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Need opinions and guidance building a space elevator.
- Thread starter mcglyph
- Start date
Not so much that they're really fast but that they produce so much down force through their aerodynamics that they pretty much glue themselves to whatever the tires are touching.
Hey pal, if you're not going to agree with me, keep your comments to yourself. OK?
-Mike
I just want you to be INFORMED!
Apparently carbon nanotubes can now be twisted into fibre, seems like only a matter of time. Buy real estate in South America.
Yes. A very long time... Think of the copious amounts of effort and energy required to fabricate a single strand of nanotube fibre the thickness of a human hair.
Now consider the effort and energy required to create a roadway composed of woven nanotube fibres which would be 22000 miles in length.
Kinda boggles the mind, doesnt it?
If was born in 1880 I would have found powered flight quite boggling, had I then lived to see man on the moon I would have been be saying "I never would have thought I'd have lived to see that!"
They are interested in nanotubes for faster computers, mass production may not be so far away.
I haven't read throught the whole thread but I believe "roadway" isn't a very good way to describe it aside from its functionality.
The biggest stress is at the middle and the bottom and in the ends it's relatively unloaded.
I think the real hurdles are in getting the mechanisms reliable to ride the cable(s) without adding so much bulk that the atmosphere makes it unworkable. It's not like you can avoid cyclones on the equator.
They are interested in nanotubes for faster computers, mass production may not be so far away.
I haven't read throught the whole thread but I believe "roadway" isn't a very good way to describe it aside from its functionality.
The biggest stress is at the middle and the bottom and in the ends it's relatively unloaded.
I think the real hurdles are in getting the mechanisms reliable to ride the cable(s) without adding so much bulk that the atmosphere makes it unworkable. It's not like you can avoid cyclones on the equator.
The pro's of CNTs lie in their molecular layout. They are a perfect structure, much like diamond but the pattern repetition is limited to 2D instead of 3D (you can make them thinner or narrower, but not indefinately as you can with diamond). The problem with this structure is that it dosen't allow for strong chemical bonds and any included binding site will weaken the nanotube itself. Structurally we have to look at using these in composite materials, where all the big on-paper benefits of CNTs start to really dwindle. Ony a molecular scale, they are just too slippery.
CNT's are speculated to have been produced, in one form or another, over 50 years ago. The issue is that we lacked the tools with which to view them and competently verify something that small. The properties of CNT's hold massive promise, though mainly when used on the micro- and nano-scale. I don't see them being produced rope-like sizes in the next few decades.
Does anyone remember when the OP was saying these things would be up and running? I seem to remember the claim being 5-10 years.
CNT's are speculated to have been produced, in one form or another, over 50 years ago. The issue is that we lacked the tools with which to view them and competently verify something that small. The properties of CNT's hold massive promise, though mainly when used on the micro- and nano-scale. I don't see them being produced rope-like sizes in the next few decades.
Does anyone remember when the OP was saying these things would be up and running? I seem to remember the claim being 5-10 years.
I can appreciate your concern, thank you.
Would you want to contribute to my fund to place freeways on ceilings around the world to help decrease traffic congestion on major freeways? Everyone with a Formula One racecar would be able to use the freeways free of charge.
-Mike
Yeah, IIRC the OP was claiming 8 years. Or maybe 10.
I think that's far from a realistic timeframe. There was a Japanese company a few years back who put a rough timeframe down for 30 or so years I believe, but even that sounds quite optimistic to be honest, many others have estimated 50 which sounds more realistic.
I'm fairly confident that the space elevator or a similar venture will happen given time. There will come a point, infact we've probably already reached it, where getting things off the ground and into space is so outrageously expensive that it majorly holds back progress across many fields, and some alternative will be in demand.
Outside of developing some sort of fusion propulsion system etc. (or some other fuel with an extremely high energy density) using rockets and space shuttles like we have been doing for years really isn't really going to cut it, something else needs to happen.
The space elevator/space fountain concept is the best one so far (unless we can whip up some sort of teleportation device, would save a lot of construction effort..), the theory exists for a space elevator and appears sound, the materials needed are not there yet, but I have no doubt that's just a matter of time (be it through CNT's or otherwise), and the demand already exists. Sooner or later somebody is going to bite the bullet and go for it, it's just a matter of when. Multiple private corporations have shown interest in the space elevator over the last few years, and private corporations are getting into space in more ways than one (Space X, Mars one, DSI,). The privatised space race is picking up momentum by the day and I believe the space elevators time will come, there's a whole lot of opportunity out there and something like the space elevator would bring it well within reach.
Yeah, the idea of solely using CNT's themselves does seem more than a little ambitious. They tick all the boxes, but constructing a single tube long enough to reach a geosynchronous orbit (36,000ish kilometres) isn't going to happen anytime soon as far as I can tell. Last I checked the longest single tube to date was 230mm I think.
It seems far more likely that stable composites would be developed and used instead, but at the moment any composites struggle to retain a fraction of the tensile strength to weight ratio.
On CNT's being produced over 50 years ago, I believe there was a case where they were found in 16th century Damascus Steel blades, and that they appear to have occurred accidentally in the steelmaking process somewhere.
It should have specified produced, by "produced on purpose", heck, a house fire will have trace amounts of CNTs, pretty cool to hear that they found them in ancient steels too, though it makes sense, Carbon + lots of heat + Iron = CNT production, Iron is used as a nucleation catalyst in the production of CNTs today 
.
.It should have specified produced, by "produced on purpose", heck, a house fire will have trace amounts of CNTs, pretty cool to hear that they found them in ancient steels too, though it makes sense, Carbon + lots of heat + Iron = CNT production, Iron is used as a nucleation catalyst in the production of CNTs today
Haha. I guess once they learned the formula for the steel they did produce them on purpose, although inadvertently, they just didn't know what they were or why they worked
Makes you wonder what else has been lost to time. Discoveries we've stumbed upon hundreds of times before until eventually somebody realised what they were or put them to good use, and even then only to be lost again.
I'm just waiting for us to dig up the ancient Egyptian internet.
I'm back I'm back... sorry to have been gone for the past month... got stuck on the space elevator at 40,000 meters and had to wait for the elevator repair man... I had to drink my own urine to survive..
Haha. I guess once they learned the formula for the steel they did produce them on purpose, although inadvertently, they just didn't know what they were or why they worked
Makes you wonder what else has been lost to time. Discoveries we've stumbed upon hundreds of times before until eventually somebody realised what they were or put them to good use, and even then only to be lost again.
I'm just waiting for us to dig up the ancient Egyptian internet.
The Lycurgus Cup is another interesting example of something creating historically yet has some interesting science behind it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycurgus_Cup
So, my kickstarter has been doing well. Ive got the teleportation device up and running, but since Im moving I need to relocate my workshop.
Some additional kickstarter funds will really get things moving... guys...
Some additional kickstarter funds will really get things moving... guys...
Has anyone actually tried to drive an F1 car on a upside down surface for any distance or is it just speculation ? I dont doubt it could be done just wondering how far they would get before.......... well, you know. It never ended well when the coyote would try something like this chasing that darn woodpecker... er, roadrunner
