question for science/engineers guys (bioshock related)

smogsy

smogsy

smogsy

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Hi all,

everyone probably seen the bioshock trailer or have the game on this forum.

So the questions are:

Could we have a floating City today, with our technology/science?
(doesn't have to be the same way they do it in game)


this is basing it on the following:
we had unlimited budget & resources
no real reason not to.

basically I'm asking if it was technically possible.

we could use rocket fuel but it be a bit dangerous :p
 
Superconductor levitation would be about the only resonable method we could use, however it's not very resonable, as it needs to be kept near absolute zero. And wouldn't be very high.
 
I haven't watched a trailer but a floating city is simple with enough money and unlimited resources.

Imagine a huge platform for you to build on, multi layer like our ground is to allow for pipework and electricity lines and what not.

Attach a unlimited amount of turbines underneath and channel air flow from around said City. Use stabilising techniques that I learn in control to keep it stable.

Though depends what height you want it to be floating at too.

P.S. I haven't actually gave this any realistic scientific thought.
 
Unlimited amount of turbines?

No, nobody will be able to sleep. This is impossible without heavy super conductivity and only from a certain height, not 15k ft+ like in Bioshock
 
mrk said:
Unlimited amount of turbines?

No, nobody will be able to sleep. This is impossible without heavy super conductivity and only from a certain height, not 15k ft+ like in Bioshock
Click to expand...

In reality, with unlimited resources, a city wide sound cancellation system is possible. Speakers running at 180 degrees out of phase to the emitted sound by the turbines would cancel the sound out. You would need a lot of them mind you.
 
Depends what you mean by floating, floating in space wouldn't be too much, expensive, but achievable.

Floating in the sky would require massively small masses and massively powerful Rotors, even then probably wouldn't work, would be subject to terrorism easily and such.

You could use massive quantities of Ion Drives, but the effects on the environment would be unknown.
 
Smoke and mirrors!

Or lots of magnets, but even then creating a repelling force would lift it say 10cm?

EDIT: Borderlands did this with Eridium. We need lots of Eridium.
 
Quantum Tunnelling Structural Piles!

(That support the entire structure firmly on the top of an appropriate mountain in an alternate parallel universe)
 
Anyone remember that slightly crazy "Space Elevator" concept? (tether a space-borne counterweight using a long carbon-nano strip and let the earth's rotation pull it taught, then have robot platforms which can climb it into space and back)...

That might work... using a bunch of counterweights to hold up a floating city... However I'm pretty sure getting the careful balancing required to keep it steady would be very difficult to achieve...

Hmm... now that I think about it I'm not sure... If you could magically place the city and the counterweights in exactly the right spot, I doubt the drag due to the atmosphere and mavity would be anything like enough to replace being properly tethered to the ground
 
StriderX said:
You could use massive quantities of Ion Drives, but the effects on the environment would be unknown.
Click to expand...

Ion drives can't even lift their own weight on earth, they produce a massively small amount of thrust, but at high efficiency and high exhaust speeds. Great for long duration space trips, absolutely useless on earth.
 
Not without completely new technology (some form of anti-mavity tech perhaps).

If you did build such a thing it could be considered a weapon of mass destruction as the downforce generated would be enough to crush whatever was beneath it as, in order for the city to stay afloat, it would need to be generating an equal but opposite force against the weight of the city.

Don't like a particular country, just fly your city over it and flatten all.
 
I suppose you could get it into low orbit by effectively dangling it from something much heavier that's in a high orbit, but you need lots of very strong, very long cable, everything would be traveling at a massive speed through the atmosphere, so you need protection like a covered city. Well, now you've got heat build up from the friction and speed plus actually getting onto the city would be a whole new problem.
 
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