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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Would aerographite be suitable for making vacuum airships?
« on: 19/03/2013 14:46:25 »
Hi everyone. I have some questions in regards to airships and possible ways to make them more safe/fundamentally practical. I'm writing a short story that involves blimps, and to better understand what would make them more practical I've been looking into different ways to make them float besides helium or hydrogen, which appear to be rather impractical from what I've read.
I'm a writer, not a physicist or scientist, so I there is a lot I don't really understand but would love to have someone explain to me if they had the time.
I stumbled upon the material Aerographite while doing some general searching into materials that could be used to make a blimp float. From what I understand, it has a density of 0.18 mg/cubic centimeter. Now, those numbers are jargon to me, but from what I can tell they are substantially lower than air (apparently six times lighter). I've read it won't float unless you vacuum the air out of it.
So, to my question. If you were to vacuum the air out of a great mass, like blimp size mass, of aerographite, and then encase it in a durable but light weight casing (perhaps made of some sort of carbon?), would aerographite of that size be capable of carrying the crew and passenger living space you see on some of the older blimps?
Also, from what I can tell, it seems that the material is both a great insulator, and a very good conductor. While as an insulation I think it would do well for blimps (as the passenger area was always freezing due to their altitude and limited insulation), I'm not sure what complications could arise from being a good conductor. Would lightning be a problem? Static electricity? Could that possibly affect compass navigation?
If anyone could answer my questions, or even propose a better suited improvement on practical airship design, I'd be really grateful!
I'm a writer, not a physicist or scientist, so I there is a lot I don't really understand but would love to have someone explain to me if they had the time.
I stumbled upon the material Aerographite while doing some general searching into materials that could be used to make a blimp float. From what I understand, it has a density of 0.18 mg/cubic centimeter. Now, those numbers are jargon to me, but from what I can tell they are substantially lower than air (apparently six times lighter). I've read it won't float unless you vacuum the air out of it.
So, to my question. If you were to vacuum the air out of a great mass, like blimp size mass, of aerographite, and then encase it in a durable but light weight casing (perhaps made of some sort of carbon?), would aerographite of that size be capable of carrying the crew and passenger living space you see on some of the older blimps?
Also, from what I can tell, it seems that the material is both a great insulator, and a very good conductor. While as an insulation I think it would do well for blimps (as the passenger area was always freezing due to their altitude and limited insulation), I'm not sure what complications could arise from being a good conductor. Would lightning be a problem? Static electricity? Could that possibly affect compass navigation?
If anyone could answer my questions, or even propose a better suited improvement on practical airship design, I'd be really grateful!