From: Patrick Salsbury (salsbury_at_sculptors.com)
Date: 05/11/99
Message-Id: <199905110907.CAA30564@bootstrap.sculptors.com> Subject: Re: cloud city Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 02:07:36 -0700 From: Patrick Salsbury <salsbury_at_sculptors.com>
> Charles J Knight asks
> : Actually...why would it require a completely rigid shell in the first
> : place?
> : Most internal constructs could be attached to a solid "bottom" similar
> : to the keel in a semi-rigid airship. Internal air pressure could maintain
> : the balloon's shape for the rest of the construct.
> :
> : Might be a lot cheaper to build this way, too.
>
> Here's the image that comes to my mind - stop me if I'm crazy:
> a rigid structure whose upper half is airtight but whose lower half
> is open. If it's big enough, will heat hold it up? If so, then
> passive ventilation seems a big advantage over a structure that needs
> internal pressure to hold its shape.
>
> Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685 *\\* DASher_at_netcom.com
That could work. Think about hot-air balloons. Same principle,
and those aren't airtight. They just contain the heat pretty
well. It'd have to be REALLY STRONG fabric-stuff, though...
Pat
___________________Think For Yourself____________________
Patrick G. Salsbury - http://reality.sculptors.com/~salsbury/
Check out the Reality Sculptors Project: http://reality.sculptors.com/
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Wait for a sign from Gozer the Traveler; he will come in one of the
pre-chosen forms. During the rectfication of the Voldrani, the Traveler came
as a large and moving Torb. Then, during the third reconciliation of the last
of the Machetrik Supplicants, they chose a new form for him -- that of a Giant
Sloar! Many Shevs and Zuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the
Sloar that day I can tell you!
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