2006-2-7 22:36:00
Rick write:
Hopefully, this post will get a few friends saying, "Hey, Rick might be on to something here."
I've been saying this all along Rick. I will really be looking forward to experimenting with your PXLs. Now some here were concerned about Pykrete because it is lighter than water, but your PXLs will be much lighter still. How would hey hold up in a large wind or hurricane? Wouldn't they blow about more than a heavier building material?
I can see the possibility of making a platform with PXLs and then building with regular materials on top of it. Then it may be possible to wind up with a weighted city that could resist bad weather. Is this the direction you were thinking?
Also, would it be possible to create buildings using smaller PXLs? What type of bonding would you use to connect one PXL to another?
Have you created any graphics illustrating the PXLs?
Rick's post for the archives:
Judging by the amount of discussion on Pykrete's pros and cons, I can tell that others just don't know much about my discoveries in Pneumatic Crystal Lattices. Perhaps if I explain the basics, here, you'll see why I think PXL's will win the floating cities material contest by a landslide.
"Anything you build goes against the forces of nature to some degree." True, but modern engineering can build in counter forces, which make materials stronger than they are naturally. A good example is concrete. Concrete is very strong in compression, but breaks easily under tension. To counter this and use the material for building long spans, subject to greater tension, they put internal tension rods in it to pre-compress the concrete (pre-stressed concrete).
Because the forces have been mechanically tipped, by Engineers, the material now better copes with forces it will encounter. Pykrete is another good example. Adding wood pulp to ice makes it melt slower and handle shock forces (compression, tension and shear) better than plain ice. Ice (of any kind) is a pretty good building material, providing you live in an arctic climate which keeps it frozen and provides unlimited supplies, both for free. Igloos stay warm and comfy inside, all winter, without melting or collapsing. However, if you want a city on the ocean (I'd prefer an average temp of 69 degrees), the cost of building, using ice, will be extremely inefficient (cost of freezing, maintaining frozen ice, and warming the inhabitants).
PXL (Pneumatic Crystal Lattice) is NOT a new invention or material. It is the discovery of the amazing strength of cell SYNTHESIS, such as that found in biological organisms and foams. It is the unlocking of Nature's engineering secrets of efficient building. Compare the tallest building ever built, in scale, to the stalk of a sunflower. The sunflower can grow more than ten times the height of the concrete and steel building, and sustain injury (like unto 911)without collapse. The smallest unit of any building material could be compared to an atom, in that any smaller it would no longer have the same properties.
Lets compare the most common building material with PXLs. An "atom" of concrete can withstand lots of compression and little tension. Placed in water, it sinks. A single PXL "atom" is an inflated balloon, with tension and compression in balance (pre-stressed by it's inflation. PXLs are like automobile tires, light weight, yet able to sustain great weight. Combine concrete "atoms" to form a watertight enclosure that will displace the weight of more water than the weight of the concrete used to make it and you have a floating boat. But if you poke a hole in a concrete boat, it will sink. With PXLs, even a boat with holes is unsinkable, but that's not even the best part. There is a limit to how many concrete, stone, wood, steel, etc. atoms can be combined to make a structure, because their weight ultimately compresses the bottom atoms beyond what they can handle.
A single PXL atom is mostly air with a thin membrane to hold it in. It is already pre-stressed, but when joined to other PXLs, because of SYNTHESIS, the strength of the whole structure is greater than the sum of all of it's atom's strengths. If you build an assembly of PXLs and apply force to one PXL, the force is evenly absorbed by every PXL in the assembly. It's like if somebody knocked on the door of a PXL house, you'd feel it in every room of the house. You can build a scale model in concrete that doesn't collapse, but build it full size and weight steps in and brings it down. Because PXLs have such a high strength to weight ratio, and synthetically distribute forces, PXL structures are strong, from microscopic sizes to structures as big as whole cities. A single PXL, weighing about 1/2 lb, will float about 70 lbs. A piece of concrete or ice of the same size (volume) would weigh more than I can lift. You do the math.
Building something as big as a city requires a lot of material, with the cost per pound AND the cost of moving these materials (transporting and building). The rest of the world WILL emulate us, because of our efficiency (the root of all virtues). If we build on stone or ice, they will wonder how long before "that Titanic" goes down. If we build our cities mostly from air, they will think we are all godlike geniuses, that might also have solutions to other worldly problems that vex humanity. They will want to listen to us, instead of laugh at us.
How about keeping comfortable on a floating city? You are going to want your house insulated from ocean and air temperatures. What insulates best? A pocket of trapped air. That's exactly what PXLs are. You don't have to buy (more cost)additional materials to insulate, because the base structure is already one of the best insulations known. Security? If you build with conventional materials, you better keep a life raft handy, in case of battles with Nature or Men. On a PXL city, your entire environment, even with most of it damaged, still stays afloat. Sinking a PXL city is like trying to clear soap suds out of the sink after washing the dishes. Nature keeps her bubble afloat. Try stopping her.
Can PXLs be built from materials found in or on the oceans? Since the main ingredient is AIR, yes. Air is everywhere and (relatively) free for the taking. The other ingredient is a membrane to hold the air. A friend of mine once figured out the chemistry procedure to produce plastic from air. Compared to that, the chemistry needed to make plastic from seawater is child play. The sea and it's life forms are an untapped storehouse, just waiting to be tapped. We are still just beginning to tap into the chemical resources of our rain forests, but they are just a drop in the bucket compared to what's available in our vast oceans, where life began.
The main reason you haven't heard more about these amazing PXLs is that I don't have an architectural firm, with staff of engineers and draftsmen or a war effort, pressing the need, to promote the discovery of Natures favorite way to build strong structures using minimal materials.
Hopefully, this post will get a few friends saying, "Hey, Rick might be on to something here." Some may begin making PXLs in their garage and floating them in their swimming pools. These things are amazing, but only someone that has held one can begin to see their full potential. This is NOT new technology. I have been developing it since the 1960's. Why so long in development? I had to wait for the Aquarian age, when men would be ready to build with air. Want to join in on the development? Please do, that's why I put the "patent" in the Public Domain. There are no secrets involved, because I don't seek to profit, personally, from it. Once my gift is accepted, I will be freed up to work on the next big discovery. Any one that knows me very well understands that I am not in the least concerned with fame and fortune. My only payback is that, for the rest of this life and many to come, I will have done my small part in making earth more like heaven and less like hell.
Let's get this boat in the water,
Rick
Copyright © 2006 by J J Dewey, All Rights Reserved