From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Mon Aug 12 2002 - 20:48:55 MDT
Charles Hixon asked:
<<I suspect that he is talking about using buckytubes as the construction
material. If so, I believe that he is over-optomistic. I'd put the
time-frame as more like 5-10 years before construction could start.
Early design work could start now, but it would be a mistake to invest
much before we know just how long a buckytube can be built, how many
layers we can get on each tube, etc. And, of course, what the final
characteristics are. I don't think that we can really generalize from
the current lab products. It could be either a lot better or a lot
worse than we know. (Do buckytubes in the presence of Ozone turn into
CO2 when irradiated with UV? We'd better know the answer not only to
this question, but to a lot of others before the plans are too detailed.)--
-- Charles Hixson >>
insightful questions indeed. However, as you are well aware, the maleability
of novel transportation systems seems encouraging. One can simply view the
progress of canals, the roailroad, the automobile, lightrail, the passenger
airlines, with some optimism. Perhaps the "failures" most notible, is the
lack of a helicopter in every garage, and travel by highspeed conveyer belt?
It seems to me that these beanstalks precisely because of buckeye tube
carbon, and they like, will enhance the likelihood of their success.
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