hmmm, 2 things can protect you from serious cases of radiation overdose
1. distance - the farther away you are the better
2. mass - dirt works real well, concrete less so, steel even less* and yes, water - which works quite well actually and, in the case of nuclear power systems does double duty in cooling the core...
* steel and other metals work fairly well unless there's an "enhanced radiation event" such as the neutron bomb going off in the immediate vicinity...if this happens the surge of neutrons bouncing through the molecular structure knocks enough electrons, protons, and other neutrons etc loose that the metal itself becomes a radiation source. The initial + augmented radiation storm then has more than enough power to kill (approx 500 rads) but to do so fairly quickly and to incapacitate the vehicle crews and passengers in the meantime. Values of 1500 to well over 3000 rads and their effects on humans have been calculated...damned if I know how...not sure I want to... figure by the time frame we're dealing with an anyones TU the sciences have it all down pat.
Back to water, in my, admittedly, limited experience and knowledge of the subject, the water that actually gets in close to the core is considered to be radioactive itself and is kept in a closed loop system. A system of heat exchangers transfers the heat to an open "clean" system which is used for cooling the rest of it down - part of this includes those huge water tower things that are always shown on TV news spots of working nuclear facilities...they need water and lots of it, part of the reason that they like to build near lakes & rivers. Water that is released back into the environment is supposed to be from the clean water portion of the system and is quite a bit warmer than the surroundings, tropical fish in the far north?
Above and beyond shielding from solar activity and possible nuclear power systems water would be used:
1. as is normal amongst us to possibly include swimming pools, and,
2. in the case of stations using rotation for gravity control, could be pumped into various locations to offset ship mass for docking at locations outside the core,
3. as reserve/emergency reaction mass
Once your TL gets to the point that gravity control and ships screens handle the average radiation event, I'd expect that onboard water mass would be drastically reduced.
Near a star, or not quite so near, it could be used as part of a solar heating system and with a series of pumps and radiatiors on the far side of the ship may actually help in offsetting heating (act as part of an airconditioner system) if you're getting a bit too close.
Temp differential engines? As a secondary power source? Possible, especially near term or as a "primitive" emergency power system on a crippled ship in more advanced tech levels such as traveller.
Astronaughts with gills? Why would the have to be human at all?
Additional thoughts, water is incompressible, as a liquid it occupies the smallest volume that it can. Shockwaves travelling through water can be devastating...ergo USN submarine doctrine when for using nuke tipped rockets/torpedoes. Launch it to land way over there, turn ship 180 degrees from impact zone and run like hell. Distances of 20+ miles were considered far to close.
In Germany after WW2, engineer teams going through what was left of cities found numerous bunker systems. Many 2 or 3 or more storys tall. In order to remove these (preventing use by a very active insurgency - about 10K US casualties in 1946) they put in a relatively small amount of explosives, sealed the structure, filled it with water and then set off the explosives. This destroyed even very strong bunkers without having to otherwise use charges that would have been so powerful that they'd pose a danger to nearby troops. Not sure if they cared about the nearby civies at the time.
Tim
wrote:
1. distance - the farther away you are the better
2. mass - dirt works real well, concrete less so, steel even less* and yes, water - which works quite well actually and, in the case of nuclear power systems does double duty in cooling the core...
* steel and other metals work fairly well unless there's an "enhanced radiation event" such as the neutron bomb going off in the immediate vicinity...if this happens the surge of neutrons bouncing through the molecular structure knocks enough electrons, protons, and other neutrons etc loose that the metal itself becomes a radiation source. The initial + augmented radiation storm then has more than enough power to kill (approx 500 rads) but to do so fairly quickly and to incapacitate the vehicle crews and passengers in the meantime. Values of 1500 to well over 3000 rads and their effects on humans have been calculated...damned if I know how...not sure I want to... figure by the time frame we're dealing with an anyones TU the sciences have it all down pat.
Back to water, in my, admittedly, limited experience and knowledge of the subject, the water that actually gets in close to the core is considered to be radioactive itself and is kept in a closed loop system. A system of heat exchangers transfers the heat to an open "clean" system which is used for cooling the rest of it down - part of this includes those huge water tower things that are always shown on TV news spots of working nuclear facilities...they need water and lots of it, part of the reason that they like to build near lakes & rivers. Water that is released back into the environment is supposed to be from the clean water portion of the system and is quite a bit warmer than the surroundings, tropical fish in the far north?
Above and beyond shielding from solar activity and possible nuclear power systems water would be used:
1. as is normal amongst us to possibly include swimming pools, and,
2. in the case of stations using rotation for gravity control, could be pumped into various locations to offset ship mass for docking at locations outside the core,
3. as reserve/emergency reaction mass
Once your TL gets to the point that gravity control and ships screens handle the average radiation event, I'd expect that onboard water mass would be drastically reduced.
Near a star, or not quite so near, it could be used as part of a solar heating system and with a series of pumps and radiatiors on the far side of the ship may actually help in offsetting heating (act as part of an airconditioner system) if you're getting a bit too close.
Temp differential engines? As a secondary power source? Possible, especially near term or as a "primitive" emergency power system on a crippled ship in more advanced tech levels such as traveller.
Astronaughts with gills? Why would the have to be human at all?
Additional thoughts, water is incompressible, as a liquid it occupies the smallest volume that it can. Shockwaves travelling through water can be devastating...ergo USN submarine doctrine when for using nuke tipped rockets/torpedoes. Launch it to land way over there, turn ship 180 degrees from impact zone and run like hell. Distances of 20+ miles were considered far to close.
In Germany after WW2, engineer teams going through what was left of cities found numerous bunker systems. Many 2 or 3 or more storys tall. In order to remove these (preventing use by a very active insurgency - about 10K US casualties in 1946) they put in a relatively small amount of explosives, sealed the structure, filled it with water and then set off the explosives. This destroyed even very strong bunkers without having to otherwise use charges that would have been so powerful that they'd pose a danger to nearby troops. Not sure if they cared about the nearby civies at the time.
Tim
wrote:
Water - a good shield for Radiation?
Could we have double-hulls on spaceships and circulate water around 'tween
the hulls?
If we're near a star, it could act as a solar water heater.
Could we build some sort of temperature diff. engine by taking the warm
water and the cold water?
Could future astronauts be equiped with gills and the ship be flooded?
-Joel
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