Hello,

Never done a blog before. I've been spending much time on this web site lately, too much. But enjoy the interaction with others with similar interests.

I'm a structural engineer, and a model builder. My thoughts on and off lately have been on the vaccum ball or vacuum blimp. A container that when the air is evacuated from it, it floats, the structure being lighter than the weight of the air that was inside it, bouyant in the air, like a blimp filled with helium.

I suppose one could say it's the ultimate challenge for a structural engineer, or most anyone for that matter. I've poked around a bit on the internet and see a lot of interesting ideas, and statements. Some, of course, claim it can't be done, some it's not likely possible with todays materials, others, it would be easy. I don't know that anyone has accomplished it, certainly let me know if that's not true.

I don't think it would be very easy, and I doubt with what I have, I'd be able to succeed, but I may be able to come close, or you know, or design one that I'm certain would work if someone could build it.

The problem is, of course, that air is very light, even at one atmospheric pressure it still only weighs about 0.082 pounds per cubic foot. It does have weight though, to be sure. Ever notice the diffence in weight between a flat tire and a full tire? (by the way, your car tires exert a pressure on the ground equal to the tire pressure, the area of the flatenend part, an elliptical...Continue Reading