Travel from NY to SF in One Hour at 4,000mph

[Midnyte_Sun]

New Transportation Method in the Works!

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

[YT]n8xw9VLiYlU[/YT]

 

[Teelie]

There are limitations to this such as if there is a breach in the tube, you lose the vacuum, instant death from the sudden deceleration of the carriage. If there is an emergency (breakdown, fire, earthquake, etc) you're stuck in the carriage because vacuum. No oxygen. There's nowhere to escape.

The whole thing sounds and looks promising and I hope they can figure it out but it's still very much an idea as opposed to practical at this stage. Going from one end of the country in an hour would be awesome.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Would it be a sudden decelaration?

I'm not a physics guy by any means, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're going at 4000 MPH and there's a break in the tube, wouldn't the momentum you have bring you to a smooth stop as you glide along, rather than just suddenly stopping?

 

[Anubis]

Sounds like an awesome way to die.

 

[Teelie]

Would it be a sudden decelaration?

I'm not a physics guy by any means, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're going at 4000 MPH and there's a break in the tube, wouldn't the momentum you have bring you to a smooth stop as you glide along, rather than just suddenly stopping?

Not in a this situation, no. I'm not a physics major either but I've already seen this covered in a previous article. Basically for this to work it runs in a tube with no air so it floats sort of like in space or like how magnetic trains work. No physical contact with anything. When that vacuum is broken the carriage immediately drops/hits a wall and decelerates from the friction of impacting another object causing a stop that would kill everyone inside.

The trains have to be space vehicles," Mansman says of vactrain systems, because sending humans flying through a vacuum tunnel in a pressurized can at thousands of miles per hour presents a few key safety challenges. First, the train has to be able to withstand extreme deceleration in the case of an emergency stop—riders must be able to survive a bump off the wall and a hard slowdown. Second, the train car can't suffer any leaks even in a crash, since it's sitting in a vacuum tunnel. Third, Mansman says, the car needs to have a sufficient backup oxygen system in case it takes a long time for crews to rescue the vactrain passengers. "You're stopped 500 miles from the nearest station, with limited oxygen," he says, and letting air back into such a huge system could take hours.

 

[Mike_D202]

I'm not a physicist either but this didn't work out too well with Wile E. Coyote.

 

[bullets]

I'd sooner strap myself to a rocket.

 

[Drizzle]

This just sounds deadly and expensive.

 

[Thundercrack85]

This just sounds deadly and expensive.

That's probably what they said about the car though.

I don't know if it would work. There is no preexisting infrastructure, and people are reluctant to adopt new technologies. Hell, they can barely get Americans to invest in high-speed trains.

This will have to get in line behind mag-lev trains.

It would take decades to build in any event.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I should also point out that this isn't exactly a new idea. They proposed a "vactrain" in the 70's, and actually, did quite a bit of research. High costs was the main reason it wasn't pursued.

However, oil isn't getting cheaper, so... Musk has that going for his proposal.

 

[Mike_D202]

Didn't they already try testing out a top secret aircraft a few years ago from NY to California already? And it got lost?

EDIT: Found it.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/hy...tv-plane-test-loses-contact/story?id=14280849

I remember cracking a joke saying that it went so fast that it traveled back in time and crashed in Rosewell.

 

[Piper Maru]

zoom zoom zoom.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Well, like the video said, there is a prototype already in the works that will travel only a few miles. If its successful, they will expand it, then plan on making one b/w SF and LA.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Wouldn't it be cool to work in LA and live in Ohio away from all that noise? Think of the possibilities.

 

[jmc]

I'm not a physicist either but this didn't work out too well with Wile E. Coyote.

I oft wonder how much money he spent on all those Acme products. Rocket launchers can't be cheap!

 

[Mike_D202]

If he spent that much money on all of those things, he should have just bought his own food.

 

[KevanG]

It was free advertising with all those cartoons so he must have gotten them for free.

But this sounds neat. I'd offer to try it out.

 

[BrollySupersj]

There are limitations to this such as if there is a breach in the tube, you lose the vacuum, instant death from the sudden deceleration of the carriage. If there is an emergency (breakdown, fire, earthquake, etc) you're stuck in the carriage because vacuum. No oxygen. There's nowhere to escape.

And the charm is gone. Why do you ruin things?h

 

[Teelie]

It's not gone, only delayed until they find a way to solve that problem.

 

[kane9321]

UHM...UHM...i dont know about that idea

 

[Siby]

This sounds like the messenger tubes they use at the bank and at the hospitals.

It sounds cool but as someone said there is no infrastructure for it. It also doesn't make practical sense because of the cost to setup a system that is so narrow in scope. Meaning it only goes from point A to point B.

I wonder what the operational cost of something like that would be. I'm guessing pretty high.

 

[terry78]

Like in Futurama basically.

I know they did a lot of prototype stuff in the 70s, but it's our job in present day to perfect it. I wouldn't be a guinea pig, but I'd let one of you do it.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Even is this does work, it's gonna take at least 30 years for it to be finished. Probably even longer.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I could see it being implemented on a small, regional scale in the near future (the next 20 years). Say going from LA to San Francisco. After that, who knows.

Crazier things have happened. You guys know that interstate many of you use all the time? Largest public works program in human history. They built it in 30 years.