Buckminster Fuller proposes the "Cloud Nine" project, a levitating city of tensegrity spheres, each a mile in diameter. Because the surface-to-volume ratio of such spheres would be vanishingly small, Fuller calculated that if trapped solar energy raised their internal temperature by a mere one degree, they would be able to float like balloons.
(Via Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society.)
Positively amazing stuff.
The Gottorp Globe is mind blowing, had never seen it before, loved the illustration.
ReplyDeleteMichael