[99437] in tlhIngan-Hol
[Tlhingan-hol] supersonic submarines?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (lojmIt tI'wI' nuv 'utlh)
Tue Aug 26 22:10:35 2014
From: lojmIt tI'wI' nuv 'utlh <lojmitti7wi7nuv@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 22:10:14 -0400
To: tlhIngan Hol mailing list <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Errors-To: tlhingan-hol-bounces@kli.org
QIpchu=92 qechvam.
While I=92m finding this quite challenging to discuss in Klingon, I have to=
say that this technology seems like an indescribably stupid idea. I=92m st=
unned just trying to think how anyone could fail to see the fundamentally u=
nsolvable problems involved.
There=92s no way that sending a supersonic submarine through the ocean will=
ever be safe or financially competitive to flying. The air has fewer thing=
s to run into than the sea, and it costs a lot less to run an engine in the=
air than under water, especially if that engine has to have enough horsepo=
wer to push that much water out of the way. Maybe the water doesn=92t have =
to touch the submarine, but you have to push the water out of the way of th=
e bubble, and Newton has quite a lot to say about how much energy it takes =
to move that many pounds of water out of your way along a tube the diameter=
of a submarine, the length of an ocean.
Also note that submarines weigh a lot more than airplanes, and you have to =
accelerate that greater mass through a medium that has greater mass. The en=
ormous waste of fuel required in order to move that much mass through that =
much mass when you have such obvious alternatives is stupendous.
Also consider that submarines don=92t use underwater radar because radar do=
esn=92t work underwater very well. Submarines use sonar, which won=92t work=
in a supersonic submarine. So, a supersonic submarine would be a blind sub=
marine, and it can=92t use a GPS to know where it is, either. The water sur=
face is a problem.
The engineers who think this will ever make commercial travel underwater fe=
asible are idiots; the lowest order of morons. This is not appropriate tech=
nology.
Do they think this won=92t affect fish populations? Can you imagine Greenpe=
ace=92s response to this? What about the affect at the surface of this much=
displaced water? What would the shock wave do from supersonic travel throu=
gh an incompressible medium? This would change ocean currents. It would fun=
damentally yank entire weather systems. If it ever became common, likely it=
would end life on the planet as we know it. The whole =93growing food in p=
laces=94 thing would probably stop working.
I=92m sure that cockroaches would find a way to survive this, but humanity?=
Not so much. The biosphere would find a lot of new food in the form of hum=
an corpses. Otherwise, it would not be so good for much of the rest of the =
species.
This is the stupidest thing since atomic power and atomic weapons, and it w=
ould produce less benefit than either with more obvious costs.
You want to transport people really fast? It would be less stupid to fly th=
em over with solid-fueled rockets, then let them parachute from high altitu=
de. This is another stupid idea, but it would be easier to do, would cost l=
ess and would have less catastrophic side effects.
chaq tlhIngan nap =91oH napvam. HoH=92eghpu=92DI=92 Hoch tera=92nganpu=92, =
ngeD charghmeH Qu=92. =
But no. It would be too easy. This is not the Klingon way. ghaytan romuluSn=
gan nap =91oH.
lojmIt tI=92wI=92 nuv =91utlh
Door Repair Guy, Retired Honorably
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