Scientists have searched for a means of turning heat directly into electric current since a series of experiments in the 1880s showed that a heated metal plate will "boil off" clouds of electrons. Reason: an electric current is simply a flow of electrons. Last week, before the 124th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, General Electric announced that it had turned the trick. The device that may change the world's means of making power: a small "thermionic converter" that now turns about 9% of its heat energy into electricity,...
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