Bubble Dome

[foodchain]

Ok, this was an idea I came up with one day while being sick.

 

If you were to put a mechanical/chemical object down in say a body of water, say 100 feet down. Say you had it explode releasing a fine mesh of carbon nanotubes(I added the tubes recently) holding together a hydrophobic gel. Could the pressures along with the mesh hold a dome of the gel together, say the pressure was caused by maybe differentiation of the gel along with various layers of the mesh screen to create and internal environment for people to occupy.

 

Basically you have the initial pop, it starts to expand the gel which in turn is meshed with the tubes that give a skeletal structure of sorts for support. This is further advanced by the filling internally of the pocket or dome the gel creates or a bubble really. Could something like that be created for underwater research?

 

If its not clear to anyone please ask questions as I have had this idea going for a bit now.

[sfpublic]

say this works and you did this...

 

how would you get in and out of your new fields?

where would air for inside come from? why wouldnt the inside be water also?

 

2 of my questions>

[foodchain]

Well the nano based frame or even the gel composite could possibly be modified by either physical or chemical means or both to operate somewhat like lung books. I know that there would be plenty of oxygen in the environment. I would think exchange processes could even be used to somewhat support the structure. I am sure energy waste would be something deadly to such an environment so any part of it would have to be incorporated into an overall scheme that supported its geometry and function.

 

How to acquire the oxygen would be complex without a doubt, not to mention the means to adequately circulate such and keep CO2, though I have not spent much time trying to figure out applications of the CO2. I don’t know how many different types of exchange channels you could make in the mesh, plus the obvious reality that such a dome might provide a surface suitable to support life which in turn could come to strangle the bubble unless one was to avoid physical and chemical means of environmental support in a non living format and went to support some sort of symbiotic relationship with GMO based life which could pick up some of the function and even have chemical or what not messaging. Such as turning colors based on environmental conditions which could allow the mesh to pump out something or what not. Then again I think genetics has more applications then currently envisioned like such.

 

I keep thinking of how to use vibrational frequencies though I have no idea past just that sentence.

[Edtharan]

The main problem I see with this is that when the explosion occurs, it pushes everything outwards. This leaves an empty void inside the bubble and the pressure outside would collapse it.

 

Just normal air pressure is 1kg/cm^2 at around sea level. When you go underwater, this level increases dramatically the further you go underwater. I think it is at 1 atmosphere (1kg/cm^2) for ever 10 metres you go down, but I am not sure (so correct me if I am wrong).

[insane_alien]

yeah it is roughly 1 atmosphere per 10m.

[foodchain]

Right so the pressure inside the bubble would have to match depth which would most fatal to humans is what you are getting at. I don’t know how I would combat this. The gel is simply to provide a water tight pocket with the carbon tubes(of course all hypothetical) to provide structural integrity of the bubble. The bubble also needs to be able to filter in oxygen or molecular oxygen right and get rid of CO2. I need something that can be used as an endosome and a lysosome in that regard:D Which I thought I would make part in my imaginative concept as part of the overall mesh(gel/tubes).

 

I know water cant freeze because of the pressure in nano tubes or carbon ones. Would there be any way to route various forces onto them and use some composite material that would push back equally, or somewhat close to take up some of the work?

[Edtharan]

Right so the pressure inside the bubble would have to match depth which would most fatal to humans is what you are getting at.

Only during the "explosion". You can have the interior of the sphere at 1 atmosphere, but then the structure of the sphere has to be able to withstand the difference in pressure. If you had identical pressures, then the surface of the bubble can be as thin and membranous as you like.

[Jacques]

I imagined something similar, but for space habitat that can also be used here on earth.

Melt a patch of basaltic rock, let say on the moon. Insert a high temperature resistant tube in it an blow in slowly hot air in it to create a bubble in the molten rock and let it cool down. All you need to do is to install some air thight door to get in that space. No material to bring except for the door and the life support system.

[foodchain]

I imagined something similar, but for space habitat that can also be used here on earth.

Melt a patch of basaltic rock, let say on the moon. Insert a high temperature resistant tube in it an blow in slowly hot air in it to create a bubble in the molten rock and let it cool down. All you need to do is to install some air thight door to get in that space. No material to bring except for the door and the life support system.

 

 

Wow, that’s an interesting idea. I could see the rock even somewhat though I don’t know the physical properties of basalt all to well giving such conditions.

[mooeypoo]

say this works and you did this...

 

how would you get in and out of your new fields?

where would air for inside come from? why wouldnt the inside be water also?

 

2 of my questions>

 

If it's on the floor, you could always dig a tunnel in...

[Edtharan]

how would you get in and out of your new fields?

where would air for inside come from? why wouldnt the inside be water also?

You could attach pumps to the outside of the dome and then have them drill through to the inside. The pumps can be used to pump air into the dome (possibly from the surface) and pump the water (if any is in there) out.

 

To get in and out, you could attach an "Airlock" to the outside of the dome.

 

First you would need to make a water tight seal to the dome, say a large rubber ring pressed against the side (or welded on) of the dome.

 

Next you need to attach the Airlock to the seal. The airlock contains a set of two doors and a pump that can pump water and air into and out of the Airlock (maybe with connections to the surface to get the air to pump into the airlock).

 

Once this Airlock is attached to the Dome, you can flood the inner chamber (between the double doors) of the Airlock with water and open the outer door. Get into the airlock (with drilling equipment) and close the outer doors. Next, pump air into the Airlock and the water out.

 

You can now open the inner doors to expose the outer surface of the Dome. Using the Drilling equipment you can then drill through the wall of the Dome and form a passage into the interior of the Dome.

 

Entering the dome will require you to (the inner and outer doors doors should both be sealed except when needed for this procedure):

1) Flood the airlock with water

2) Open the outer doors of the Airlock

3) Enter the Airlock through the outer doors

4) Seal the outer doors of the Airlock

5) Pump air into the Airlock and pump the water out

6) Open the inner doors of the Airlock

7) Enter the Dome through the inner Doors

8) Seal the inner doors

 

Exiting the Dome will require you to (the inner and outer doors doors should both be sealed except when needed for this procedure):

1) Pump the water out of the Airlock and Pump air in.

2) Open the inner doors

3) Enter the Airlock

4) Seal the inner doors

5) Pump water into the airlock and the air out

6) Open the outer doors

7) Leave the Airlock through the outer doors

8) Seal the outer doors

[foodchain]

You could attach pumps to the outside of the dome and then have them drill through to the inside. The pumps can be used to pump air into the dome (possibly from the surface) and pump the water (if any is in there) out.

 

To get in and out, you could attach an "Airlock" to the outside of the dome.

 

First you would need to make a water tight seal to the dome, say a large rubber ring pressed against the side (or welded on) of the dome.

 

Next you need to attach the Airlock to the seal. The airlock contains a set of two doors and a pump that can pump water and air into and out of the Airlock (maybe with connections to the surface to get the air to pump into the airlock).

 

Once this Airlock is attached to the Dome, you can flood the inner chamber (between the double doors) of the Airlock with water and open the outer door. Get into the airlock (with drilling equipment) and close the outer doors. Next, pump air into the Airlock and the water out.

 

You can now open the inner doors to expose the outer surface of the Dome. Using the Drilling equipment you can then drill through the wall of the Dome and form a passage into the interior of the Dome.

 

Entering the dome will require you to (the inner and outer doors doors should both be sealed except when needed for this procedure):

1) Flood the airlock with water

2) Open the outer doors of the Airlock

3) Enter the Airlock through the outer doors

4) Seal the outer doors of the Airlock

5) Pump air into the Airlock and pump the water out

6) Open the inner doors of the Airlock

7) Enter the Dome through the inner Doors

8) Seal the inner doors

 

Exiting the Dome will require you to (the inner and outer doors doors should both be sealed except when needed for this procedure):

1) Pump the water out of the Airlock and Pump air in.

2) Open the inner doors

3) Enter the Airlock

4) Seal the inner doors

5) Pump water into the airlock and the air out

6) Open the outer doors

7) Leave the Airlock through the outer doors

8) Seal the outer doors

 

Unless you could modify the membrane to operate some form of procedure similar to diffusion or osmosis. Of course it would not work out to be the same but I imagine a fully controllable membrane could have things like entropy tweaked along with of course physical chemistry subjects or physics or what not to allow permeation of the membrane by a recognized object. Maybe a spray on chemical perhaps or even some kind of programmable logic done on a chemical level, I hear people work on that stuff. Something involving the ability to use lasers to make I think a security code in a chemical reaction or something, its been some time since I have read anything on it.

 

The door lock and related sound to hard structurally speaking for the membrane I envision really. I am thinking more along the lines of a bigger version of a living cell, or somewhat modified to the extent of how living cells work perhaps? The doorway idea sounds suitable as maybe just certain aspects of the cell maintain a permeable port so to speak, maybe with some apparatus. I don’t know the extent of nano tech or nanotubes for that instant but if such could be used to some extent by a computer system it would I think enhance functional capability along with other technologies. I don’t think such would have to be in the nano end directly to modern standards. A pulse of information can come into a Varity of forms, all a receiver piece would have to supply for is connection of such information into a comp.

[Edtharan]

The door lock and related sound to hard structurally speaking for the membrane I envision really. I am thinking more along the lines of a bigger version of a living cell, or somewhat modified to the extent of how living cells work perhaps?

The Airlock has an analogy in Cells. In the Cell walls there exist proteins that act as pumps and channels that allow molecules in and out of the cell ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(biology)#Cell_membrane:_A_cell.27s_defining_boundary ).

 

So attaching small pumps to the outside (with a hole drilled into the Dome) would make the system like a cell. An airlock is just a bigger version of the pumps that allow the passage of larger objects (people and machinery).