russ@crlt.UUCP (Russ Cage) (10/07/87)
In article <311@a.UUCP>, mwj@a.UUCP (William Johnson) writes: [addressing yet another idea for creating a gas mixture dense enough for "flying"] >> >substitute proposed was uranium-238 hexafluoride, which is quite dense, >> >but I'm not sure it's nontoxic. >However, UF6, like practically any actinide compound you want to name, >is indeed chemically toxic. It does indeed appear that creating a gas mixture that is as dense as the human body (slightly more so than water) *and* non-toxic is next to impossible. The larger question is, however, would you *feel* as if you were flying like a bird even if you could make such a mixture? I really doubt it. Something as dense as water is going to feel like water when you try thrashing your arms through it, even if the viscosity is somewhat lower. Since you'd feel as if you were swimming instead of flying anyway, it looks like the swimming pool is the place for this trick. On the other hand, birds are hardly lighter-than-air, and one could reduce the power requirements for lifting 80 kilograms or so by making the air a bit denser and reducing the gravity *a lot*. Reduce the weight to the point where it's equal to your maximum sprint thrust, and you can take off straight up, just like a bird. Anyone for olympic human-powered aerobatics at L5? >Bill Johnson Opinions? Who >Los Alamos National Laboratory has opinions? -- The above are the official opinions and figures of Robust Software, Inc. HASA, "A+" division. Go ahead, flame. I bought Dow stock! Russ Cage, Robust Software Inc. ihnp4!itivax![m-net!rsi,crlt!russ]