Brian Whatcott wrote in message . ..
On 18 Apr 2004 18:38:08 -0700, (Parallax)
wrote:
Brian Whatcott wrote in message . ..
On 17 Apr 2004 22:39:49 -0700, (Carl Dau)
wrote:
I think tungsten is good for building boats, because of itīs high
melting point it will protect my boat against underwater vulcanos and
fire-breathing sea-dragons.
Anyone experienced with tungsten-boats?
'
Yep; go with the long-life versions - such a hassle to replace a
blown hull. But you should seriously consider platinum.
This is also good for high-temperatures and looks so much better.
Brian W
To go with his Tungsten keel, he could use a hull made of Li, very low
density, less than water, reacts with water though. Might use
aerogel, lowest density solid. Seen some with density less than air,
only the air in the pores keeps it from floating away. Some aerogel
can be hydrophobic so would also repel fouling. I've seen carbon
aerogels, electrically conductive for lightning and ultra low mass.
SEAgel would be appropriate too, less dense than air and has tensile
strength unlike aerogel. Can also be heavily doped with metals to
repel fouling. You want weird materials, I got em.
I hear that NASA PR had to back-track on that "lighter-than-air"
aerogel claim though. Just very, very light.
You heard the story about an investment banker being asked to put up
for a novel S American hardwood logging scheme to float 'em down
river, and catch them at a barrier for the sawmill.
He asked, "Does this hardwood actually float?"
- It turned out: it doesn't!
Brian W
Around here, harvesting hundred year old sunken logs from river
bottoms is a real business. For some reason, some of the trees that
were cut and floated sank and the subsequent aging makes them
valeuable. One example is so called "Peque or Pekie not sure of
spelling" Cypress that has holes like Swiss cheese from boring worms
from being the water. Some guys doing this found a 120 yr old
locomotive that had fallen off a trestle and sunk. It wasnt in too
bad condition when it was recovered and put on display.