SRA@MIT-XX.ARPA (10/03/85)
From: Rob Austein <SRA@MIT-XX.ARPA> The point about Sinclair monofilament and high temperatures is a good one. We know for a fact that a large field of Tnuctipun Sunflowers will generate enough energy to burn/melt/whatever it through. Shadow square wire may be a better choice since it is demonstrably more durable (it didn't even break when the Liar crashed into it, it just pulled loose from its mountings). Of course it may be that shadow square wire is really just superconducting monofilament and that it uses the shadow squares as heat sinks. In that case, maybe the reason it takes training to use a lightsaber is that you have to learn how to dispose of all that heat (via the Force, of course) before your hand fries (now we know what happened to Darth). The mirror itself is obviously held in position by reactionless thrusters (which may run off of the generated heat mentioned above); the laser beam provides navigational data for the thrusters and looks impressive to scare off the peons. The real cutting is done by the monofilament. Since the laser doesn't have to be that all high energy for this you don't have to worry about blinding people either. --Rob
mike@dolqci.UUCP (Mike Stalnaker) (10/04/85)
>From: Rob Austein <SRA@MIT-XX.ARPA> >The point about Sinclair monofilament and high temperatures is a good >one. We know for a fact that a large field of Tnuctipun Sunflowers >will generate enough energy to burn/melt/whatever it through. Shadow >square wire may be a better choice since it is demonstrably more >durable (it didn't even break when the Liar crashed into it, it just >pulled loose from its mountings). Of course it may be that shadow >square wire is really just superconducting monofilament and that it >uses the shadow squares as heat sinks. In that case, maybe the reason Rob, the sinclair chain is what held when it was used in the Ringworld Engineers. Wu used the Shadow square wire as a backup, and the extreme heat from the Sunflowers broke/melted/something that. The Sinclair chain was the superconductor. NOT the shadowsquare wire. --Mike -- --Stormcrow o | | | | | | |___/ | o |______/ o | Never sit with your | back facing a window | or door. o [Standard Disclaimer applies] --- Lazarus Long.
norman@lasspvax.UUCP (Norman Ramsey) (10/19/85)
In article <340@dolqci.UUCP> mike@dolqci.UUCP (Mike Stalnaker) writes: > Rob, the sinclair chain is what held when it was used in the >Ringworld Engineers. Wu used the Shadow square wire as a backup, and the >extreme heat from the Sunflowers broke/melted/something that. The >Sinclair chain was the superconductor. NOT the shadowsquare wire. I just read this book. Both molecule chain and superconducting thread were used. The molecule chain borke (presumably because it overheated), while the superconductor held (presumably becuase it was cooled by the lake to 100C). Incidentally, real superconductors have critical fields (electric, magnetic) beyond which they break down and are no longer superconducting. I'm sure the same phenomenon appears in heat conduction (it has to do with an energy level gap; once you put in enough energy from outside to excite electrons over the gap you can have losses), so I doubt the thing is actually going to wsustain a treemendous current without breakdown. But it's *p\ossible*. -- Norman Ramsey ARPA: norman@lasspvax -- or -- norman%lasspvax@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu UUCP: {ihnp4,allegra,...}!cornell!lasspvax!norman BITNET: (in desperation only) ZSYJ at CORNELLA US Mail: Dept Physics, Clark Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 Telephone: (607)-256-3944 (work) (607)-272-7750 (home)