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This will be how we build towers twice as tall as existing megatowers. As beautifully explained by xkcd[0], "If your building has lots of floors, you need lots
by mabbo 9y ago
This will be how we build towers twice as tall as existing megatowers.
As beautifully explained by xkcd[0], "If your building has lots of floors, you need lots of different elevators, since there would be so many people trying to come and go the same time. If you make a building too tall, the whole thing gets taken up by elevators and there's no space for regular rooms."
But if one elevator shaft can have multiple independent cars, suddenly you've got a huge capacity multiplier without the space costs.
The horizontal motion part is cute, but I don't think it will matter nearly as much.
[0]https://what-if.xkcd.com/94/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/94/
- robotresearcher 9y agoThe car motion is not independent and it's hard to use the capacity well. Consider the morning rush in a big office tower when everyone starts on the ground floor. You can only use the bottom car to move these people. You need a sideways dimension of movement to avoid this problem.
- mabbo 9y agoOh, definitely, I agree. You need at least 2 (probably 3 or 4 for extra redundancy) shafts. But you need them to be usually one-way shafts. So everyone going up gets in at the same door, and the empty cars can fly down the other side to be ready to take more people up.
- notatoad 9y ago>You need a sideways dimension of movement to avoid this problem. you mean like the elevator system being discussed here?
- robotresearcher 9y agoYes. I was replying to this comment: > But if one elevator shaft can have multiple independent cars, suddenly you've got a huge capacity multiplier without the space costs. > The horizontal motion part is cute, but I don't think it will matter nearly as much. My point is: 1. Stacked cars are not independent. 2. Horizontal motion matters a lot.