A little bit of a tangent, but my kids often ask this sort of "why don't we just..." question. As some examples, why don't we just:
...send landfills to the sun to burn up
...use a wind turbine on a car to generate electricity
...ride horses instead of cars
...give everybody free houses/clothes/money
I always try to explain the science while not discouraging creative thought. It's hard, because I want to be sure they grasp the cold, hard truths of physics and economics, but I don't want to pigeonhole them into thinking "there will never be any solution to this problem". I've often thought a well-written "why don't we just" book or website would be engaging for kids and adults.
sure, but absent infinite energy supplies with which much is possible, it falls under the general rubric of "no free lunch," which often in the physical world may fall under the conservation of energy (e.g., perpetual motion machines like wind turbines on cars) or the laws of thermodynamics.
The layman's "no free lunch" is a pretty good heuristic though.
...send landfills to the sun to burn up ...use a wind turbine on a car to generate electricity ...ride horses instead of cars ...give everybody free houses/clothes/money
I always try to explain the science while not discouraging creative thought. It's hard, because I want to be sure they grasp the cold, hard truths of physics and economics, but I don't want to pigeonhole them into thinking "there will never be any solution to this problem". I've often thought a well-written "why don't we just" book or website would be engaging for kids and adults.