Just got around to reading some of these earlier posts! A couple of
comments:

Regarding Niven's Ringworld -

"Anthony D. Baye" <Sha### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> > conceived as an intermediate step toward a dyson sphere, spun at 770
> > mi/h.

mi/s I think - mi/h is barely mach 1.

Regarding Dyson spheres -

> then the total inside surface area (Not accounting for
> variations in topography) would be 2(pi)(9.28e6)(1e6) mi^2 that's
> several thousand times the surface area of earth.

Again, I think this is a little off. As Niven attempted to convey, the sheer
scale of structures like the Ringworld (not to mention Dyson spheres)
defies the imagination. The Ringworld would have a livable surface area of
approx 2.8 million earths, and a Dyson sphere of similar radius would have
approx 510 million earths.

These numbers are ridiculous. I find it difficult enough to properly imagine
the surface area of the earth (trivialised as it is by cheap and fast air
travel) - trying to visualise Ringworlds and Dyson spheres just leaves me
agog and gently drooling!

Bill

PS for the record: "homogeneous".

Post a reply to this message