What Items Would Carry On Working Without Electricity?

This reminds me of a book called "Dies The Fire."

Oh, hey. Books would still work. What more do ya need?

Yeah, but this is for a short film, and I've a better reason for the electricity going away than just Aliens ate it.

But I'm talking more along the lines of things like guns, stoves, obviously people with pacemakers are in trouble. Watches no longer work, and the sort. But what about the rest of stuff. Look around you and tell me anything interesting that would still work. Books and pens and clothes are not interesting. Neither are bicycles.

Would things like batteries still be functioning? Is this concerning ALL forms of energy (as in, is fire still around)?

Be more specific, then I can give you a better answer.

I figure the semantics of plasma energy and ions in fire and the sort would end up going over the heads of the audience in a short flick, so yes there's fire and no batteries don't work, i.e., you can't play your gameboy but you can have a barbeque.

Well, anything wind-up, including some radios.

Old cars will work without a battery.

This is really an odd question. I mean, I see what you're getting at with the hybrid thing (even though, nowadays, things usually either use electricity, or they don't), but there's only so much you can use...

Eurgh. You're an idiot.

The more I think of it, the more I realize that you're kinda fucked in looking for something interesting.

Like, nothing that runs on gas would work. Not cars, no planes... basically all modern transportation is out. All electronics, obviously. All computers, therefore rendering useless all satellites, radars, hospitals, most nuclear missles (and their silos), electrical lighting...

Thunderstorms.

Humans...

If all electricity is gone, how are you planning on electric signals in the body to function?

Plumbing would work, but only in some cities. There are cities that have plumbing based on a gravity flow system.

I'm very curious as to what reason you have for electricity becoming non-existant.

Well if you're being that much of a bitch, the universe can't exist without electricity, it's energy in it's purest form and electricity is what holds together atoms and protons and all the little things inside of protons. Anyway, you're still an idiot. And I was just worried I'd miss something out and half-way through maybe some guy would maybe get a coke from a vending machine or something, me not realising they ran on electricity. That's an exaggeration mind, but mehehsdbdjdhfdh-23-ru

You still haven't answered my question. In fact, you're just supporting the idiocy behind electricity not existing. So how the hell are you planning on it not being there... but the universe still functioning?

Five bucks says you've got nothing.

okay, brainwise: only chemical transmissions will be allowed which are faster than electrical synapses.

but since you said items: compasses, manual altimeters, old typewriters, sextants, telescopes, manual cameras, metronomes...

Oooh - what about those radios that wind up?

Radios? As in radio recievers? Like tune in to 97.3 for back to back rock and roll radios? Because I think first, there would be nothing to listen to, since no one will have any working equipment to broadcast anything. And second, are radio waves electricity?

Turn all the breakers in the breaker box to off when filming indoors if possible, and then you won't have to worry about a VCR blinking "12:00" in the background, or some other item we forget takes electricity. And if filming outdoors, be aware of traffic signals. And if a plane is flying overhead, wait for it to pass out of range of the microphone.

Ahh, I'm sure you know all that.

I'm cheating and having human's unaffected by this. In short the whole planet is suffering from a geomagnetic storm. But this doesn't play a part in the film. As far as the character's are aware, it's an act of God.

Also, doing a bit of studying for this, I've concluded life on this planet will cease in roughly 3000 years, at the latest. The magnetic field of the earth stopping solar winds from stripping our planet of it's atmosphere is decaying. Reproduction is futile.

What eh vrrrr. My point is that clockwork things would still work. Like clocks. And oranges. Steam powered things? You could film part of it at the Railway Museum in York.

I like this thread.

and wind up radios run on batteries people. You crank the dynamo to charge a small battery inside. Same thing with wind up flashlights. Solar power? Charges batteries.

In my home ... what would work ... the entire plumbing system would work - and my water heater is gas - and so that would still work -- but many are electric -- but I get my water from a municipal distribution system which i am guessing has all sorts of testing and pumps and whatnot that rely on electricity, so even if they could somehow manage to still pump the water out (and IN for that matter), they would probably not be able to guarantee the waters non-bacteria-holding-ness (thats an industry term)

So I'd have to rely on my hand pump water filter:
[IMG]http://www.msrcorp.com/filters/images/miniworks_ex.jpg[/IMG]

That would be short term - it's good for up to 2,000 liters, so I'd have to probably start boiling eventually.

Speaking of boiling water, I have a gas stove/range so theoretically I'd be fine, but now that I think about it, the same limitations I placed on the water facility would also probably apply to the gas dudes ... so I guess to municipal gas is out. I bet propane would become a hot commodity. Remember those methane cars in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome?

FYI - in my city, electricity is produced by burning coal to heat water which turns to steam which drives turbines that actually function ALOT like giant versions of the dynamo's in those crank radios ....

ok. I am done for now.

[QUOTE=Thag;969688]I like this thread.

and wind up radios run on batteries people. You crank the dynamo to charge a small battery inside. Same thing with wind up flashlights. Solar power? Charges batteries.
.[/QUOTE]

True.
you could use glow sticks and things like that.
cars won't start without a battery, except for old cars with manual transmission.

Introduction
Cars with manual (stick shift) transmissions can be started even when the battery or the starter motor isn't working. Here's how you do it.
Instructions

Step OneMake sure that the problem is either the battery or the starter: If the engine cranks ("rrr-rrr-rrr") when you turn the key, then the problem isn't the starter or the battery.
Step TwoPlan to have at least one person sitting in the driver's seat and one person pushing. Mid-size and large cars require two or three people to push, depending on the strength of the people and whether or not the car is parked on an incline.
Step ThreeTurn off all accessories (radio, wipers, lamps).
Step FourTurn the key to the "on" position.
Step FiveDepress the clutch pedal with your foot.
Step SixPut the transmission in first or second gear.
Step SevenRelease the hand brake and the foot brake.
Step EightNote that the people pushing need to get the car rolling as fast as they can. This works best down a hill or an incline.
Step NineRelease the clutch pedal while giving the engine a little gas with the gas pedal once the car is moving about as fast as you can run. The engine should start.
[URL=http://www.ehow.com/how_7414_push-start-car.html]http://www.ehow.com/how_7414_push-start-car.html[/URL]

BUT!

it still requires spark plugs to ignite the gas in the cylinders which get their jolt from an ALTERNATOR - I don't know if Corellion will allow.

I've started cars that way before -- a long time ago - like back in high school. It's kind of exciting -- and you know who else did it? Hurley in LOST [I]and[/I] the guy from Children of Men!

True dat.
But the spark plugs just need to spark right? So if you had them sparking some other way, like would a metal-on-metal friction spark count as electricity? The car wouldn't run great, but maybe it would run (?)
Also, I think most modern gas pumps use computers for payment and all that stuff. They probably won't work without power, yeah?
Let's not forget anything power: power steering, brakes, etc.
Just something else to think about.
Something else: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that nuclear reactors work basically the same way as steam power, it's just that they use nuclear material instead of coal. But I think nuclear power is converted straight into electricity. But in theory it might be possible to have a nuclear-powered engine, car, train, whatever. But I'm not sure how you would monitor the reactions or handle the materials.
Plumbing would still work, at least for a time. Until sewage treatment centers were backed up because of their lack of electricity.
Does your story take place immeddiately after the electricity is gone or over a period of time?

[QUOTE=tomstrong83;969843].
Something else: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that nuclear reactors work basically the same way as steam power, it's just that they use nuclear material instead of coal. But I think nuclear power is converted straight into electricity.[/QUOTE]
Nuclear reactors -- I am 99% sure -- the nuclear reaction is just a replacement for coal -- it still heats steam which turns a generator -- which is pretty funny if you think about it. We are still heating water for steam to turn a thing -- we've only changed the heat source.

ok, I found this:
[QUOTE=http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/intro.html]In the vast majority of the world's nuclear power plants, heat energy generated by burning uranium fuel is collected in ordinary water and is carried away from the reactor's core either as steam in boiling water reactors or as superheated water in pressurized-water reactors. In a pressurized-water reactor, the superheated water in the primary cooling loop is used to transfer heat energy to a secondary loop for the creation of steam. In either a boiling-water or pressurized-water installation, steam under high pressure is the medium used to transfer the nuclear reactor's heat energy to a turbine that mechanically turns a dynamo- electric machine, or electric generator. Boiling-water and pressurized-water reactors are called light-water reactors, because they utilize ordinary water to transfer the heat energy from reactor to turbine in the electricity generation process. In other reactor designs, the heat energy is transferred by pressurized heavy water, gas, or another cooling substance.[/QUOTE]

Also:
[url]http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~kenneth-weston/[/url]

Muchos gracias all, I'm pretty confident I'll not need anything more, but I want this thread to continue because it's interesting. Magnetics would also be fucked up. Thus lighters which rely on a depressed magnet to create a flint spark wouldn't work. I've got pages of stuff to look out for, and it's only meant to be a short film.

Also, what about hybird electro-gas cookers, is the electricity stopping some valve from opening and releasing the gas. And if it was broken, is there a chance of gas filling up a house and exploding on ignition from a cigarette?

horses would still work
also beer taps
you could write a western

That would be too hard to work, I mean, getting horses and actors than can ride horses, this is a cheap no-budget iwantoseehowacameraandhowedittingworks venture.

[QUOTE=corellion;970380]Also, what about hybird electro-gas cookers, is the electricity stopping some valve from opening and releasing the gas. And if it was broken, is there a chance of gas filling up a house and exploding on ignition from a cigarette?[/QUOTE]

I seriously doubt it. They never design stuff that way. anal sphincters work that way though. it takes energy to keep them closed. The "relaxed state" is open. Which is why people shit when they die. I am guessing.

but as far as a gas line, if electriity was invloved in the flow of gas at all - which I doubt - it's probably all mechanical - the no energy state would be closed.

GUNS. guns would totally still work.

and without magnetism, we'd be [U]fucked[/U]

Diesel engines don't use spark plugs, but rather glow plugs. Although, they still require electricity to function I think this might be useful. Glow plugs heat up really hot instead of sparking so maybe in the future they could figure out a way of making a heat source to plug in the engine that wouldn't require electricity. They could also build cars the old fashioned way, but you said you were on a limited budget so I'd just run diesel cars and figure out a way of explaining the heat plugs that don't require electricity to run.

Also, everyone's backyard would need wells or water pumps to run water. A lot of houses in the country have these anyway and it wouldn't be too hard to build a mock well or water pump on the cheap.

As for food, All meat would probably be cured or dehydrated kind of like jerky. You might also consider the way they keep things fresh in China. A lot of middle class people in China don't own refrigerators and that's why they sell live chickens in the market. They also only cook enough to eat that night because there is no way of preserving leftovers.

Let me say though, trying to make a low budget, short film interesting and realistic without the use of at least batteries in a future without electricity is quite the challenge. I commend your ambition.

Bearchaser's thread has me reviving this idea and maybe wanting to write a long short-story about it instead. Something I'm still concerned about is the idea of electricity in the body. Are humans affected by Electro Magnetic Pulses and the sort? If not I guess I'm alright to go ahead, if so though I might need to rethink the idea.