Giant Fresnel lenses

[TimeWizardCosmo]

Re: Giant Fresnel lenses

The shuttle punching through the o-zone thing... Does it really punch through and create an actual hole? I always pictured it as a plane flying through a cloud; just passes through.

 

[EachPeachPearPlum]

Re: Giant Fresnel lenses

In typical space flight the 5th layer of the atmosphere is not broken--this would be the Exosphere where molecules and atoms escape into space. Shuttle orbits take place in the 4th (Thermosphere); so the barrier is not broken. So in the case of ripping holes into the atmosphere, it does not happen at that level. However, in order to get to the Thermosphere, think of the air much in the way water is thought of...the shuttle would have to propel forward, cutting through the resistance momentarily, in order to advance to the next linear point. It is brief and passing through is a way of creating a gap to travel through that point to the next. It is not lasting because the force behind closes it as soon as it is broken.
Just because gases and forces in the atmosphere are usually undetectable to the eye, it doesn't mean that each motion does not have an effect, a counter balance and an outcome.
Plane flight also only occurs in the 2nd layer-Stratosphere, where composition is different from that of the higher levels, so the same rules don't apply. Clouds are mere water vapor and have no substance of force so it can't be likened to atmospheric layers. Planes also travel horizontally (from the Troposhpere to Stratosphere) with only a slight incline during ascent....if my points are wrong someone correct me.

 

[Num7]

Re: Giant Fresnel lenses

The resistance you're talking about depends on the speed of the object moving in the atmosphere.
It must be the amount of particles hitting the object.
The particules get hot, "burn", and other particles take the place of those "burned" particles, so there's no real hole.
It would be like taking some water in a container with a can.
The water you take with the can will be replaced by the remaining water of the main container.

Also a plane hitting a cloud, whatever the speed it goes, it doesn't make a hole in the cloud, it only goes through the could, like you would go through fog.

That's just a quick explanation on how I see it. I don't think it's right at all, but it makes sense to me.

Num7

 

[jurgen36]

Re: Giant Fresnel lenses

Now thinking it over...a frensel lenses could neither be used as a solution for global warming, or as a weapon. Global warming occurs within the atmosphere.
A frensel lenses could not be used as a weapon because of the rip it would create in the atmosphere.

If the Fresnel lens is big enough like lets say 10 square kilometers, which is reasonable easy to do in space, it could burn any city on earth into cinder. Never mind the losses from going through the atmosphere, they would be almost negligible. The air needs time to heat up and distort the power. Also the power would be focused on the ground and not in the air.
Regards

 

[Num7]

Re: Giant Fresnel lenses

What matters is the focal point.
With a 10 square km lens, any city would burn almost instantly.
Imagine all the energy focused on let's say, 100 square feet on the ground.
They just need to move the target around the city.

 

[ox_attila]

That would be cool.