[ExI] scieceblind

[Mike Dougherty]

On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 12:07 PM, Dylan Distasio <interzone at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I hope I'm not insulting by linking to an explanation, but I think it
> would help if you think about water displacement and how a less dense
> object floats in water.  It is the same exact principle when you have a
> less dense object (the helium balloon) compared to the air:
>
> http://science.howstuffworks.com/helium1.htm
>
>
Have we figured out how to fill a balloon with near-enough to nothing at
all to make a lighter than helium balloon?

I know the structural requirement for a large volume of empty space is
considerable in Earth atmosphere.  I've been curious about the use of
aerogels with enough crush-resistance to make lighter-than air craft
literally filled with nothing - which would be cheaper and much safer than
the only [non-]thing with more lifting power than helium (see:
Hindenberg).  I mean sure, worse case scenario your balloon fills with
environmental air and crashes to the ground wouldn't exactly be a good time
but at least you wouldn't also be exploding and burning on the way to the
impact.

I was also wondering if you could tether enough of these together to
encircle the globe, if you could hoist objects from this floating platform
and literally throw them into space.  Imagine a trebuchet floating on a
ship launching rocks lifted from the ocean floor, but the ship is floating
on the atmosphere and the rocks are aerodynamic sling bullets heading to
space.

Well, enough thought experiment for now, I have to do actual work.
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