Coolant [Spaceships]

AlexanderHowl · 02-23-2020, 05:22 PM

Tungsten heats up too quickly for that to be effective (it needs only .11 J/K/g, meaning that its higher melting temperature only matters if it does not keep heating up). Iron, by comparison, takes four times as much energy to heat up, and has a decent melting temperature and a decent density. A 10 meter long by 1 meter wide rod with a 10 meter long conical cap would mass around 80 meter and would hit with 800 metric tons of force (a third less than a similar tungsten rods). In addition, iron is everywhere on the moon, so you can just make spikes by the millions and use mass drivers to launch them from the moon.

02-23-2020, 05:22 PM	#8
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Coolant [Spaceships] Tungsten heats up too quickly for that to be effective (it needs only .11 J/K/g, meaning that its higher melting temperature only matters if it does not keep heating up). Iron, by comparison, takes four times as much energy to heat up, and has a decent melting temperature and a decent density. A 10 meter long by 1 meter wide rod with a 10 meter long conical cap would mass around 80 meter and would hit with 800 metric tons of force (a third less than a similar tungsten rods). In addition, iron is everywhere on the moon, so you can just make spikes by the millions and use mass drivers to launch them from the moon.