Re: Library censorship

On Friday, in article
<1hvg6sb.15pupph1oy2kleN%drachirREVERSEEACHPARTTOREPLY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
drachirREVERSEEACHPARTTOREPLY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Richard Kennaway" wrote:

David Friedman <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Of course, this is all very hypothetical; are we sure it won't sink?
Perhaps we need to find a convenient planet--one with substantial
puddles of liquid water--and try experimenting. I can just see writing
the story and having an email come in from one of the asteroids pointing
out some gaping hole in the physics.

It's all very well to speculate about how to move these "waterships",
but what could you make them out of? The material would have to be
solid, but lighter than water, or the ship would just sink to the
bottom. Metals are right out, and even the lightest plastics are only
marginally lighter than water, so you'd need a huge block of the stuff
to float even a modest load. You'd want to shape it like a large, thin,
flat platform, to maximise its resistance to overturning, especially
with that windcatcher driving it.

A one-person craft like that might work over short distances, but a
thousand-person ocean-going watership is clearly a flight of fancy.

Composite materials...

For instance, a mix of ice and wood fibres, although there might be some
difficulty stopping it from melting.

--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

On the horizon, a carrier task force of the Salvation Navy was
turning into the wind, preparing to launch Zeppelins.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Library censorship
    ... puddles of liquid water--and try experimenting. ... I can just see writing ... marginally lighter than water, so you'd need a huge block of the stuff ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)
  • Re: Library censorship
    ... marginally lighter than water, so you'd need a huge block of the stuff ... A thin metal skin surrounding empty space has a low average density. ... If you put most of the weight low down, that would make it relatively stable against complete overturning. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)
  • Re: Spaceship One in perspective
    ... > If you want to compare apples with apples, you could start by making your ... liquid fuel means your dry mass can be far lighter ... fly-back lower stages where recovery costs are low and refueling costs are ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: Multi-day unsupported trips. Where to sleep?
    ... So I'm a pretty big fan of wilderness backpacking, ... lighter than even the lightest tent, and way WAY lighter than a ... replenish your liquids and clif bars versus carrying enough to last you ... overnight (dinner water, sleeping water, breakfast water adds ...
    (rec.sport.unicycling)
  • Re: mermaids string?
    ... mermaid puppets have to be made of something lighter than water ... > things lighter than water are rare and exotic. ... > are made from fish bladders--but you can't carve a fish bladder to ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
Loading