Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
Spinning space station design
akronnick:
But they were moving in sync, and what's more, in simple harmonic oscillation with the ships mode of rolling.
If everyone on the station ran around the perimeter in the direction opposite the rotation, it might have a noticeable effect.
Deadlywonky:
So no marching troops! I'd imagine that a station large enough to have a decent size habitation ring and labs and accommodation for >100 people would weigh enough to stop a handful of people meeting up from becoming a problem then?
if you were actually going to build it, would you want to build the ring first (in airtight sections) and then add labs/habitation modules bit by bit balancing as you go?
a couple of things I've noticed about Jeph's design is that there are no emergency covers for the windows in case of accidental breaking, and that those doors (sliding I assume) don't look particularly airtight.
Of course I'm probably taking the whole thing far too seriously :roll:
DSL:
You'd have the situation of a big enough overall mass damping out the effect of individual people and other smaller bits of the station's mass moving around inside.
Wonder: If you were the sort who went in for running as an exercise, you'd get more of a workout running spinward (and so increasing your velocity around the circle, and therefore "weighing" more) as opposed to antispinward (decreased velocity and therefore decreased simulated weight). Again, a large enough torus would damp that out, by decreasing the overall rotation rate necessary for the desired g-equivalent.
As far as construction, build it, get the masses balanced and then spin it up. That actually was a problem engineers had the first time they saw Kubrick's version of the spinning-wheel station in "2001" -- the section under construction, they said, should have been completed in free fall (so you didn't have tools, parts and construction workers being spun off into the void), THEN spun up and mated to the existing section.
Windows and doors? I'm so used to SF space windows being made of transparent superstrongium (or better still, it's really just a force field) I take the handwave. Though, anyone remember "Space:1999?" The windows in the control room would break or crack at the slightest provocation, but an emergency repair could be made by laying a piece of office paper over the crack and sealing it with something from a handy spray can.
Is it cold in here?:
--- Quote from: Deadlywonky on 10 Feb 2012, 02:24 ---Of course I'm probably taking the whole thing far too seriously :roll:
--- End quote ---
You'll fit right in!
Maybe we just haven't seen the airtight safety doors.
Carl-E:
DSL, re: the running question.
What a fascinating thought! I think, though, that the effect doesn't happen - the centripetal force exerted by the station holding you in when your foot touches the ground will be the same that moment regardless of the direction you were moving. However, the acceleration made when you push off is linear, and the motion of the station is circular, and so I think that the faster you go, the heavier you'll feel because of the added force from the greater accelleration in each step (F = ma).
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