Bit of sci-fi World building.

[UsuallyPresent]

I'm not sure I agree. Most engineering materials (steel, aluminum, etc) have pretty much the same strength in tension as in compression. That's why in a truss, tension members and compression members look exactly the same.

Is that why the Golden Gate Bridge looks so much like Florida's Seven Mile Bridge? (Tension v compression)

I'd also note that we're starting to get usable lengths of buckytube, which is significantly stronger in tension than most other materials, but with sci-fi we can throw things in like scrith from Niven's Ringworld which is yet again stronger in compression.

 

[AlinaX]

Materials tend to be more crack-resistant in compression, but structural beams in axial compression are prone to buckling.

Trusses are designed to provide lateral support to prevent buckling, leading to a familiar pattern of cross-bracing.

Suspension bridges are quite clever because they're based on cables in tension, and you can make very high strength cables.

 

[Statius]

That, honestly and seriously, was the most educational conversation I've seen on Lit. Damn that's impressive.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

That, honestly and seriously, was the most educational conversation I've seen on Lit. Damn that's impressive.

There’ll be more. There’re some dang smart folks here with experience in lots of odd disciplines.

 

[Statius]

There’ll be more. There’re some dang smart folks here with experience in lots of odd disciplines.

I'm more used to stumbling on multiple people either repeating each other or just arguing so much it's just hair splitting.

 

[Carnevil9]

As long as we're being all techy, I'll point out that a spaceship is neither in tension nor compression, regardless of where the engine is located. To get either one you need to have the structure anchored at both ends, or at least at the end opposite from the force. If the structure is free to move in space, you don't get stress; you get acceleration.

Put a marshmallow on a countertop and push down on the top: it squishes. But if you push it sideways along the countertop, it doesn't compress at all. It just scoots.

 

[AlinaX]

Put a marshmallow on a kitchen counter and it has the weight of the marshmallow acting on it, and also air pressure. It is experiencing compressive stresses on the order of atmospheric pressure, i.e., 1 bar.

A spaceship under thrust will experience compressive stresses as a consequence on inertia.

These are equivalent things.

 

[EbersMoll]

Put a marshmallow on a kitchen counter and it has the weight of the marshmallow acting on it, and also air pressure. It is experiencing compressive stresses on the order of atmospheric pressure, i.e., 1 bar.

A spaceship under thrust will experience compressive stresses as a consequence on inertia.

These are equivalent things.

This the Equivalence Principle from General Relativity. An observer cannot distinguish between the effects of a uniform gravitational field and a uniform acceleration.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Hrmmm… a series of rings with a slanted inner face spinning on a common axis, largest first leading the way. The shape & the fields they project (magnetic? Gravitic? Magic?) act as a ramscoop, gathering the intergalactic medium, igniting it to act as both propulsion & a ‘sun’ for the inner surfaces of the rings. This also helps greatly reduce (not eliminate) the risk of something ramming head-on into the living surfaces. Rate of spin & radius combine with the thrust to provide an effective 1g environment, just with greater coriolis effect the smaller the ring. Bridges arch from one ring to the next, attached only at one end - it looks like they’re sweeping along the unattached ring just above the ground, easily visible but not difficult to catch up to - alternately you stay put & wait for the next ring to come along.

It makes an SR71 look like a hummingbird, it takes a looooong time to turn this beast while maintaining thrust, and as the ‘stuff’ is chaotically distributed you may well need to scan for thin/thick zones of the interstellar medium to adjust power to maintain a steady 1g.