Thought Experiment: Building Something Cool

[Raider5678]

Hi guys, I read that if nasa had more money, they could get to mars twice as quick. Now I think they meant the long run, as in getting there in 20 years rather then 40, not the actual trip time (about 6 months with conventional rockets). Now I was wondering what you guys would build if you had ALL the money in the world. Now since this IS a thought experiment, there are somethings that you can ignore. Here are some of the rules for your "world" where you build whatever super thing.

 

1. It can't ignore the laws of anything.(physics, thermodynamics, etc.)

2. You have unlimited money to do what you need to do.

3. You have unlimited manpower.

4. You have unlimited time.

5. Anything you make must be something we could build today given these standards.

6. You only have materials you could get.

 

Now I don't know whether this is something thats not allowed or not, but I didn't read anything in the rules about it(unless I missed it). But if we make something team style, like we come up with something, then figure out problems with building it, etc, it would be great. I'm pretty sure something like that has like a 0.000000000001% chance of happening. Now to finish, what would you build? Be it an underwater city, a giant space ship, or a advanced microwave, I don't care. I just like seeing interesting ideas.

[Raider5678]

Considering nobody is posting their ideas, I know what I would build. I would build a giant pole the goes so far above earth, that the end is traveling at least 1/6 the speed of light.

From there I would use it to "sling-shot" space ships to where ever they need to go.

[Delta1212]

At that point, I think it's best to stop thinking of it as a pole and more of a very thick wire. And I don't think we have any materials at present with the tensile strength to sustain that. You're basically talking about a ridiculously long space elevator, and I think even normally conceived of space elevator is a little beyond us at this point, though not quite as far as what you are describing.

[Raider5678]

At that point, I think it's best to stop thinking of it as a pole and more of a very thick wire. And I don't think we have any materials at present with the tensile strength to sustain that. You're basically talking about a ridiculously long space elevator, and I think even normally conceived of space elevator is a little beyond us at this point, though not quite as far as what you are describing.

Ridiculously long? What? You mean a wire that reaches farther than mars is ridiculously long? You're ridiculous.

[Sensei]

From more realistic things, I would build the bigger the more powerful CERN-like particle accelerator near my apartment.. To play with my beloved particles..

 

From even more realistic things, I would build giant factory of solar panels, and give them away for free for everybody to put on their roofs. So they would not need anymore to buy electricity in their life.

Carbon-based power-plants would bankrupt, the rest more ecologic power plants would produce electricity for business clients. At least until they wouldn't get my solar panels also.

[Raider5678]

From more realistic things, I would build the bigger the more powerful CERN-like particle accelerator near my apartment.. To play with my beloved particles..

 

From even more realistic things, I would build giant factory of solar panels, and give them away for free for everybody to put on their roofs. So they would not need anymore to buy electricity in their life.

Carbon-based power-plants would bankrupt, the rest more ecologic power plants would produce electricity for business clients. At least until they wouldn't get my solar panels also.

That would be interesting.... Though considering most of the people in my town are employed in Carbon-based Power-Plants, I'm hoping they have time to switch to other jobs. I always wanted to put solar panels on my tree house.

[NEXT]

Planetary Cracker Miner

I would build a planetary collapsing mechanism that would have the ability to encapsulate full planets and then by using a combination between LASERS!! and advanced drilling technologies I would then destroy the planet and then use awesomely efficient resource collection mechanisms to collect all the debris from the planet wide drilling process.

This is how is works..
1) Find Planet
2) Expand Planetary Cracker Miner ( P.C.M )
3) Enclose P.C.M around entire planet
4) Start drilling process
- During Drilling process start Resource Collection System
- Turn on Resource Collection Bay
5) Continue drilling, destroying planet until there are no resources left.

[Raider5678]

Planetary Cracker Miner

 

I would build a planetary collapsing mechanism that would have the ability to encapsulate full planets and then by using a combination between LASERS!! and advanced drilling technologies I would then destroy the planet and then use awesomely efficient resource collection mechanisms to collect all the debris from the planet wide drilling process.

 

This is how is works..

1) Find Planet

2) Expand Planetary Cracker Miner ( P.C.M )

3) Enclose P.C.M around entire planet

4) Start drilling process

- During Drilling process start Resource Collection System

- Turn on Resource Collection Bay

5) Continue drilling, destroying planet until there are no resources left.

You would practically have to make one of those, collect a planet, just to get the resources to make it. Not really, it's just gonna take a TON of stuff to make it. Also, welcome to scienceforums

[Janus]

Considering nobody is posting their ideas, I know what I would build. I would build a giant pole the goes so far above earth, that the end is traveling at least 1/6 the speed of light.

From there I would use it to "sling-shot" space ships to where ever they need to go.

Let's consider the practicality of this idea, ignoring the unlikelihood of coming up with a material capable of withstanding the stress. First off, the energy needed to sling shot your spaceships doesn't come from nowhere, it will be extracted from the rotational energy of the Earth, slowing its rotation with each launch. By how much depends of the mass of the ship. If we use a conservative number of 45 metric tonnes, ( about the mass of the Apollo mission's command + service module), it works out to increasing the time it takes the Earth to complete one rotation by ~1.6 milliseconds This ~1000 times more than the Earth's rotation slows in one year due to tidal braking by the Moon. While this might not seem like a lot, after just 625 of such launches, the Earth's day will have increased by 1 sec. This would require adding a leap second to our timekeeping systems every day to keep them in step with the rotation.

Then there is the effect just building the pole would have on the rotation of the Earth. even if you could come up with some magic material that could withstand the stress and only massed 1 gram per 1 meter of length, Moving the material from the surface of the Earth to build the pole will end up slowing the Earth's rotation by several seconds.

 

And once the pole is built, there are the g forces the ship being sling-shot would experience. To get it moving to 1/6 c over the distance it would travel from Earth to end of pole would require accelerations in excess of 100g.(the end of the pole itself will be feeling 374g.)

[fredreload]

I'm thinking of a nanofactory built based on molecular robots. Ever since I watched the movie transcendence, been keeping my interest in nanotechnology. Think of a factory built based on these robots in constructing more factories and more robots.

[timo]

My first idea is a world-wide electricity grid with enough connected PV panels to satisfy the world's energy demand (electrification of transportation and thermal appliances implied).

 

Caveats:

- Not very creative, admittedly.

- Didn't bother to check if material availability is an issue.

- Not sure if the practical reality of politics has to be considered under the rules of this thread.

[Phi for All]

My idea starts with a fleet of bright white helicopters capable of carrying lots of cargo and people. The first time one of them visits an area/towns/villages (with the permission of the country it's in), we drop off medicine and doctors, food and representatives to talk to the local people about building a school there for free, to teach reading and writing in the local language, as well as STEM subjects including hygiene, agriculture, and animal husbandry.

 

If we get permission, the first helicopter packs up for it's next new destination, while the second helicopter brings in more food and supplies, including a 3D printer for the school buildings and the engineers to direct the construction. Working with the local population, we design and build a school structure that's right for the area. When all is done, helo #2 packs up, heads back for more materiel, and takes the printer to the next available site.

 

With helo #3, we bring in more supplies and food, some energy efficient appliances like refrigerators, electric kettles, washing machines. We bring in the teachers at this point, who also work with the locals on a good general education process that will help bring the area into the benefits of the accumulated knowledge of their fellow humans.

 

In time, some of the children who graduate from these schools will be given jobs working to establish other schools nearby. I'd like to make the whole operation revolve around the prosperity it brings, so that even in areas where religion and other teachings make conservative people suspicious of modern ideas, the white helicopters are welcomed or at least met without violence.

 

Once we were established and sought after by governments, I would still operate for free, but I would start making the governments where I build the schools set up scholarships for graduates to go on to university (the downstream benefits to the country are huge). This cycle-of-transport strategy was used to pillage African and South American mineral resources by ship, so it should be equally effective against ignorance.