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The author doesn't understand the concept of a blimp. The only reason for filling it with helium (or hydrogen) is to counter the atmospheric pressure. Since aer
by jakobe 13y ago
The author doesn't understand the concept of a blimp. The only reason for filling it with helium (or hydrogen) is to counter the atmospheric pressure. Since aerographite doesn't do that (it would just collapse under the pressure) there is absolutely no point in filling a blimp with aerographite.
If you found a way to create a hull that withstand the pressure, and prevents the aerographite from being compressed, why fill it with that stuff in the first place? Just use a vacuum inside your superstrong hull!
- rbanffy 13y agoIf hull and mesh together are strong enough, you may have something. But it seems a very difficult, if solvable, problem indeed.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- bayesianhorse 13y agoI don't have a lot of engineering knowledge, but I believe they said when evacuated it is about as strong as styrofoam. The latter is able to withstand air pressure. Wouldn't that mean that if you put an airtight hull around it, this stuff would actually hold it up? But yes, probably it will be tricky to evacuate and expand it at the same time...
- jakobe 13y ago"As strong as styrofoam" doesn't really mean anything. Are you talking about tensile strength? Or about resistance to shear forces? Compressibility? I haven't found much data on the mechanical properties of aerographite, but the Young modulus given on Wikipedia seems way too low to withstand atmospheric pressure.
- maaku 13y agoStyrofoam doesn't "withstand" air pressure, it has pockets of air inside.