 |
Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
|
 |
Thin Film Dome Protects Cities From Nuclear Blasts
How is it possible that a thin film dome could protect a city from harm in the event of nuclear attack? Read on.

(Cheap Method for Shielding a City from Rocket
and Nuclear Warhead Impacts)
His idea is a thin dome covering a city with that is a very transparent film 2 (Fig.1). The film has
thickness 0.05 – 0.3 mm. One is located at high altitude (5 - 20 km). The film is supported at this
altitude by a small additional air pressure produced by ground ventilators. That is connected to
Earth's ground by managed cables 3. The film may have a controlled transparency option. The
system can have the second lower film 6 with controlled reflectivity, a further option.
The offered protection defends in the following way. The smallest space warhead has a
minimum cross-section area 1 m2
and a huge speed 3 – 5 km/s. The warhead gets a blow and
overload from film (mass about 0.5 kg). This overload is 500 – 1500g and destroys the warhead
(see computation below). Warhead also gets an overpowering blow from 2 -5 (every mass is 0.5 - 1
kg) of the strong stones. Relative (about warhead) kinetic energy of every stone is about 8 millions
of Joules! (It is in 2-3 more than energy of 1 kg explosive!). The film destroys the high speed
warhead (aircraft, bomber, wing missile) especially if the film will be armored by stone...

(Cheap Method for Shielding a City from Rocket
and Nuclear Warhead Impacts)
Regular Technovelgy readers might be thinking of the long history of science-fictional domes, like the glass dome described in A Modern Utopia (1905) by H.G. Wells or the moon dome described in Brigands of the Moon by Ray Cummings, published by Astounding Stories of Super Science magazine in 1930.
However, I was thinking of the roofed valley from Misfit, written by Robert Heinlein in 1939. In the story, a valley on an asteroid is selected for habitation. It is fitted with a "roof":
The Captain selected a little bowl-shaped depression in the hills, some thousand feet long and half as broad, in which to establish a permanent camp. This was to be roofed over, sealed, and an atmosphere provided...
"Is this roof going to be just fifty feet high?"
"No, it will average maybe a hundred. It bellies up in the middle from the air pressure..."
Libby concentrated for an instant, then looked puzzled. "But look -- This valley is a thousand feet long and better than five hundred wide. At half of fifteen pounds per square inch, and allowing for the arch of the roof, that's a load of one and an eighth billion pounds. What fabric can take that kind of a load?"
"Cobwebs."
"Cobwebs?"
"Yeah, cobwebs. Strongest stuff in the world, stronger than the best steel. Synthetic spider silk. This gauge we're using for the roof has a tensile strength of four thousand pounds a running inch."
Update 07-Feb-2025: I should probably add that the earliest reference to the idea of covering a city with a glass dome was from Mrs. Maberly: Or, The World as it Will be (1836), by an Anonymous Author:
On looking upwards, in order to behold what in other towns would have been the open space of the firmament - and which, in ancient London, would have been mysteriously veiled over by a dense and awful canopy of eternal smoke, - an airy and elliptical dome of glass, fashioned and pointed like the cupola of a Moorish temple, reared itself to an immeasurable height.
(Read more about the domed city)
End update.
Don't miss these dome-related stories; Glass Dome Cities On Mars, Dreamed By Elon Musk and Space Domes Over-rated? Science Fiction Authors Have Answers.
Thanks to Dr. Rachel Pawling for posting about this study.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/1/2022)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.
| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories -
("
Engineering
")
China Steals Strato Airship Design From Google App Engine
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.' - George Griffith, 1893.
Biohybrid Jellyfish Explore The Ocean
As predicted, and detailed, by science fiction writers!
3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...' - Fritz Leiber, 1968
Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...' - Philip K. Dick, 1966
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
|
 |
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots
'...an integrated seven-unit robot team.'
Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri
'This was their world, their planet —
this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
Alexa+ And Its AI Brain Improvements
'What's it do?' he asked. 'It amuses.'
Does CloneRobotics Offer A True Android?
Is this What Little Girls Are Made Of?
Brain Implant Is Able To Capture Your Inner Dialogue
'So you see, you can hide nothing from me.'
Are AIs Going Rogue Like Hal 9000
'I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me...'
Animated Tumblebugs On Astounding Cover!
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
China Steals Strato Airship Design From Google App Engine
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
The First Space Warship For Space Force
'Each of the electrical ships carried about twenty men...'
Biohybrid Jellyfish Explore The Ocean
As predicted, and detailed, by science fiction writers!
Should AIs and AI Robots Demand Rights?
'This robot is a creature... It is a manlike being. Therefore, like any other talking, thinking man, he is entitled to a court trial!'
Robot Learns Human Tool Usage By Imitation Learning
'I got one of those new electronic cameras...'
Companion Caregiver ChatGPT Dolls
'Every Artificial Friend is unique, right?'
'Pregnancy Humanoids' From China Replace Moms
'A great many of these synthetic babies were made...'
Man Builds 200 Foot Basement Firing Range
'The basement was huge... carved deep into the rock.'
More SF in the News Stories
More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories
|
 |