Wednesday, February 11, 2009

loop-rink in space

So, a space station. Made like a loop or circle. Inside, there would be a continuous ice surface. A never-ending straightaway. Perhaps it would be necessary to have the station rotating slightly to hold the skaters to the ice surface. Still, the reduced weight would reduce friction greatly I'm sure. You could go a week without Zamboniing the ice surface maybe.

And as one's speed increased, and the 'G' forces increased, would the difference even be felt? How fast could one go? What would be the effect on the human body?

Really though, try and imagine it. You could be moving so fast, when you jump, you could go flying. And what if the space station was open to space itself, so you could jump from one loop to the next, all the way around the Earth, if enough were in place. There could be sports designed for this type of low gravity environment. Space-hockey perhaps?

You are virtually weightless, uh-oh, wait, would you be able to skate at all then? Or would the friction reducing effect be nullified by the low gravity. Maybe you wouldn't even need the skates.

Either way, you should be able to reach incredible speeds not normally achievable on foot or skating. Perhaps a small patch of spikes at the front of one's running shoe might provide the best results. More research and perhaps experimentation will be required to say definitively.

Me thinks we should perhaps build a loop-rink in space.

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