extreme engineering
I am a great fan of Extreme Engineering on the Discovery channel, it's a fantasy engineering programme based on some mad hatter ideas. Last night's show was about a trans atlantic tunnel. The website explains the theory much better than I could, but if you can't be bothered following the link it tells you about the feasibility of a floating tunnel tethered to the ocean floor by suction cups similar to those used to stabilise oil rigs. The whole shebang would be a vacuum and magnetically levitated trains would hurtle through it with a one way trip taking just 54 minutes.
For those practical geologists wishing to rubbish the idea, if the ocean floor should move this would trigger a re-tensioning of the tethering straps to stabilise the tunnel again.
I love the idea, but it has been rubbished by many people as never being possible, but I wonder would it be possible? It would cost trillians and trillians of dollars, and would take decades to complete, who would invest in such a scheme?
Anyway from one exreme to the other I started thinking about things that we take for granted today but were unthinkable 20 years ago. I was particularly thinking about things that affect my every day life.
Take the supermarket visit tonight, remember the time before bar code scanners; every single item being individually input via a cash register, then put back in your trolley, you would push it over to the counter in Stewarts where there would be a big pile of cardboard boxes which you would use to repackage your purchases.
In the present day, it is perfectly feasible and not all that unusual to not even visit the supermarket, a few click of the mouse and the groceries are delivered to your doorstep.
Goodness knows what technological jiggery pokery is going on behind the scenes at the supermarket, customer tracking, stock control, product placement that I don't even know about.
Anyway what I am trying to say in a very bad way is that if an everyday activity can change so much in twenty years, perhaps some clever engineers with great vision could produce an engineering feat of mammoth proportions to rival anything produced by the Telfords or Brunels of yesteryear.
Comments
At a complete wild-ass-guess I would say that transatlantic flight is worth somewhere around £20bn/year. So there's plenty of scope for people who want a rather large share of that. Especially as transatlantic travel would undoubtedly rise significantly if it only took an hour; more so if the costs could come down significantly.
Posted by: Tony | January 6, 2004 09:55 AM
Grumpy geologist would never say never, but I'll say not in my lifetime, or my next lifetime, or the one after that either.
You should read about oil platforms, they're much more fancy that a silly pipe under the ocean.
http://www.rigzone.com/store/product.asp?p_id=597
Off the coast of Brazil they're drilling at depths of 8000m I hear - that's water depth before they start to actually drill...
I will say that if Tony's guesstimate is right the cost of such a tunnel (if it's anything like the cost of a single drill/production platform) would put it out of reach, so it's an accountant you want to hear from.
PS And there was at least one earthquake on the mid atlantic ridge this week http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
Posted by: Beowulf | January 6, 2004 11:51 AM
if the ocean floor should move
It is moving, at something like 5mm a year, it's called sea-floor spreading - ask Marc's son, he'll know.
Then there are those under-water earthquakes...
Posted by: Stephen | January 6, 2004 11:53 AM
You are such a cynic, 5mm a year no problem the ties would re-tension every time there is a shift.
I know I did GCSE Geology. Why i could be a consultant on this project with qualifications like that. ;-)
Posted by: Andy | January 6, 2004 12:03 PM
Correction: rate of sea floor spreading is ~20mm a year
Posted by: Stephen | January 6, 2004 12:04 PM
Just pop down and tighten a few bolts, eh?
:)
Posted by: Stephen | January 6, 2004 12:06 PM
20 mm a year no problem, make the cables a few inches longer they'll last for a wee while. ;-)
Posted by: Andy | January 6, 2004 12:07 PM
Hi Guys,
No idea whether anyone will pick this up (being two months out of date now...)
I'm working with a TV company looking into engineering series on TV at the moment. Extreme Engineering is what brought me to your chat..... Could you guys possibly give me a run-down on other engineering series doing the rounds? What are your favourites and why?
All thoughts and suggestions much appreciated! Cheers.
Posted by: Owen | March 18, 2004 11:24 AM