[ExI] Physical limits of electromagnetic launchers

[Anders Sandberg]

On 03/06/2012 21:48, Jeff Davis wrote:
> Friends,
>
> I ran some numbers through the calculator.  Used one Kg in order to 
> get a unit centripetal force -- ie force per Kg,... used 0.1c for the 
> velocity, and 100,000,000 miles for the ring radius (rounded up the 
> 93,000,000 mile earth orbit radius) and got 57 times the force of 1kg 
> at one gee.
>
> For launching solid stuff, this a manageable problem right?.  Humans, 
> using a temporary liquid breathing medium (fluorocarbons) and immersed 
> in liquid might be able to tolerate this gee load.

Well, humans tend to get squashed around this acceleration. The world 
record of survival was 46 Gs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Typical_examples_of_g-force
But in my problem I am looking at specially designed high acceleration 
tolerant solid payloads - think bricks of diamond and nanomachines.

Basically I am trying to estimate the limits of how quickly a single 
Dysoned star could spam the universe with colony probes. Most of the 
analysis has been done already, but I would like to be certain that the 
launch systems are feasible.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Faculty of Philosophy
Oxford University

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