At 04:17 PM 9/23/2004, Wirt Atmar wrote:
>Shawn writes:
>
> > there is the first problem of generating enough super strong material to
> > cover the required space.
>
>I don't think that's true. You could easily imagine a ringworld situation to
>be nothing more than a very, very large number of orbiting plates, each
>independently orbiting the central sun at the same distance, just like two
>docking
>spacecraft orbiting the earth.
>
>How much force does it require to keep two spacecraft flying in formation
>with each other? Clearly the answer is none. There is no inherent tensile
>force
>pulling the two spacecraft apart -- and only the most infinitesmial
>gravitational force pulling them together.
>
>The only real strength that would be required in the structure is that you
>would want your 1 gazillion plates that you've somehow welded together to be
>strong enough so that they didn't dent when you jumped up and down ("up" being
>towards the central sun).

wow, so you could have an ocean in a configuration like that?  I kind of
figured a bazillion gallons of water in a bowl being pulled out by the
sping of the ring would require a really strong structure.


>Wirt Atmar
>
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Regards,

Shawn Gordon
President
theKompany.com
www.thekompany.com
949-713-3276

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