151–160 of 177 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is actually a valid point, Musk only proposes a partial vacuum which is a lot different from a pure vacuum. However, I think that is still a lot to ask for heavily used transit infrastructure.
It almost sounds like you have no credibility on the matter along with a highly critical opinion of Musk.
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That sounds even more fun. :D Although as the poster mentioned below, a passenger service would gradually rotate the passenger compartment to keep the G-forces vertical, a la a banking aircraft, so all you'd likely notice would be feeling heavier for a few seconds.
The "barf ride" comments were the result of calculations which included rotating the passenger compartment. See https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/loop... linked from the original article.
This seems to be the comment in question:
> This is worse than sideways acceleration: track standards for vertical acceleration are tighter than for horizontal acceleration, about 0.5-0.67 m/s^2, one tenth to one seventh what Musk wants to subject his passengers to. It’s not transportation; it’s a barf ride.
I find the statement that vertical acceleration is 'worse than sideways acceleration' to be highly suspect (otherwise why would you bother to bank into turns?) - I would guess that the track standards are for +/- 0.5ms^-2 and mostly target short-period up-and-down bouncing motions rather than smoothly applied upwards acceleration.
I always come to these hyperloop criticisms expecting to find some sort of fatal flaw in the physics of energy efficient supersonic travel. But to my surprise, they instead tend to be pessimists saying things like, "You'll never get past my friends: the regulators, the government bureaucrats, and especially the lawyers!. We will drive up your costs and make you look foolish". First, no one said that designing this th…
It's flashy and all to say you're going to break all the rules, but you could just as easily do that with conventional means of transportation.
an expert in logistics asked “why do we need to move cargo at 500 mph?“. The problem is one of face. I guess the 18,000 packages per hour that arrive at ANC by jet must also be a matter of "face"? What does this even mean? Edit for clarity: The FedEx terminal at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport can handle 13,400 packages per hour. The UPS terminal there handles about 5,000 packages per hour. Virtually all…
Vactrains might work out. There's nothing wrong with maglev in an evacuated tube. A system where the thing runs on open track until it gets out of the city and can switch to a vacuum tube might work. Then you can get someplace useful. Most of the "hyperloop" proposals, including the MIT demo, are really maglev vactrains. If you're already a maglev, a tube doesn't add much. Japan's maglev has already reached 600 Km/h.…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You, on the other hand, are overwhelmed by the challenge of maintaining vacuum in a tube that spans a mere 17 miles. You say 'overwhelmed' but I'll just point out it is built and working, and at almost-perfect vacuum.
Yes... it clearly is a manageable issue. The opening comment writer was the one who was overwhelmed, and no surprise given his lack of understanding demonstrated in his answer elsewhere. I just hate it when people with such a lack of knowledge make rude, hateful remarks.
I always come to these hyperloop criticisms expecting to find some sort of fatal flaw in the physics of energy efficient supersonic travel. But to my surprise, they instead tend to be pessimists saying things like, "You'll never get past my friends: the regulators, the government bureaucrats, and especially the lawyers!. We will drive up your costs and make you look foolish". First, no one said that designing this th…
That's a strawman. Most of the criticisms are technological and security related. How do you keep an enormous vacuum tube with fast-moving pods inside secure against even simple attacks?
Derail a train = put a rock on the tracks.
One thing the article misses is inflexibility. One of the big disadvantages of rail is that once the track is deployed it is very costly and difficult to upgrade it. One thing I'd want in any "futuristic" freight hauling method would be ease of scaling I don't think Hyperloop offers anything over rail in this regard once track is installed you are more or less stuck with the installed capacity forever. A computer ana…
Well the article's author could have put more emphasize on the inflexibility, but reading the Parts on airfreight and trucks I think he got the gist of it. Good read. Concerning "barf rides": wouldn't Strong and well-timed anesthetics help?
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I dunno... I'd feel much more comfortable if all humanities smartest technical people were trying to make the next whatsapp clone /s
Contrarily, I'd feel more comfortable if "idea guys" like Musk would leave the engineering to actual engineers.
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be careful, tesla is not successful as a car company yet, and its not in good shape to become one either. one day it might be, and more generally i do hope that we see more progress in the electric car world... but for now tesla only turns a profit as a car company coupled with government incentives. even then, outside of the US (and inside actually) their market share is tiny or zero with very little growth. saying…
In terms of their mission statement which is convince people that electric cars can be 'cool', practical and inexpensive he has succeeded much more than you are giving him and the people at Tesla credit for.