Re: Couple Old Style Space Opera questions...

Sea Wasp wrote:
In a number of REALLY old time settings, or comic/pulp settings, we had
places where planets or at least "worlds" that were floating in air (rather
than proper vacuum). (the most recent example I can think of was the movie
Flash Gordon).

Of course this does remind one of the situation in
Larry Niven's novels THE INTEGRAL TREES and
THE SMOKE RING.

And Niven had this to say in his essay BIGGER THAN WORLDS:

Mathematically at least, it is possible to build a really big Dyson
sphere, with the. heart of a galaxy at its center. There probably aren't
enough planets to supply us with material. We would have to disassemble some
of the star of the galactic arms. But we'll be able to do it by the time we
need to.

We put the biosphere- on the outside this time. Surface. gravity is
minute, but the atmospheric gradient is infinitesimal. Once again, we assume
that it is possible for human beings to adapt to free fall. We live in free
fall, above a surface area of tens of millions of light years, within an
atmosphere that doesn't thin out for scores of light years.

Temperature control is easy: we vary the heat conductivity of the
sphere to pick up and hold enough of the energy from the stars within. Though
the radiating surface is great, the volume to hold heat is much greater.
Immustrial power would come from photoreceptors inside the shell.

Within this limitless universe of air we can build exceptionally large
structures, Ringworld-sized and larger. We could even spin them for gravity.
They would remain aloft for many times the lifespan of any known civilization
before the gravity of the Core stars pulled them down to contact the surface.

The Megasphere would be a pleasantly poetic place to live. From a flat
Earth hanging in space, one could actually reach a nearby moon via a chariot
drawn by swans, and stand a good chance of finding selenites there. There
would be none of this nonsense about carrying bottles of air along.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Gs needed to walk
    ... People can walk in water as deep as their shoulders. ... feet lose traction. ... In air, the air resistance is much lower than water resistance on the ... could walk more rapidly under higher gravity. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: How Rockets Differ From Jets
    ... It may have something to do with 'X amount of energy requirement for a ... energy', they say. ... energy from gravity to assist it in pushing up against gravity. ... Just remove the compensating air from inside a can and it will ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: How Rockets Differ From Jets
    ... :energy', they say. ... :energy from gravity to assist it in pushing up against gravity. ... Just remove the compensating air from inside a can and it will ... :pushing the air molecules is the 'drag' energy being taken from the ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: Candle fans in _Sun of Suns_
    ... Candle sconces and the like are fitted with tiny fans to keep air feeding the flames. ... Wouldn't the candle's heat be enough to create a temperature gradient to expel the oxygen-starved air in the immediate vicinity and draw in negligibly-cooler O2-rich air to keep the light going? ... In the absence of gravity, the temperature gradient doesn't cause any air movements. ... the lighter gasses near the flame are displaced by the heavier cold air from further away because the gravity pulls more strongly on the heavier air. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: A Hole through Earth?
    ... Would the air density increase so much that the person ... but the force of gravity doesn't suddenly disappear when you get below ... > the pressure, you'd have to integrate the weight of a 5000 mile column of air, with ... Another complication would be differential densities of the Earth ...
    (sci.physics)
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