From: noone@nospam.com   
      
   As known, doc said that the Delorean needed a 1,2 GW *impulse* obviously   
   to travel through time. The problem with the lightning as was seen on   
   the movie, is of course a bolt of lightning has gigantic power numbers   
   (2,000,000 Volts and 100,000 Ampere) but the maximum current flows only   
   for a few ms, making it only a few KWh of energy, so they would need to   
   synchronize the car passing under the wire just when the lightning would   
   strike and with a precision of several ms, so Marty would miss it as he   
   couldn't start the car engine right away. But a high voltage trasmission   
   line would easily give an impulse of 1,2 GW, such lines of course were   
   long in use before 1955. The problem is of course it would be AC.   
   Another problem lies in the depiction in the movie of Doc connecting the   
   connector just in the nick of time, of course that would be impossible   
   as of course the current flows with the speed of light. Another problem   
   is with the plutonium, was it weapon grade plutonium (metallic) or   
   plutonium dioxide, used with uranium dioxide in reactor fuel rods? Just   
   my 2 cents....   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)