This is an introductory astronomy course for students who want to enhance their understanding of the universe and the fundamental laws governing the motion of the stars and planets. Students will come away from the course with a sense of understanding of how things work in the world around them.
Reflection
I thoroughly enjoyed taking Astronomy this semester and I would strongly encourage others to do so if given the opportunity. In this course, all our assignments were done online while we had lectures in person. This was especially helpful to me because if I happened to miss a day in class, I could look online for the assignments instead of worrying about a paper handout. I did find it a bit too convenient at times having everything online with a due date right before the end of the day. I started to get into the habit of waiting until the last minute to finish assignments simply because I could.
Although I struggled with procrastination, all my assignments were done on time and in a timely fashion. Studying was made easy due to our textbook also being available online (and with no extra fee!) so if I needed to brush up on any subject matter, it was simply a few clicks away. Along with the informational videos paired with each assignment, understanding the underlying physics and math that is involved in Astronomy has helped me in my other Math class this semester. We so happened to have similar material at the beginning of the semester, so it was like I was getting double the experience and help for solving math equations. It just goes to show that you will really use what you learn in class in a real-world setting!
Although I struggled with procrastination, all my assignments were done on time and in a timely fashion. Studying was made easy due to our textbook also being available online (and with no extra fee!) so if I needed to brush up on any subject matter, it was simply a few clicks away. Along with the informational videos paired with each assignment, understanding the underlying physics and math that is involved in Astronomy has helped me in my other Math class this semester. We so happened to have similar material at the beginning of the semester, so it was like I was getting double the experience and help for solving math equations. It just goes to show that you will really use what you learn in class in a real-world setting!
Signature Assignment
Here is a PDF of the signature assignment for easier viewability:
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For my PHYS 1040 signature assignment, I have chosen to focus on the American military science fiction media franchise known as Halo. The series focusses on an interstellar war between humanity and an alliance of aliens known throughout the series as the Covenant.
In the Halo science-fiction franchise there are a group of megastructures/superweapons known as the Halo Array throughout the series. This is also where the franchise gets it’s namesake from. The Halo Array consist of ringworlds which were created by a hyper-intelligent alien species to contain and study the “Flood”, an infectious alien parasite. Each Halo ring is capable of sustaining its own weather and wildlife, as well as artificial gravity, which is why they were chosen to house the parasitic species.
While in the Halo-universe this seems perfectly plausible, would a ringworld be feasible in ours?
In the Halo science-fiction franchise there are a group of megastructures/superweapons known as the Halo Array throughout the series. This is also where the franchise gets it’s namesake from. The Halo Array consist of ringworlds which were created by a hyper-intelligent alien species to contain and study the “Flood”, an infectious alien parasite. Each Halo ring is capable of sustaining its own weather and wildlife, as well as artificial gravity, which is why they were chosen to house the parasitic species.
While in the Halo-universe this seems perfectly plausible, would a ringworld be feasible in ours?
The ringworlds have been stated to range from 10,000 kilometers to 30,000 kilometers in diameter, but we will only focus on the 10,000 kilometers ringworlds because these are more common and relevant in the Halo storyline. With a width of 5.37 kilometers and a thickness of 22.3 kilometers, the total volume of a ringworld would be around . In comparison that is a bit more than 0.02% of the volume of Earth. Each ringworld’s surface area is roughly 10 million square kilometers, which is slightly larger than the surface area of Canada and about 2 percent of the surface area of Earth.
As in most science fiction franchises, the actual base materials of what compose these super structures is classified as “unobtanium.” This is just a stand in for any hypothetical, fictional, or impossible material. However, let’s say that this ring did exist in our solar system then what materials would it possibly be comprised of?
The ringworlds have been stated to range from 10,000 kilometers to 30,000 kilometers in diameter, but we will only focus on the 10,000 kilometers ringworlds because these are more common and relevant in the Halo storyline. With a width of 5.37 kilometers and a thickness of 22.3 kilometers, the total volume of a ringworld would be around . In comparison that is a bit more than 0.02% of the volume of Earth. Each ringworld’s surface area is roughly 10 million square kilometers, which is slightly larger than the surface area of Canada and about 2 percent of the surface area of Earth.
As in most science fiction franchises, the actual base materials of what compose these super structures is classified as “unobtanium.” This is just a stand in for any hypothetical, fictional, or impossible material. However, let’s say that this ring did exist in our solar system then what materials would it possibly be comprised of?
Let’s look at what materials would logically be present if the Halos existed in our universe.
Due to the numerous asteroids in our system, it is safe to assume that iron, nickel, and carbon would be available for building materials. While not as common, nickel and magnesium could also be present which, when combined with iron and carbon, will create a very strong and relatively light steel alloy. We know that the average density of steel is , so by doing some simple math we can determine each ring will weigh about , or 1,700 million billion kilograms. As to where these materials would come from, you would have to take the entirety of the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter to have just enough mass to construct a singular ringworld. Now that we know just how massive these megastructures are, let’s more on to how gravity would actually work on one. |
The way gravity works on these spinning rings is through tangential vectors. As the ring spins, your body us pulled away from that vector at a constant rate, which mean you will constantly feel a change of direction over time, or or acceleration. You can control the amount of gravity by changing the rotational speed, so speeding up will increase gravity and slowing down will lessen gravity, simple as that.
This wouldn’t seem so bad if the Rings obeyed the same gravitational constant of as Earth does. However, because these are giant super structures in space, this would be unwise to follow in a practical sense. According to the math done by the Game Theorist in his video about the Halo ringworlds (7:38), the actual gravity on the ringworlds adds up to be approximately or about 1.55Gs. To maintain this type of force, each ringworld will need to rotate at a speed of 23.95 rotations a day. While this may seem slow in relations to the ringworld’s size, your tangential velocity would be almost 8,711𝑚/𝑠 (31,359.6 𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟)! If you were already on the surface of a ring to begin with, then this wouldn’t be so terrible. But remember how the ringworlds have no gravity of their own? This means any spaceship wanting to land on the surface would have to match that rotational speed without crashing into the ringworld itself at speeds that exceed MACH 25. This would be a serious problem considering humans can only withstand up to 4-6Gs.
Having established the speed at which the ringworlds would need to be rotating, let’s see if it would be possible to sustain weather. For weather to be possible let’s assume there is an atmosphere created by large magnetic fields the ringworlds produce. Instead of the typical four-season type weather one would see on earth and in the Halo series, it would be completely opposite. Each of the ringworlds rotate perpendicular to Earth’s rotation, triggering a much more intense Coriolis effect than would happen on Earth. This would cause massive thunderstorms and tornados to be a common weather state on the ringworlds. Because of the perpendicular rotation, these storms would be rotating vertically. In short, a tornado on the surface of a ringworld could suck you into it without even touching the ground you are standing on.
Having established the speed at which the ringworlds would need to be rotating, let’s see if it would be possible to sustain weather. For weather to be possible let’s assume there is an atmosphere created by large magnetic fields the ringworlds produce. Instead of the typical four-season type weather one would see on earth and in the Halo series, it would be completely opposite. Each of the ringworlds rotate perpendicular to Earth’s rotation, triggering a much more intense Coriolis effect than would happen on Earth. This would cause massive thunderstorms and tornados to be a common weather state on the ringworlds. Because of the perpendicular rotation, these storms would be rotating vertically. In short, a tornado on the surface of a ringworld could suck you into it without even touching the ground you are standing on.
To wrap things up nice and neat, would a ringworld be feasible in our universe today? Given that the Halo-series is set in the twenty-sixth century and we currently live in the twenty-first century, it may be safe to assume that in 500 years technology would be advanced enough for space travel to be a common and advance circumstance. But, sadly, it needs to be stated that with the speeds needed to maintain the ringworld’s artificial gravity and extreme weather state it would not be the same ringworld as seen in Halo and therefore not possible. Perhaps if there were some change in materials or a way to manipulate magnetic waves to generate gravity instead of relying on such intense rotation speeds then it would more closely match the ringworld seen in Halo. In conclusion, no, a ringworld from the Halo series would not be feasible in our current standing universe.
Sources
- The Game Theorists. “The DEADLY Physics of the Halo Rings! | The SCIENCE!... Of Halo.” YouTube, uploaded by The Game Theroists, 21 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrLey-pX7Bc.
- Grazier, Kevin. “Halo Science 101.” Gamasutra, 2 May 2007, www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129889/halo_science_101.php.
- Wikipedia contributors. “Halo Array.” Wikipedia, 15 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_Array#Scientific_analysis.
- ---. “Unobtainium.” Wikipedia, 21 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium.
- Grazier, Kevin. “Halo Science 101.” Gamasutra, 2 May 2007, www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129889/halo_science_101.php.
- Wikipedia contributors. “Halo Array.” Wikipedia, 15 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_Array#Scientific_analysis.
- ---. “Unobtainium.” Wikipedia, 21 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium.