Families are funny things.
Funny, trying, frustrating things.
I have an Uncle B and we don't often see eye to eye. You see, B claims to be a genius, his IQ is in the,uh, 190's *cough*, and I think he's an idiot, and therein lies the friction. Every so often B pops out a comment to enlighten us poor intellectually challenged peons with acclaimed scientific fact and (occasional conspiracy) theory.
This week it's the awesome power of... (drumroll please) MAGNETS.
According to B, we have the power to fire shipping containers into space, just by harnessing the incomparable power of magnets! And not just any shipping containers, 450 tonne shipping containers. Specifically.
Apparently 'They' guard this secret closely, as no-one wants 'The Terrorists' getting hold of this technology and putting an end to us all. But, B, genius he is, has worked it all out.
Now, when a man says to me "We can fire 450 tonne shipping containers into space using magnets" without laughing the first question that comes to my mind is 'Why?'
Apparently the answer is the same as 'Why climb a mountain?", because it's there, because we can... because the voices in B's head say we should (Ok, that last one does not pertain specifically to the mountain question, but you see where I'm going).
Now, I'm no expert in the field of the science of space travel, or the science of magnets, or the science of shipping containers, even... but I spy some holes with this, well, it wasn't presented as a theory exactly, more of a statement of fact. And therefore I have some questions I would like answered.
1. As stated above, yeah, uh, WHY?
2.What kind of magnet would be required to reach the speeds required to break orbit?
I fancy electro-magnetic plates would be required in order to facilitate placing of said shipping containter into the magnetic feild area. Otherwise manouvering the containers into a position where they can be shot into space could potentially become nightmarish. I also imagine that the magnetic base will need to be quite large in order to be able to maintain some control over flight patterns and ascent. I've been told that magnetic fields do not run in straight lines, but waiver from side to side, and we wouldn't want the crate to go flying sideways and come down on an unsuspecting pedestrian in Outer Eastern Mongolia. We have also toyed with a Magnetic Rail kind-of theory, but, again (and please remember that our knowledge is limited in this area) we doubt that we would be able to break atmosphere, as I believe you can only launch something into space through places where our atmosphere is thinnest, thus the 'windows' NASA uses for its rocket launches. A rail would need to be too long and too permanent to acheive successful release into space, not to mention the technicalities of builing an earth based structure that high.
So fromthis point I assume we will employ the Electro-magnetic Plates theory.
3. An awful lot of power would be needed to magnetise the plates, where does this come from?
4. Do the plates need to be moveable or crazy huge in order to combat issues arising from the instability of the magnetic field itself and the Earths natural rotation?
5. If we can acheive the velocities required to break atmosphere, won't the shipping container melt?
6. What happens to the contents of said shipping container once it does leave Earth? There's a lot of radiation out there. It has been suggested that the container would need to be air tight and made of gold to avoid venting air and be proofed against the afore-mentioned radiation.
7. Assuming the electro-magnet is quite huge, say continent sized (to maintain stability and account for earth roatation). Won't this fuck with the Earth's natural magnetic field, throwing the earth off it axis and potentially plummeting us into ice-age, if not killing the planet and it's inhabitants entirely by messing with our own magnetic fields?
8. How do we get the shipping container back?
I know, I know, there are a lot more questions in there as well, but I grow weary of this game.. Let's just say, that until B brings me published sound scientific theory by noted scientists... I don't believe him.
Funny, trying, frustrating things.
I have an Uncle B and we don't often see eye to eye. You see, B claims to be a genius, his IQ is in the,uh, 190's *cough*, and I think he's an idiot, and therein lies the friction. Every so often B pops out a comment to enlighten us poor intellectually challenged peons with acclaimed scientific fact and (occasional conspiracy) theory.
This week it's the awesome power of... (drumroll please) MAGNETS.
According to B, we have the power to fire shipping containers into space, just by harnessing the incomparable power of magnets! And not just any shipping containers, 450 tonne shipping containers. Specifically.
Apparently 'They' guard this secret closely, as no-one wants 'The Terrorists' getting hold of this technology and putting an end to us all. But, B, genius he is, has worked it all out.
Now, when a man says to me "We can fire 450 tonne shipping containers into space using magnets" without laughing the first question that comes to my mind is 'Why?'
Apparently the answer is the same as 'Why climb a mountain?", because it's there, because we can... because the voices in B's head say we should (Ok, that last one does not pertain specifically to the mountain question, but you see where I'm going).
Now, I'm no expert in the field of the science of space travel, or the science of magnets, or the science of shipping containers, even... but I spy some holes with this, well, it wasn't presented as a theory exactly, more of a statement of fact. And therefore I have some questions I would like answered.
1. As stated above, yeah, uh, WHY?
2.What kind of magnet would be required to reach the speeds required to break orbit?
I fancy electro-magnetic plates would be required in order to facilitate placing of said shipping containter into the magnetic feild area. Otherwise manouvering the containers into a position where they can be shot into space could potentially become nightmarish. I also imagine that the magnetic base will need to be quite large in order to be able to maintain some control over flight patterns and ascent. I've been told that magnetic fields do not run in straight lines, but waiver from side to side, and we wouldn't want the crate to go flying sideways and come down on an unsuspecting pedestrian in Outer Eastern Mongolia. We have also toyed with a Magnetic Rail kind-of theory, but, again (and please remember that our knowledge is limited in this area) we doubt that we would be able to break atmosphere, as I believe you can only launch something into space through places where our atmosphere is thinnest, thus the 'windows' NASA uses for its rocket launches. A rail would need to be too long and too permanent to acheive successful release into space, not to mention the technicalities of builing an earth based structure that high.
So fromthis point I assume we will employ the Electro-magnetic Plates theory.
3. An awful lot of power would be needed to magnetise the plates, where does this come from?
4. Do the plates need to be moveable or crazy huge in order to combat issues arising from the instability of the magnetic field itself and the Earths natural rotation?
5. If we can acheive the velocities required to break atmosphere, won't the shipping container melt?
6. What happens to the contents of said shipping container once it does leave Earth? There's a lot of radiation out there. It has been suggested that the container would need to be air tight and made of gold to avoid venting air and be proofed against the afore-mentioned radiation.
7. Assuming the electro-magnet is quite huge, say continent sized (to maintain stability and account for earth roatation). Won't this fuck with the Earth's natural magnetic field, throwing the earth off it axis and potentially plummeting us into ice-age, if not killing the planet and it's inhabitants entirely by messing with our own magnetic fields?
8. How do we get the shipping container back?
I know, I know, there are a lot more questions in there as well, but I grow weary of this game.. Let's just say, that until B brings me published sound scientific theory by noted scientists... I don't believe him.
