Timeline for How to wrap the Moon in plastic to make her a giant, supported by the atmospheric pressure, greenhouse
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 26, 2016 at 16:29 | comment | added | Jay | Hmm, it would take some calculations to confirm or refute this scenario. Yes, the side facing the sun would heat and the air would expand. But how much? If air is flowing under the plastic, that would reduce temperature differentials. On Earth, difference between day and night air temperature is typically what, maybe 20 F? Anyway not hundreds or thousands of degrees, but tens. Moon's day is longer, so maybe it would be more extreme, but, etc. | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 22:23 | comment | added | wedstrom | On earth, there is more distance between cold and hot sides, as well as shorter days. How that would play out in practice I'm not sure (Does day length make these forces more or less extreme, for instance). Moon-wide hurricane, not sure. Significant storm? Almost certainly. | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 21:10 | comment | added | Ajedi32 | I suspect you may be overestimating the force of winds generated by the sun in this instance. After all, Earth has a "night side" and "day side" as well, and that doesn't (usually) result in hurricane force winds "ripping up buildings on the surface and throwing around boulders". | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 16:04 | comment | added | Peter Cordes | You can solve this problem with tethers that hold the plastic to the surface. (Holding down the parts that want to go up, rather than holding up the parts that want to go down.) Tethers take much less material than pillars, because they don't have to resist buckling stresses. | |
| Apr 6, 2016 at 14:52 | history | answered | ckersch | CC BY-SA 3.0 |