This residual heat requires the subs to pump the water continously. So, adding batteries gives no advantage to subs.
In the 60's and 70's, the Soviets tried a diesel submarine that didn't need to surface for oxygen. In addition to a snorkel, they used tanks of pressurized, super flammable, sub-zero liquid oxygen. Needless to say it was a terrible failure and the concept was abandoned after a couple of them blew up under water.
i think it defeats the point of being a hybrid, of course you could use an oxidizer mixed with the fuel, thats how rockets work in space, but that means running the engines underwater which takes away the stealth aspect, honestly i think the only reason diesel is still used is because some countries dont have the funds or the capability to produce a nuclear sub
+weepingod because the second law of thermodynamics says "no" Water is the product of burning hydrogen, so it actually requires a lot of energy to get oxygen out of water... in theory you would have to produce more oxygen that is required to produce the energy to produce that said oxygen... if that makes sense... so you would forever be at a deficit.
Landon Hillyard But the coolant is still used to make steam right? Therefore once the steam is used it would be condensed back into water in a condenser and a high pressure pump would be used to pump it back into the boiler. Without a boiler feed pump running the boiler would boil dry. They'd have to halt steam consumption entirely if they wanted to stop all the pumps, then let natural convection take heat away from the reactor.
+BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks great, thanks! Glad you saw my comment. Love love love your episodes. They're informative and entertaining, short but in depth...perfect! I had the idea from talking on the phone, and was thinking how much you could tell about a person just from their voice. I'll be looking forward to it!
Good video, but I dislike the "healthy green glow" joke. Most of the population is under/misinformed about nuclear power, and will think the reactor is actually dangerous to be around.
Really? Did you do any homework on Nuclear subs before you did this? Nuclear subs have batteries too. And I hope the glowing thing was a joke. You get more radiation exposure flying in an air plane than working on a nuclear reactor.
Yeah, actually more just walking around on land. Being under water, the submarine crew is shielded from most of the normal background radiation that we're usually exposed to.
There will always be submarines guns and tanks, just like there will always be people that want to do others harm, that's why the good guys need those too, to stop bad guys from using those tools for evil.
Ok let's take France for another example. Police don't carry guns; evil men come to do harm to innocent people, they bring guns. Police and the general public are defenceless as the evil people take complete control of the streets.
+John Negri That'd be a great one -- thanks for the suggestion! In case you're curious in the meanwhile, Josh talked about fingerprinting on his podcast, Stuff You Should Know: www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/fingerprinting-works/. And another one of our hosts, Jonathan, interviewed a biometrics expert: th-cam.com/video/-NcnbYEdqBk/w-d-xo.html
Nuclear subs are more quiet than diesels for several reasons. Sound deadening being the first. Diesels cruising around... really? diesels typically run at 4-5 mph while under battery power to conserve energy AKA resurfacing to recharge the batteries. This guys has so much wrong.
That's odd because all diesels, especially Germany's are routinely ranked as the quietest. I'll pass on your information to the various navies of the world, they clearly forgot to ask for your expertise on such matters.
They are quiet but it's a trade-off between stealth and fuel supply. An electric sub must run engines every few days and operate and drastically lower speeds to increase battery life. A nuclear sub can make 20 knots for 6 months at very little noise penalty and when absolute stealth is required they can run on batteries as well with the reactor in a warm-shutdown low noise state using thermal convection to keep decay heat under control instead of cooling pumps.
As a submariner for 11 years, it's called a snorkel in the US not a snort. A nuclear sub has a diesel and batteries and uses them the same way. You would be surprised how quite a nuke sub is. Nukes can technically still bottom out but it has more to do with the shape of the boat, modern nukes are cylindrical. My experience? USS Hyman G Rickover, Georgia, and Kentucky.
Bollocks. A nuclear boat is not noisy unless you cause cavitation with the screw. The engine is a steam turbine but there are also diesels and batteries and a motor for back up. Sitting on the seabed is not a favoured option due to potential damage and blockage of the sea water coolant intakes etc but it is no big deal to maintain bouyancy at depth. I served on Valiant class boats in the 70's. They were good boats. The current types must be awesome in comparison
No submarine is noisy, but it is much easier to detect a nuke than a diesel because a diesel does not have two turbines whining like a Banshee somewhere in it's belly. Steam moving over turbine blades is deafening, in a power plant the turbine hall is the largest building with the least workers due to the noise. In a nuclear sub the turbine compartment has more layers of insulation than anywhere else in the boat.
A nuclear sub is not 'noisy', but they are 'noisier' than a diesel sub running on it's batteries, for sure. It would be next to impossible to build a diesel/electric sub with anywhere near the capabilities of a nuclear sub.
Artruis Joew A diesel does not use it's engines anywhere near a contact, surely that must be obvious? A diesel sub has a very long snort so it does not need to stay surfaced when using the engine like WW2 subs did, but it must remain within 3 or 4 metres of the surface, but the moment it picks up a contact the diesels are switched off and the snort blocked meaning the diesel is on batteries and can dive if need be, and is now almost completely undetectable to anything not using active sonar. Use your common sense, do you seriously think a diesel just goes around sounding like a freight train?
While that's true in theory, in reality it's untrue. Subs have to dock a few times a year for simply maintenance alone. Never mind food, personnel, rearming, or other logistical issues. Fast attack subs deployments are typically 180 days, boomers are 100. These can be exceeded or flexed but machines simply wear out and need fixed, people need lives outside of a steel tube occasionally.
I think you got that backwards. Boomers can deploy for 180 days and Fast-Attack subs can deploy for up to 100 days but rarely do. Fast-attack subs are built to be 'Fast', not to carry a lot of food and supplies.
I love testtube, but I was sick of their political bull crap, so I unsubscribed. Is this channel purely science and cool stuff? the channel seems cool too, but I don't wanna subscribe if they are just gonna push their liberal agenda down my throat.
+Kris S Most of our videos are about sciencey stuff. We can't promise that we'll never bring politics into our discussions (especially if we're talking about sociological questions), but we try very hard to be unbiased when we do.
Literally like 95% of everything you said in this video is wrong. There is no such thing as a snort, its called a snorkel mast and that's used to ventilate air when the atmosphere becomes contaminated in a process called surface ventilate. 2nd of all nuclear subs are definitely not louder than a diesel sub. The only actually loud part in a nuclear sub would be the screw which is muffled by the shaft seal in the water and the sound it produces is reduced by increasing the size of the screw, meaning less turns = more thrust. A boomer has blades on the screw that are the size of Volkswagen's, and just so happens to be the loudest of the US submarines, still will not be heard even if you had the most advanced submarine 700 or so meters from it. Which is INSANELY close underwater because that boomer is already pinging you on their SONAR with a fire control solution ready to end you before you even ping it once. Second of all, a diesel submarine cannot just shut off its engines and rest on the seafloor (a big thing called test depth and crush depth come into play) and even if it did, our torpedoes would still destroy them. Secret squirrel shit so I'm not explaining that. But lets just say modern day MK-48 ADCAP torpedoes can hit a disabled submarine at the bottom of the ocean, no problem. Next, you definitely will not be getting any high levels of radiation in a submarine. Even the nukes that make sure the reactor is operating fine, get less radiation from the reactor than they would if they went topside and stood lookout on a hot, cloudless afternoon. Get your shit right. Sincerely, an STS (Sonar Tech Submarines) in the mighty US Navy.
TheOuTlAwTACO I just did a short version of you're comment then looked down the list of stupidity until I found yours. As I was reading I knew you had to be submariner. Glad to see another on here. Veteran FT1(SS)
TheOuTlAwTACO after reading two sentences I knew you were legit. a good friend of mine, from childhood, is a us navy nuclear engineer. we've had some cool conversations (nothing secret just physics stuff and submarine life). I was hoping this guy's video was 3 seconds where he simply said "they don't." though I am a little surprised a diesel sub couldn't manage is ballast electronically, but like you said, active sonar is a bitch.
Submarines store compressed air for that reason so they can do things like breathe , launch torpedoes an resurface etc. Hope i helped :) (The air is refreshed when they surface too)
They electrolyse the water around it actually. H2O is water, run electricity through it and you get O2 and H2 also known as oxygen and hydrogen. Hope this explains it.
A comlete faliure nope, on a nuclear sub, they have an abundance of power, so what they do is pump some water in, electrolyze it so it can be split into oxygen and hydrogen. we then use air scrubbers and tanks of nitrogen to keep the atmosphere in the sub similar to Earth's atmosphere
Agreed Modern US nuke subs can cool the reactor with convection currents rather than pumps and what not when running at low power and speeds. So far less noisy.
I thought "well there is no piston action so it shouldn't be that much noise compared to the diesel ones" then I thought of how does de submarines convert the heat into power, via turbines? then is logical
Good question. Can be done with a big slow turbine. (which would make it quiet) or just do what diesels ones) use batteries and only use the reactor to drive the props while in combat. (or in silent running modes)
How about having both types in the fleet, for different purposes? Diesels make awesome small recoinnassance and "killer" subs, while nuclear ones are perfect for long range missions and ballistic missiles. IMO
I spent 5 patrols (over a year total) under water in a nuke sub, and sorry to say lots of your facts are wrong. Shouldn't you read up just a little bit on them before you make silly statements like you did on this video? People tend to believe what they hear on the internet.
I think that Diesel Subs are better for roles like defending coast lines because of their limited range or doing secret operations like sneaking in somewhere where they shouldn't be because of their incredible silence. Nuclear subs on the other hand are more fitting for attacker roles like attacking convoys and other ships because of their speed and the ability to travel long distances underwater.
+Nick Kinman Of course modern nuclear subs are extremely quiet, electric subs will always be quieter. And also a nuclear sub emits heat to the water, making it detectable for satellites and aircraft.
+Lampenstander there was an incident once when two nuclear submarines collided together because they were too silent so I think the silence point is no longer valid
+Ahmad Hamad This Incident probably happened while both subs went "dead slow". That means having the reactor run at minimal power so they don't need the coolant pump (loudest noise generator) and can run the reactor extremely silent. But while going at cruise speed the coolant pump is running and generating noise which can be heard. To reach acceptable speeds nuclear subs need more power (=more noise) than diesel subs due to their bigger weight and hull. Diesel subs on the other side run with electric motors only and have no significant noise generator at all speeds except for cavitation.
+Lampenstander they were indeed going very slow but I don't know how slow, anyway this shows that they are extremely silent and can carry on sneak roles including attacks. after all a submarine won't be cruising next to a ship and any sound signal it emits will be further weakened by the ship noise it self.
+Nick Kinman As a US Navy submariner, sonar technician to be specific; there are indeed more factors that play into this than meets the eye. Our boats are astonishingly quiet for their propulsion system, it is what we mainly focused on as a fleet. I would still have to go with nuclear power opposed to diesel, diesel boats are generally smaller and have little to offer other than coastal defense. nuclear subs however are much larger and can carry more of a punch in terms of design characteristics and armament. More warheads on foreheads, as we say.
This is nice simple video. Can add some more materials tho. Regarding diesel submarine, we now have something called AIP or Electro thermo chemical generator. Basically adding 3rd power source into the diesel submarine, thus allow it to stay much longer underwater. We have several kinds of AIP now namely : 1.Stirling Engine 2.Fuel Cells, we have multiple types of it ranged from Thin membrane which require external Hydrogen and Oxygen storage and reformer type which can reform its own diesel fuel into hydrogen source. 3.MESMA, French thing, replacing nuclear reactor with chemical reactor to generate steam for turbine. and we also have Diesel engine equipped with external oxygen tank and CO2 scrubber to allow underwater operation, although this option might be louder than all 3 alternatives above.
I was a sonar tech who used to spy on subs in the East China Sea (China hated it, hehe) Nuclear Subs are far far quieter. Nuclear Subs are harder to track. As a matter of fact, some nuclear Subs are impossible to track. Diesel Subs were laughably easy to track.
do you understand how radiation works? in a nuclear subs are compactly safe to be in and have radiation detectors all over the place inside them. If they go wrong however they ten to go horribly wrong.
When making military vehicles that will sometimes be thousands of miles away from civilization and which may be subjected to dangerous pressures, horrible weather and even dropped communications, it's always wise to have redundant systems.
So short answer: we lied, it isn't a diesel, but rather a diesel-electric engine. That's sub tech 101 and even the most accurate detail in many sub movies.
that's because nuclear is expensive. you can buy 4 subs with the price of 1 nuclear sub. While it's unlikely you will ever fill a sub with its worth in diesel even though it's life time. Second, it's nuclear. You can't just call an uranium supplier and be like "hey I need some enriched uranium plz"
Jerry Lifsey The bunker fuel used on the commercial vessels are dirt cheap. In fact recently it became cheaper to sail through the horn of africa than pay the port fees at suez
they cant even do a proper solar car properly yet... solar is still way too inefficient to use...only 20 percent of whatever that hits a solar panel is turned into energy
You could also do a story about the market for personal diesel submarines. There is a company, US Submarines, that builds personalized subs for the adventurous multibillionaires who are tired of sailing on the surface of the oceans, and who are tired of the same old types of luxury yachts.
^^ This, I was about to post the same thing about subs not sitting on the ocean floor. I can still remember the shitstorm that happened when we merely got into too shallow water on our way into Everett for SeaFair and sucked a bunch of sand into main and aux seawater systems. Poor nukes were flushing that stuff for days.
Earth's rotation does effect planes, long haul flight times are significantly altered depending on if you're flying East or West. Anything that spends extended periods at high altitude will see the same effects.
Why don't diesel subs generate electricity and then use that electricity to perform electrolysis and use that oxygen to provide air to the crew and for the diesel engines??
electrolysis is slow and not super energy efficient. For example, running the engines for an hour might produce 100 kw of electricity. that 100 kw might be able to extract 500 litres of Oxygen from the water. but the engines will need 800 litres of Oxygen to run for another hour, so they can only run another 45mins, which allows them to make enough air for another 30mins, etc. Those are just made up numbers, but basically you COULD do that, but it wouldn't last very long and as soon as your out of air, you need to surface anyway. plus all the extra gear you would need on an already cramped sub, And that's only if you can even split the water fast enough to feed the engine for any length of time.
Electricity is valuable, the more electricity you have the longer you can run the motors to avoid danger quietly, and you would run out of batteries long before stored oxygen anyway.
That would violate basic thermodynamics? Yeah, that's a pretty good reason. You can't get as much energy out of the process as you put in. The engine uses oxygen to liberate stored energy in fuel. Using that same energy to extract oxygen from water would result in much less oxygen than originally went into liberating that energy
US Navy, Nuclear Field You were saying the nuclear sub has to run its engines all the time and that'd louder. In fact, the only thing that really makes noise on the sub is the propeller which depressurizes the water around it, boiling it, creating bubbles. This also happens in the Diesel sub when it's running it's electric motors. You said the nuclear subs cant turn off their engines. They can stop their propeller(s) just like any other sub, the reaction just doesn't necessarily stop. I'm sorry for any misinformation, feel free to correct me.
The boats used a seven blade screw to prevent cavitation and were on constant alert to detect any. Now days they use a propulsor which is like the impeller in a centrifugal pump.
You never explained (1) why the nuclear S is louder (2) why it has to run its engine all the time (3) why it can't sit on the floor (4) whether nuclear S sailors do have problems with radioactivity.
A nuclear submarine has a lot of moving machinery, such as pumps, which are noisy. The nuclear power plant needs cooling water to condense the steam back into condensate and the intakes are on the bottom, so you can't sit on the ocean floor.
+Gi All valid questions. My shot on them: (1)As Douglas Gillard said, nuclear submarines have lots of moving machinery. The turbines moving the submarines are vapor turbines. (2) Because you cant just "flip on/off" a nuclear reactor, it needs time to get stable, thats why you usually have it run 24/7. (Same thing in commercial nuclear powerplants). (3) Answered (4)The radiation hazard is nonsense. You can effectively shield against it. Just in case of an accident the hazard is existant.
+Gi D I have no problem with the radiation, considering I get more by standing in the sun than I do going into the Engine room of a Virginia class fast attack.
+Gi D !. It's all relative. The nuke boat is amazingly quiet, but when a diesel boat is on batteries only, they are quieter. (only DC motor and shaft and screw turning. 2. It doesn't. 3. It can. but they usually operates in deeper water that their crush depth. 4. Under water on a nuke, one normally gets NO radiation whatsoever
A heated charged fluid can be used to run through a silent generator assembly with no moving parts, or you could float the entire turbine block(s) on magnets and encase in a vacuum. True silent running will require a sub design that I've decided we don't need right now. The fact that nuke carrying subs make noise is a good thing.
Actually it's as long as the food lasts. HMS Swiftsure was returning from patrol when she got diverted to the Falklands in '82. By the time they got home the crew were on two sandwiches per day.
i was a submarine cook on the uss jimmy carter. I literally worked less than 10 feet from the reactor everyday. there is no way the reactor is louder than the diesel engine.
Can't the nuclear submarine charge batteries like the diesel one? Also I heard that somehow nuclear subs take oxygen of the water so..... ALSO ALSO Nuc Subs are bigger aren't them?
i am a diesel sub operator, ofcorse it a lot more complicated then in this video clip. there are few more way to use the snorkel silently, but it is not the problem, the problem is the noise produced by the diesel generators (we have 3 huge diesel generators) and the exhaust that makes bubles in the water. usually at combat mode we need to charge our batteries every 24 hours (not full discharge but reach the level needed to charge) so we are doing it in the middle of the night far from shore-line and after verifying no ships/subs around. after full charge we dive again to enemy line for 24 hours. we also have subs with hydrogen hybrid system. mixes hydrogen with oxygen it creates electricity and fresh water, so we can stay submerge for a week until we run out of hydrogen\liquid oxygen. our fleet does not have nuclear sub but i know they not need to snort, they can be always submerge and only to dock for supplies. the nuclear reactor make electricity, and water. but its very noisy. we can easy spot a nuclear submarine by the humming of the nuclear reactor by sonar.
just so you guys know there is a third kind that uses thermodynamics to power the batteries, basically slightly warmer (~2-5 degrees) water steams through the pump causing it to turn, I think the Swiss made one.
You didn't mention that a nuclear sub leaves a heat trail behind it. The nuclear reaction heats water, creating steam which drives its turbines. This heat trail can be detected by the enemy.
Basically diesel engine is just a generator. I belive it is better than nuclear submarines due to easier availability of diesel and cheaper price. Also diesel is hell safer to handle and very silent once batteries are charged. Can compressed air be used to help the engine run. It would even prevent coming to surface for charging.
Ayush Gupta the only problem with diesel submarines is there ability to travel great distances. They are amazing for littoral combat and guarding coasts, but nuclear subs are used for their distance and armament. Only nuclear subs can consistently patrol the seas around the world
Can any body please explain how the diesel submarine exhaust system work when it was snorting? How does the DG exhaust flap valve work? How does it remove exhaust gases?
why make comments about things you don't understand. I operated reactors for the Navy for six years. There is so much shielding around these reactors that you actually receive more radiation from natural radiation than a nuclear sub or carrier. yes, most nuclear operators in the Navy receive less radiation than the rest of the population. On to your next comment. A nuclear sub could take out an entire fleet of diesel subs. And the comments about which is more quiet. A ballistic missile sub can operate at about 30-40% power with no pumps on. How? Thermal Driving Head. Most important, a ballistic missile sub is the most powerful weapon in the world. Each missile carries several nuclear warheads and has the potential to take out every major city in the northern hemisphere. Work on your stories in the future. A diesel sub doesn't even come close to matching a nuclear subs capabilities.
+Bannicus Nuclear submarines have sunk before. Two US submarines (USS Scorpion and USS Tresher) was both lost in seperate crush depth accidents in the Atlantic Ocean. But tests done on the wrecks showed no signs of radiaton leaks. The Russians have lost seven submarines, only one of them had a small radiation leak from one of the weapons onboard, but it was quickly sealed.
+Bannicus it hasn't happened because during the time nuclear submarines have existed, there hasn't been a large-scale war where they've been used and fired on.
Katherine Clairmont I know but I find it odd that it seems governments didn't even *consider* the problems of having a harbour etc. polluted by an attack on a nuclear submarine. The possible repercussions of having a nuclear submarine seem almost bigger than who they might be used against.
I know it wasn't the topic of the video and that most classes of diesel subs around the world don't have them, but if he's going to compare diesel and nuclear subs, he should have at least mentioned that many diesel subs now have some form of AIP.
I think there's one fact missing that changes the whole comparison and that is: AIP submarines. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-independent_propulsion I.e. there exists diesel submarines that do not have to surface or use a snorkel to run its engines. Making the amount of food the sub can carry their limiting factor, which is also true for nuclear subs.
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My dad spent the better part of 20 years underwater in a nuclear subarine. He had a better chance of being attacked by a shark in said subarine than nuclear radiation.
People often fear what they don't understand.
Example: Yellowstone super volcano
It goes off every 700k-800k years. Civilization hasn't even been around for 12k.
Example 2: Microwave ovens
They don't produce anything carcinogenic and will kill a cockroach the same way it boils water.
Also, flies are more resilient to radiation than cockroaches.
microwaves would be nasty without shielding.
Flued Goop Still not carcinogenic like half the retarded population thinks.
Mattew Bodenberger You actually end up with less radiation exposure than you would have on the surface as a civilian.
I'm guessing he didn't spend an entire 20 years submerged.
I love it when someone who had no idea how a submarine works tries to explain how a submarine works.
Eric Johnson can't you see his dolphins on his shirt?
Was he not accurate? I was under the impression nuclear subs we're completely safe for the crew and I thought they had ways to reduce the sound
@@godswatching2863 there's always a way to be quieter.
@@godswatching2863 Yes, if you watch the channel Smarter Everyday, Destin spent some time in a nuclear sub. By regulation, the crew has to wear a radiation detector... And after his trip, his detector basically said he was exposed to LESS radiation than he would have gotten in his living room. The ice, water and metal above him in the sub protected from more radiation from the sun than the nuclear reactor did.
I do not know about the sound.
I served on a nuclear submarine and spent all of my working hours in the nuclear plant. I received less radiation dose while at sea (protected from background radiation sources such as the sun and rocks) than anyone in the general population recieves in the same amount of time. Also, nuclear subs have batteries too and can run just as silently as diesel boats. The only real disadvantage is cost.
Nobody is arguing that Nuclear subs radiate the personnel when it's working right mate. That's never been anyones problem with Nuclear. Its what happens when it goes wrong with Nuclear.. in which case its the worst thing we know about as humans. Nuclear power has went wrong a load of times so don't act like it's completely safe. If any reactor gets damaged to the point it goes super critical then everyone near it is absolutely F-cked!
Don't teach people real information and then mix it with that garbage about sub crews being radiated by their engines.
+carl812 Dude my cousin is in a nuclear sub and he's glowing in the dark. True Story! The also get to drink champagne every meal.
+Tiberiu Nicolae well in that case I'll be signing up for sub duty immediately
+Tiberiu Nicolae WTF I used to work in a radiation lab but I never glow in dark like a glowing one from Fallout!
Patchy .E. You missed out on some cool shit then
Tiberiu Nicolae Seriously, are you really telling the true story? I find it hard to believe...
Your last point for nuclear subs is completely false. Those reactors are pretty bullet proof as for shielding. It's highly unlikely for anyone on the crew to be exposed to any abnormal amount of radiation.
"you know what i am sayin" classic lol
The snort? No, it's called the snorkel mast.
As far as the rest of the claims, here is a factual pro/con of each.
Diesel pros:
Quiet, do not need to run pumps to cool reactor 24/7/365
Can operate with a smaller crew
Diesel cons:
Require the sub to either surface or go to periscope depth to recharge batteries.
The diesel is VERY loud during this time.
Smaller, little room for amenities.
Requires refueling either in port or at sea.
Nuclear pros:
Only constrained in submerged time by food supply.
Do not need to be refueled for 15-20 years.
Nuclear cons:
Require the use of Reactor Coolant Pumps to keep the coolant at safe temperatures, these electric pumps put out certain noise types that can be tracked by others.
Costwise, there is not a significant difference IN THE LONG RUN due to maintenance and the fact that a nuclear submarine can do the job of 4 diesels due to logistical limitations of said diesels.
I stopped the video right when he said "the snort!" just to make the comment you just did.
Bo Hunt
At low power settings nukes don't need the pump for cooling, the reactor will cool with natural convection. And that was with the LA and that was the LA and George Washington classes the seawolf class are supposed to make them sound noisy in comparison
If you are refueling anywhere but home port or at sea that kind of destroys the whole silent service thing
How do I know how loud a diesel sub is when recharging batteries? Because I served on a nuclear sub and sat there and watched our sonar guys track them. And yes, most diesel boats still surface to charge batteries. While it is possible to do with the snorkel mast, it is much easier to just surface and do it.
And what exactly is a nuclear engine? You mean reactor? The reactor itself is completely silent. The only noise from the system comes from the coolant pumps, and they are quieter than ANY diesel engine that is running.
As far as refueling, maybe you should look into the actual range on modern diesel subs. They aren't all that. No where near the range of a nuclear powered vessels 25 year range.
Come back when you get some knowledge of submarines. Better yet, go earn your dolphins.
Bo Hunt
6000km doesn't come close to the range of a ww2 fleet boat, 15 to 20000 miles, so how does that work for "most" missions?
which sub is the best sub? I think the cold cut sub is the best...
meatball sub bruh
Italian bmt on honeyoat
australian colins class
The correct answer is always roast beef with jalapenos and pepperjack.
I'll have to request that the next time I'm in, Leut Matho..
I wish Josh Clark would have been my teacher in highschool
RIGHT??
He seems chill
nice vid m8 i was wondering also were the fumes go ?
But you are no one
before a man was no one he attended highschool. Perhaps he would have been better prepared had Josh Clark taught him
Nuclear-powered submarines have not been proven to increase the crews radiation intake levels.
My favorite is the meat ball-sub from subway
Lol
mines to
Subway🤢🤮💩
I have a very simple solution to this problem. Simply put a set of large gills on the sides of the diesel submarines and they'll run just fine underwater. No need to surface anymore.
Roger Nob gills?
superskiier50 Fish gills.
***** how?
superskiier50 You didn't know what gills are.
Lord GabeN i know what they are, i just don't know how you would put them on submarine.
how many takes did you take to get that perfect spit take?
If I remember correctly we only had to do it twice. Josh is a pro.
He sounds like a pro!
n00b_asaurous definitely not.
Diesel subs are better at slipping into areas they really are not allowed to be and doing pretty serious damage.
In the naval exercises near Hawaii in 2000 an Australian Collins class submarine managed to sneak past the defenses of a US carrier task force and score a simulated kill on the carrier.
www.cuttingedge.org/news_updates/nz1839.htm
+1973Washu The best way to hunt for a submarine is with another submarine.
The surface Navy is called "target" for a reason.
+1973Washu Yes that did happen and it has also happened hundreds and hundreds of times with Nuclear Fast Attack Submarines. How do I know this, I was a Fast Attack Sailor in the 1970's, yes all the way back then. I made my career outside of the Navy working on R.O.V's, more underwater stuff and have kept up with all things underwater, including Military through Publications. This video tells the basics but in a very twisted and distorted way.
No one comes off of a nuclear submarine with radiation poisoning. It's completely safe.
Jona Adams everyone comes off without, the shielding is good on nuke-subs.
***** Lol did she delete All the links I posted with nuclear subs radiation accidents?
Norwegian submarines are the best in the world at being stealthy.
Australian submarines are undetectable because they're all in dry dock.
You guys need to research about nuclear subs a little more, because most of what was said about nuclear subs in the video was wrong.
what exactly?
Start with everything.
Why not just add the same batteries in diesel submarine in nuclear submarine also ?
It's a lot tougher than you think to stop a nuclear reaction then to stop the fuel flow to a combustion engine. ;)
Nuclear submarines also have batteries. They also have a diesel engine. The nuclear power is clean energy that is much more reliable however.
In my point of view. No point to put batteries in nuclear submarine. Nuclear reactor cannot be shut off completely as diesel engine do. There will be around 7% residual heat even it is shut off. This residual heat requires the subs to pump the water continously. So, adding batteries gives no advantage to subs.
Got it. I learnt a lot!
Ahmad, nuclear submarines also have batteries. Also have a diesel engine.
Use the Titanic, it dreamed of being a subbie
Too soon... Too soon. ⛴ 😋
StephenB he this vid is like 200 yrsm lod
So did your mom.
@@WaveArsenal damn my 3 year ago self got clapped
In the 60's and 70's, the Soviets tried a diesel submarine that didn't need to surface for oxygen. In addition to a snorkel, they used tanks of pressurized, super flammable, sub-zero liquid oxygen. Needless to say it was a terrible failure and the concept was abandoned after a couple of them blew up under water.
why cant the diesel sub use the electricity to split them water molecules and use the oxygen to run the diesel no snorkel/underwater?
+weepingod WELL CLEARLY YOUR AN IDIOT FOR BECAUSE Umm, thats a good question
+weepingod youd run the batteries down quicker plus youd use more fuel i suppose
becton98 how much more efficiently would internal combustion preform on pure oxygen?
i think it defeats the point of being a hybrid, of course you could use an oxidizer mixed with the fuel, thats how rockets work in space, but that means running the engines underwater which takes away the stealth aspect, honestly i think the only reason diesel is still used is because some countries dont have the funds or the capability to produce a nuclear sub
+weepingod because the second law of thermodynamics says "no"
Water is the product of burning hydrogen, so it actually requires a lot of energy to get oxygen out of water... in theory you would have to produce more oxygen that is required to produce the energy to produce that said oxygen... if that makes sense... so you would forever be at a deficit.
This is wrong. Nuclear subs do not have to be running pumps all the time.
+Landon Hillyard And why not?
Because it converts nuclear power to electric energy, so it can run its motors.
Because it converts nuclear power to electric energy, so it can run its motors.
Landon Hillyard But the coolant is still used to make steam right? Therefore once the steam is used it would be condensed back into water in a condenser and a high pressure pump would be used to pump it back into the boiler. Without a boiler feed pump running the boiler would boil dry. They'd have to halt steam consumption entirely if they wanted to stop all the pumps, then let natural convection take heat away from the reactor.
A Stirling engine would be almost silent and has a really high efficiency but you probably couldn't fit one in a sub that was big enough.
I have an idea for a show.
How do we develop individual voices? Random? Genetics?
+SNP Images Good question! We'll add it to our topic list. Thanks so much for commenting.
+BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks great, thanks! Glad you saw my comment. Love love love your episodes. They're informative and entertaining, short but in depth...perfect!
I had the idea from talking on the phone, and was thinking how much you could tell about a person just from their voice. I'll be looking forward to it!
Good video, but I dislike the "healthy green glow" joke. Most of the population is under/misinformed about nuclear power, and will think the reactor is actually dangerous to be around.
no fumes, no green glow, no sitting on bottom, this isnt smart stuff
Really? Did you do any homework on Nuclear subs before you did this? Nuclear subs have batteries too. And I hope the glowing thing was a joke. You get more radiation exposure flying in an air plane than working on a nuclear reactor.
Yeah, actually more just walking around on land. Being under water, the submarine crew is shielded from most of the normal background radiation that we're usually exposed to.
nulcear sub runs longer quieter, and dont need to run on the sufure and doesnt need refuel for 20 years
What about this for a brainstuff idea?
It's better without submarines as they are mainly for war not for peace.
But you need war to stop the people who intend to disrupt peace. That's the whole point.
AirForcedude5 what can they do to disrupt peace if there is no submarines, no guns, no tanks....
There will always be submarines guns and tanks, just like there will always be people that want to do others harm, that's why the good guys need those too, to stop bad guys from using those tools for evil.
AirForcedude5
Lets take UK's police for an example. They do not have guns. And most robberies also do not include guns. Fists, yes, but not bullets.
Ok let's take France for another example. Police don't carry guns; evil men come to do harm to innocent people, they bring guns. Police and the general public are defenceless as the evil people take complete control of the streets.
Awesome video. A cool topic would be how Retinal or fingerprint scanner work. (less I just haven't found that vid yet)
+John Negri That'd be a great one -- thanks for the suggestion! In case you're curious in the meanwhile, Josh talked about fingerprinting on his podcast, Stuff You Should Know: www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/fingerprinting-works/. And another one of our hosts, Jonathan, interviewed a biometrics expert: th-cam.com/video/-NcnbYEdqBk/w-d-xo.html
I'm certain this guy didn't do his research at all
Matthew Slater
Does he even have a functioning brain?
Nuclear subs are more quiet than diesels for several reasons. Sound deadening being the first.
Diesels cruising around... really? diesels typically run at 4-5 mph while under battery power to conserve energy AKA resurfacing to recharge the batteries.
This guys has so much wrong.
That's odd because all diesels, especially Germany's are routinely ranked as the quietest. I'll pass on your information to the various navies of the world, they clearly forgot to ask for your expertise on such matters.
They are quiet but it's a trade-off between stealth and fuel supply. An electric sub must run engines every few days and operate and drastically lower speeds to increase battery life. A nuclear sub can make 20 knots for 6 months at very little noise penalty and when absolute stealth is required they can run on batteries as well with the reactor in a warm-shutdown low noise state using thermal convection to keep decay heat under control instead of cooling pumps.
Thank you your answer is much more eloquent than mine
As a submariner for 11 years, it's called a snorkel in the US not a snort. A nuclear sub has a diesel and batteries and uses them the same way. You would be surprised how quite a nuke sub is. Nukes can technically still bottom out but it has more to do with the shape of the boat, modern nukes are cylindrical. My experience? USS Hyman G Rickover, Georgia, and Kentucky.
Red Beard Admiral Rickover stole my soul
Dominic Sanchez I can understand that. I'm definitely not the same person I was before I went in.
Love videos that don't really answer the question they posed and in the process open up more unanswered questions. Apparently that's education now.
Bollocks. A nuclear boat is not noisy unless you cause cavitation with the screw. The engine is a steam turbine but there are also diesels and batteries and a motor for back up. Sitting on the seabed is not a favoured option due to potential damage and blockage of the sea water coolant intakes etc but it is no big deal to maintain bouyancy at depth. I served on Valiant class boats in the 70's. They were good boats. The current types must be awesome in comparison
No submarine is noisy, but it is much easier to detect a nuke than a diesel because a diesel does not have two turbines whining like a Banshee somewhere in it's belly. Steam moving over turbine blades is deafening, in a power plant the turbine hall is the largest building with the least workers due to the noise. In a nuclear sub the turbine compartment has more layers of insulation than anywhere else in the boat.
A nuclear sub is not 'noisy', but they are 'noisier' than a diesel sub running on it's batteries, for sure. It would be next to impossible to build a diesel/electric sub with anywhere near the capabilities of a nuclear sub.
Artruis Joew A diesel does not use it's engines anywhere near a contact, surely that must be obvious?
A diesel sub has a very long snort so it does not need to stay surfaced when using the engine like WW2 subs did, but it must remain within 3 or 4 metres of the surface, but the moment it picks up a contact the diesels are switched off and the snort blocked meaning the diesel is on batteries and can dive if need be, and is now almost completely undetectable to anything not using active sonar.
Use your common sense, do you seriously think a diesel just goes around sounding like a freight train?
theres also AIP type subs. its kinda in between, it allows a sub to remain longer periods underwater by spereating the oxygen from the water
a nuclear sub can stay out at sea for years without docking in a harbour. as for radiation, its all sealed up. do a lil more research.
While that's true in theory, in reality it's untrue. Subs have to dock a few times a year for simply maintenance alone. Never mind food, personnel, rearming, or other logistical issues. Fast attack subs deployments are typically 180 days, boomers are 100. These can be exceeded or flexed but machines simply wear out and need fixed, people need lives outside of a steel tube occasionally.
I think you got that backwards. Boomers can deploy for 180 days and Fast-Attack subs can deploy for up to 100 days but rarely do. Fast-attack subs are built to be 'Fast', not to carry a lot of food and supplies.
Amazing how technology works. It’s overwhelming to imagine how these ideas come to people’s minds.
I love testtube, but I was sick of their political bull crap, so I unsubscribed.
Is this channel purely science and cool stuff?
the channel seems cool too, but I don't wanna subscribe if they are just gonna push their liberal agenda down my throat.
+Kris S Most of our videos are about sciencey stuff. We can't promise that we'll never bring politics into our discussions (especially if we're talking about sociological questions), but we try very hard to be unbiased when we do.
+Kris S When did this get political?
"liberal agenda" is what you get when you start thinking.
netsurfer912 how so? Please explain what you are saying.
T1000315 it hasn't yet, just asking if it will.
Literally like 95% of everything you said in this video is wrong. There is no such thing as a snort, its called a snorkel mast and that's used to ventilate air when the atmosphere becomes contaminated in a process called surface ventilate. 2nd of all nuclear subs are definitely not louder than a diesel sub. The only actually loud part in a nuclear sub would be the screw which is muffled by the shaft seal in the water and the sound it produces is reduced by increasing the size of the screw, meaning less turns = more thrust. A boomer has blades on the screw that are the size of Volkswagen's, and just so happens to be the loudest of the US submarines, still will not be heard even if you had the most advanced submarine 700 or so meters from it. Which is INSANELY close underwater because that boomer is already pinging you on their SONAR with a fire control solution ready to end you before you even ping it once. Second of all, a diesel submarine cannot just shut off its engines and rest on the seafloor (a big thing called test depth and crush depth come into play) and even if it did, our torpedoes would still destroy them. Secret squirrel shit so I'm not explaining that. But lets just say modern day MK-48 ADCAP torpedoes can hit a disabled submarine at the bottom of the ocean, no problem. Next, you definitely will not be getting any high levels of radiation in a submarine. Even the nukes that make sure the reactor is operating fine, get less radiation from the reactor than they would if they went topside and stood lookout on a hot, cloudless afternoon. Get your shit right. Sincerely, an STS (Sonar Tech Submarines) in the mighty US Navy.
TheOuTlAwTACO I just did a short version of you're comment then looked down the list of stupidity until I found yours. As I was reading I knew you had to be submariner. Glad to see another on here. Veteran FT1(SS)
TheOuTlAwTACO after reading two sentences I knew you were legit. a good friend of mine, from childhood, is a us navy nuclear engineer. we've had some cool conversations (nothing secret just physics stuff and submarine life).
I was hoping this guy's video was 3 seconds where he simply said "they don't."
though I am a little surprised a diesel sub couldn't manage is ballast electronically, but like you said, active sonar is a bitch.
Well I obviously wanna know how the crew breathes under water now! I'm guessing they don't switch over to battery power too, right?
Submarines store compressed air for that reason so they can do things like breathe , launch torpedoes an resurface etc. Hope i helped :) (The air is refreshed when they surface too)
They electrolyse the water around it actually.
H2O is water, run electricity through it and you get O2 and H2 also known as oxygen and hydrogen.
Hope this explains it.
That too :)
we are some clever sons of bitches
A comlete faliure nope, on a nuclear sub, they have an abundance of power, so what they do is pump some water in, electrolyze it so it can be split into oxygen and hydrogen. we then use air scrubbers and tanks of nitrogen to keep the atmosphere in the sub similar to Earth's atmosphere
Submarine commander "we need to snort some air", submarine officer " right after I snort this coke" :)
why nuclear subs are noisy?
Ramiro Estevez there is alot of support system for the reactor that make alot of noise ( pumps and valves and motors and stuff)
killjoy8244 false , what does the nuclear reactor do? Think about it
Agreed Modern US nuke subs can cool the reactor with convection currents rather than pumps and what not when running at low power and speeds. So far less noisy.
I thought "well there is no piston action so it shouldn't be that much noise compared to the diesel ones" then I thought of how does de submarines convert the heat into power, via turbines? then is logical
Good question. Can be done with a big slow turbine. (which would make it quiet) or just do what diesels ones) use batteries and only use the reactor to drive the props while in combat. (or in silent running modes)
How about having both types in the fleet, for different purposes? Diesels make awesome small recoinnassance and "killer" subs, while nuclear ones are perfect for long range missions and ballistic missiles. IMO
+Federico Spadone On it, as soon as you gimme the $$$$$$$$, IMO.
This guy looks so bored while doing these videos
I spent 5 patrols (over a year total) under water in a nuke sub, and sorry to say lots of your facts are wrong.
Shouldn't you read up just a little bit on them before you make silly statements like you did on this video? People tend to believe what they hear on the internet.
I think that Diesel Subs are better for roles like defending coast lines because of their limited range or doing secret operations like sneaking in somewhere where they shouldn't be because of their incredible silence. Nuclear subs on the other hand are more fitting for attacker roles like attacking convoys and other ships because of their speed and the ability to travel long distances underwater.
+Nick Kinman Of course modern nuclear subs are extremely quiet, electric subs will always be quieter. And also a nuclear sub emits heat to the water, making it detectable for satellites and aircraft.
+Lampenstander there was an incident once when two nuclear submarines collided together because they were too silent so I think the silence point is no longer valid
+Ahmad Hamad This Incident probably happened while both subs went "dead slow". That means having the reactor run at minimal power so they don't need the coolant pump (loudest noise generator) and can run the reactor extremely silent. But while going at cruise speed the coolant pump is running and generating noise which can be heard. To reach acceptable speeds nuclear subs need more power (=more noise) than diesel subs due to their bigger weight and hull. Diesel subs on the other side run with electric motors only and have no significant noise generator at all speeds except for cavitation.
+Lampenstander they were indeed going very slow but I don't know how slow, anyway this shows that they are extremely silent and can carry on sneak roles including attacks. after all a submarine won't be cruising next to a ship and any sound signal it emits will be further weakened by the ship noise it self.
+Nick Kinman As a US Navy submariner, sonar technician to be specific; there are indeed more factors that play into this than meets the eye.
Our boats are astonishingly quiet for their propulsion system, it is what we mainly focused on as a fleet.
I would still have to go with nuclear power opposed to diesel, diesel boats are generally smaller and have little to offer other than coastal defense. nuclear subs however are much larger and can carry more of a punch in terms of design characteristics and armament. More warheads on foreheads, as we say.
Nuclear subs have fuel for 25 years, diesel subs have fuel for 25 days
unmanned nuclear subs ftw
This is nice simple video. Can add some more materials tho.
Regarding diesel submarine, we now have something called AIP or Electro thermo chemical generator. Basically adding 3rd power source into the diesel submarine, thus allow it to stay much longer underwater. We have several kinds of AIP now namely :
1.Stirling Engine
2.Fuel Cells, we have multiple types of it ranged from Thin membrane which require external Hydrogen and Oxygen storage and reformer type which can reform its own diesel fuel into hydrogen source.
3.MESMA, French thing, replacing nuclear reactor with chemical reactor to generate steam for turbine.
and we also have Diesel engine equipped with external oxygen tank and CO2 scrubber to allow underwater operation, although this option might be louder than all 3 alternatives above.
I was a sonar tech who used to spy on subs in the East China Sea (China hated it, hehe) Nuclear Subs are far far quieter. Nuclear Subs are harder to track. As a matter of fact, some nuclear Subs are impossible to track. Diesel Subs were laughably easy to track.
BS. There are numerous accounts of Diesel Electric subs winning in staged war games
Nuclear reactors are not louder than diesel engines.
they aren't quieter than batteries though
okay I'm just throwing this out there but how about rubber band power?
GREG GERHARDT I've seen it work small scale. I think it could work
better yet just petal mechanisms at everyones station and just let it be man powered lmao
Brandon LeeTreverton I've got the real deal!... it would be 10,000 hamster wheels with hamsters driving the propeller shaft.
GREG GERHARDT damn i think they should hire us for these ideas.
Brandon LeeTreverton and paid lots of money
both, the equipments usefulness is directly related to the mission.
Hey, this is awesome.
do you understand how radiation works?
in a nuclear subs are compactly safe to be in and have radiation detectors all over the place inside them.
If they go wrong however they ten to go horribly wrong.
US Navy subs have both nuclear reactors and diesel engines.
Dominic Sanchez that's pretty obvious
Nope, they currently only have nuclear subs, and are not planing on building or buying any disel ones.
pls google it and dont write lies
I googled it, and he's right. Nuclear subs have diesel engines as a backup power source and for emergency purposes.
US Navy uses nuclear as the primary source of energy
When making military vehicles that will sometimes be thousands of miles away from civilization and which may be subjected to dangerous pressures, horrible weather and even dropped communications, it's always wise to have redundant systems.
So short answer: we lied, it isn't a diesel, but rather a diesel-electric engine.
That's sub tech 101 and even the most accurate detail in many sub movies.
As of 2012 South African navy beat the US navy at a war game, our diesel subs vs their combined fleet, we won - South Africa
SOLAR SUBMARINE!!!
Oh wait...
lol funny
Wind powered submarine... Yes. You can use water flow as wind. Water turbine power generation 😂
This man speaks exactly like Dr. Brule and for that I am subscribing
Why don't commercial panamax ships run on nuclear?
that's because nuclear is expensive. you can buy 4 subs with the price of 1 nuclear sub. While it's unlikely you will ever fill a sub with its worth in diesel even though it's life time.
Second, it's nuclear. You can't just call an uranium supplier and be like "hey I need some enriched uranium plz"
What kind of question is that??
Jerry Lifsey The bunker fuel used on the commercial vessels are dirt cheap. In fact recently it became cheaper to sail through the horn of africa than pay the port fees at suez
Another cost consideration is that trained nuclear plant operators cost a lot more than a few regular old enginemen.
Yes Josh, I do know what you are saying.
they should do a solar-powered sub! :P
Michael Sand are you stupid
dat Sarcasm level
Michael Sand If the sun goes deeper there's less light which means less power and complete darkness at about 200 ft if my estimates are correct.
they cant even do a proper solar car properly yet... solar is still way too inefficient to use...only 20 percent of whatever that hits a solar panel is turned into energy
You could also do a story about the market for personal diesel submarines. There is a company, US Submarines, that builds personalized subs for the adventurous multibillionaires who are tired of sailing on the surface of the oceans, and who are tired of the same old types of luxury yachts.
snorkel mast. and i dont have a green glow. oh and no submarine 'sits on the sea floor' btw
^^ This, I was about to post the same thing about subs not sitting on the ocean floor. I can still remember the shitstorm that happened when we merely got into too shallow water on our way into Everett for SeaFair and sucked a bunch of sand into main and aux seawater systems. Poor nukes were flushing that stuff for days.
fuzzy wuzzy You're intelligent
USS Seawolf, USS Halibut and the USS Parche all sat on the sea floor js
May I ask what exactly you mean by your comment. I know nothing.
Toby Charles
so did my submarine but it was not designed for it and bunch of shit fucked up.
What about the swedish sub with a Stirling engine?
Why not use the oxygen in the water?
Thats what i was expecting to hear i guess the sub engineers havent thought of it.
It takes A LOT of energy to split water in hydrogen and oxygen...
Levi McElrath we havet gotten there just yet (technologicaly) for it to be worth it
Yeah I know, other wise we would have tankless scuba gear by now.
They do use the water's oxygen on a sub. How do you think the nuclear sub can stay underwater indefinitely.
Do a video on why the earths rotation doesn't effect airplanes
Why would it?
Andres Rodriguez that's completely wrong. Earth's gravity has no lateral force, it can only excert force towards its centre of mass.
Earth's rotation does effect planes, long haul flight times are significantly altered depending on if you're flying East or West. Anything that spends extended periods at high altitude will see the same effects.
Why don't diesel subs generate electricity and then use that electricity to perform electrolysis and use that oxygen to provide air to the crew and for the diesel engines??
Rafi Ahmed Chowdhury I'm guessing it's because electrolysis would take too long, but I'd love to hear a more definitive answer.
u will win nobel one day s0n
electrolysis is slow and not super energy efficient. For example, running the engines for an hour might produce 100 kw of electricity. that 100 kw might be able to extract 500 litres of Oxygen from the water. but the engines will need 800 litres of Oxygen to run for another hour, so they can only run another 45mins, which allows them to make enough air for another 30mins, etc. Those are just made up numbers, but basically you COULD do that, but it wouldn't last very long and as soon as your out of air, you need to surface anyway. plus all the extra gear you would need on an already cramped sub, And that's only if you can even split the water fast enough to feed the engine for any length of time.
Electricity is valuable, the more electricity you have the longer you can run the motors to avoid danger quietly, and you would run out of batteries long before stored oxygen anyway.
That would violate basic thermodynamics? Yeah, that's a pretty good reason.
You can't get as much energy out of the process as you put in. The engine uses oxygen to liberate stored energy in fuel. Using that same energy to extract oxygen from water would result in much less oxygen than originally went into liberating that energy
US Navy, Nuclear Field
You were saying the nuclear sub has to run its engines all the time and that'd louder. In fact, the only thing that really makes noise on the sub is the propeller which depressurizes the water around it, boiling it, creating bubbles. This also happens in the Diesel sub when it's running it's electric motors.
You said the nuclear subs cant turn off their engines. They can stop their propeller(s) just like any other sub, the reaction just doesn't necessarily stop.
I'm sorry for any misinformation, feel free to correct me.
The boats used a seven blade screw to prevent cavitation and were on constant alert to detect any. Now days they use a propulsor which is like the impeller in a centrifugal pump.
never thought of asking this question
You never explained (1) why the nuclear S is louder (2) why it has to run its engine all the time (3) why it can't sit on the floor (4) whether nuclear S sailors do have problems with radioactivity.
A nuclear submarine has a lot of moving machinery, such as pumps, which are noisy. The nuclear power plant needs cooling water to condense the steam back into condensate and the intakes are on the bottom, so you can't sit on the ocean floor.
It's been 38 years since I was on a boat and I haven't died yet. I can't speak for others but I can say the radiation didn't effect me.
+Gi All valid questions. My shot on them: (1)As Douglas Gillard said, nuclear submarines have lots of moving machinery. The turbines moving the submarines are vapor turbines. (2) Because you cant just "flip on/off" a nuclear reactor, it needs time to get stable, thats why you usually have it run 24/7. (Same thing in commercial nuclear powerplants). (3) Answered (4)The radiation hazard is nonsense. You can effectively shield against it. Just in case of an accident the hazard is existant.
+Gi D I have no problem with the radiation, considering I get more by standing in the sun than I do going into the Engine room of a Virginia class fast attack.
+Gi D !. It's all relative. The nuke boat is amazingly quiet, but when a diesel boat is on batteries only, they are quieter. (only DC motor and shaft and screw turning. 2. It doesn't. 3. It can. but they usually operates in deeper water that their crush depth. 4. Under water on a nuke, one normally gets NO radiation whatsoever
If y'all like this y'all should check out his podcast called "How Stuff Works" anywhere you get your podcasts.
A heated charged fluid can be used to run through a silent generator assembly with no moving parts, or you could float the entire turbine block(s) on magnets and encase in a vacuum. True silent running will require a sub design that I've decided we don't need right now. The fact that nuke carrying subs make noise is a good thing.
Hey, this is awesome!
Yay!!! It's Josh!!!!
Actually it's as long as the food lasts. HMS Swiftsure was returning from patrol when she got diverted to the Falklands in '82. By the time they got home the crew were on two sandwiches per day.
i was a submarine cook on the uss jimmy carter. I literally worked less than 10 feet from the reactor everyday. there is no way the reactor is louder than the diesel engine.
Can't the nuclear submarine charge batteries like the diesel one? Also I heard that somehow nuclear subs take oxygen of the water so.....
ALSO ALSO Nuc Subs are bigger aren't them?
Was hoping for more information than this gives, in fact it is an infant school description of how diesel subs work.
You forgot the stirling engine subs, those are the best!
It's clear and well-organized explanation. I would love to know more motion theory of submarine and sonar technology
I was a Sonar Tech (STS2(SS) in the 60's on a Polaris boat and a Diesel boat.
i am a diesel sub operator, ofcorse it a lot more complicated then in this video clip. there are few more way to use the snorkel silently, but it is not the problem, the problem is the noise produced by the diesel generators (we have 3 huge diesel generators) and the exhaust that makes bubles in the water.
usually at combat mode we need to charge our batteries every 24 hours (not full discharge but reach the level needed to charge) so we are doing it in the middle of the night far from shore-line and after verifying no ships/subs around. after full charge we dive again to enemy line for 24 hours.
we also have subs with hydrogen hybrid system. mixes hydrogen with oxygen it creates electricity and fresh water, so we can stay submerge for a week until we run out of hydrogen\liquid oxygen.
our fleet does not have nuclear sub but i know they not need to snort, they can be always submerge and only to dock for supplies. the nuclear reactor make electricity, and water. but its very noisy. we can easy spot a nuclear submarine by the humming of the nuclear reactor by sonar.
just so you guys know there is a third kind that uses thermodynamics to power the batteries, basically slightly warmer (~2-5 degrees) water steams through the pump causing it to turn, I think the Swiss made one.
Just realised this is the guy off the "how stuff works" podcast
You didn't mention that a nuclear sub leaves a heat trail behind it. The nuclear reaction heats water, creating steam which drives its turbines. This heat trail can be detected by the enemy.
Basically diesel engine is just a generator. I belive it is better than nuclear submarines due to easier availability of diesel and cheaper price. Also diesel is hell safer to handle and very silent once batteries are charged. Can compressed air be used to help the engine run. It would even prevent coming to surface for charging.
Ayush Gupta the only problem with diesel submarines is there ability to travel great distances. They are amazing for littoral combat and guarding coasts, but nuclear subs are used for their distance and armament. Only nuclear subs can consistently patrol the seas around the world
Awesome simple explanation
I am a sailor on nuclear submarines. I have been stationed on four different subs. You're wrong about nuclear subs and stealth. That is all I will say
Can any body please explain how the diesel submarine exhaust system work when it was snorting? How does the DG exhaust flap valve work? How does it remove exhaust gases?
why make comments about things you don't understand. I operated reactors for the Navy for six years. There is so much shielding around these reactors that you actually receive more radiation from natural radiation than a nuclear sub or carrier. yes, most nuclear operators in the Navy receive less radiation than the rest of the population. On to your next comment. A nuclear sub could take out an entire fleet of diesel subs. And the comments about which is more quiet. A ballistic missile sub can operate at about 30-40% power with no pumps on. How? Thermal Driving Head. Most important, a ballistic missile sub is the most powerful weapon in the world. Each missile carries several nuclear warheads and has the potential to take out every major city in the northern hemisphere. Work on your stories in the future. A diesel sub doesn't even come close to matching a nuclear subs capabilities.
Hey guys! First time commenter and huge fan. I love the show and have seem most of the videos.
Thanks Marty!
To cut out the need to surface for a diesel sub, could they introduce a electrolysis system?
If an enemy sinks a nuclear submarine, what is the risk of harmful materials leaking out?
+Bannicus Nuclear submarines have sunk before. Two US submarines (USS Scorpion and USS Tresher) was both lost in seperate crush depth accidents in the Atlantic Ocean. But tests done on the wrecks showed no signs of radiaton leaks.
The Russians have lost seven submarines, only one of them had a small radiation leak from one of the weapons onboard, but it was quickly sealed.
What about long term though? And how did they seal it?
I'm thinking more if they're sunk by say a torpedo, rather than just malfunction.
+Bannicus it hasn't happened because during the time nuclear submarines have existed, there hasn't been a large-scale war where they've been used and fired on.
Katherine Clairmont I know but I find it odd that it seems governments didn't even *consider* the problems of having a harbour etc. polluted by an attack on a nuclear submarine. The possible repercussions of having a nuclear submarine seem almost bigger than who they might be used against.
I know it wasn't the topic of the video and that most classes of diesel subs around the world don't have them, but if he's going to compare diesel and nuclear subs, he should have at least mentioned that many diesel subs now have some form of AIP.
I think there's one fact missing that changes the whole comparison and that is: AIP submarines.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-independent_propulsion
I.e. there exists diesel submarines that do not have to surface or use a snorkel to run its engines. Making the amount of food the sub can carry their limiting factor, which is also true for nuclear subs.
Please make a video on AIP systems on conventional subs .
You do not understand nuclear subs.
The "green glow" bit was a joke. It wasn't a particularly good one but it was a joke.
How much modern DE n AIP r powerful for conventional atack subs.