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April 2013: How It Works
For our annual How It Works issue, we break down everything from the massive Falcon Heavy rocket to a tiny DNA sequencer that connects to a USB port. We also take a look at an ambitious plan for faster-than-light travel and dive into the billion-dollar science of dog food.
Plus the latest Legos, Cadillac's plug-in hybrid, a tractor built for the apocalypse, and more.
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I've often pondered the crazy idea of zepplins lifted by hollow spheres with the air pumped out of them. Couldn't modern materials somehow be used to construct pretty light-weight spheres that could withstand the stress of containing a partial vacuum? Wouldn't a sphere with 90% or 95% of the air pumped out be lighter than one filled with hydrogen? Kevlar and aerogel with carbon-fibre struts.... yeah... Sure, mighty expensive (today - the prices of all those materials are dropping fast), but imagine what fun things one could do with a non-explosive zepplin with better lift.
Anyhow, checking the math of that is more than 5 min of surfing effort, so it remains a fun wild idea.
from Ft St John, BC
My Friend YOU are talkin truth! I imagine a nanomaterial envelope, that when energized would flatten out, ( the material at rest would be nano folded, and when energized these would unfold leading to the flattening and stiffening of the sheet)
If we two have imagined this, then it will be made real soon !
Soon vacuum won't suck!!
from Ft St John, BC
BTW:
The envelope would be sealed, and as it stiffened and flattened out, it would increase its volume. No need for pumps.
I hate to brake it to you but this is FAKE. If you look up Seymourpowell online you will find that they have absolutely nothing to do with the aerospace industry. If you look a bit deeper it becomes obvious. I mean, after the Hindenburg disaster, do you honestly believe that people will fly on an airship lifted by hydrogen? Also the number of solar pannels needed to reach the speeds claimed would mean that the ship would never get of the ground. Yes, I am sorry to say that this is a hoax, albeit an elaborate one.
To clarify any confusion, this represents a visual concept that exists on paper only -- there's no funding for this to actually take flight, so to speak.
Yeah, conceptual design, I believe is different from a 'hoax'. The only date they claim is 2035...which is pretty far ahead.
shit. 2015...which is pretty close. ;)
A "cruiseplane"? That would be pretty awesome sauce!
from Elmhurst, NY
Pi * R^2? Pi are round, cornbread are squared
It's a conceptual design team.
It's not lifted by hydrogen but by helium
The only hydrogen is in the fuel cells.
If hydrogen fuel cells bother you, you won't be anle to drive various electric cars under development
Wonderful news, from the pictures it seems amaizing and 2015 is not that far. We've come a long way, an Zeppelin sky hotel is a wonderful idea http://www.hotel-bucuresti.com/hoteluri/hotel_moxa-11.html
What a site, or sight! Either meaning fits the description for this amazing building and airplane. I too would like to live the dream! Though I expect as with Bransons latest venture, that this too will be in a price range well short of the two or three star hotels that I frequent. I would like to live the dream though, maybe in retirement. Just once, one night! Oh well !
www.saboey.com