Stupid question time 2.

PostStupid question time 2. by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:21 am

It's time again for me to look like an idiot and ask a stupid question.

Could we solve sea level rise by excavating a strawberry floating massive hole and filling it with water? The Sahara's pretty big and it's mostly sand so would be relatively easy to move and we can use some of it to build a sea wall to make the hole a bit bigger so how about just digging about 2 miles deep and then lining it with something (erm, maybe use all the waste plastic to help solve that issue) so it doesn't all bugger off and bingo sea level rise solved.

I await my Nobel Prize and impending riches and adulation with mild interest.

So, why would that not work or is it as I expect a super solid plan?

Corazon de Leon

That's...not how it works. I don't have the geological expertise to go into detail, but you can't do that.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Moggy** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:25 am

Somebody with more scientific knowledge than me can answer why that wouldn’t work.

But just on a layman’s level, the cost of collecting, transporting and storing all of that water would be enormous. And countries in and around the Sahara would actually have to agree to having a massive hole on their lands.

It’d be easier to just blast the water into space.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:32 am

Partridge Iciclebubbles wrote:Somebody with more scientific knowledge than me can answer why that wouldn’t work.

But just on a layman’s level, the cost of collecting, transporting and storing all of that water would be enormous. And countries in and around the Sahara would actually have to agree to having a massive hole on their lands.

It’d be easier to just blast the water into space.

Screw the rules I'm going to go full Trump and just demand it gets done and use shitloads of other people's money to do it.
We also can't blast it into space as I'm going to be using that when I use my Nobel Prize money to build a Dyson Sphere.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **OrangeRKN** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:33 am

You underestimate the amount of water

Corazon de Leon

Partridge Iciclebubbles wrote:Somebody with more scientific knowledge than me can answer why that wouldn’t work.

But just on a layman’s level, the cost of collecting, transporting and storing all of that water would be enormous. And countries in and around the Sahara would actually have to agree to having a massive hole on their lands.

It’d be easier to just blast the water into space.

Or build a giant straw, with a sucking device at the top, and suck all the water out into space.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:35 am

OrangeXMS wrote:You underestimate the amount of water

Then we just make the hole a bit deeper. 3 miles should do it.

Also think of the job creation. I just solved the global unemployment problem. Awesome

.

7256930752 · PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **7256930752** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:39 am

You're massively underestimating how much water the sea is. Let's try some not at all thought out probably rubbish maths.

The Sahara (9.2)x10^6 Km^2
The earth is (510.1)*10^6 Km^2
70% of the earth is covered in water so (357.07)*10^6 Km^2.

If the sea level rose by 3cm that is:

((357.07)*10^6 Km^2).((3)*10^-5) = A metric strawberry float tonne of water

Where would we put all the sand?

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:43 am

Ok then lets just use the middle of Australia.
They only use the coast anyway so they won't mind. Lets leave them a ring of say 50 miles from the coast and then it's hole time.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Peter Crisp** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:45 am

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Where would we put all the sand?

Melt it all down into glass and build a dome over the UK for super Brexit.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Moggy** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:49 am

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Where would we put all the sand?

We would turn it into glass and then use that to store the water in. Obviously. :roll:

Makes sense.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Preezy** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 11:18 am

Peter Crisp wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:Where would we put all the sand?

Melt it all down into glass and build a dome over the UK for super Brexit.

Stop giving Boris ideas!

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Lime** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 12:11 pm

Saigon Slick wrote:
Partridge Iciclebubbles wrote:Somebody with more scientific knowledge than me can answer why that wouldn’t work.

But just on a layman’s level, the cost of collecting, transporting and storing all of that water would be enormous. And countries in and around the Sahara would actually have to agree to having a massive hole on their lands.

It’d be easier to just blast the water into space.

Or build a giant straw, with a sucking device at the top, and suck all the water out into space.

Wait a minute - with low/zero pressure in space, the water would be drawn/pushed up in to space by itself, no energy required. It's a perfect solution.
We should probably store it all in gigantic space balloons in case we need it later.

It would be quite irritating if we ran out of water later on.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **pjbetman** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:12 pm

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Where would we put all the sand?

It would have to be made into mountains/hills of some sort. It's a cut and fill job, like when they build a road through a hill. They use the 'cut' soil to landscape ('fill') the surrounding road side (embankment).

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **pjbetman** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:21 pm

Peter Crisp wrote:It's time again for me to look like an idiot and ask a stupid question.

Could we solve sea level rise by excavating a strawberry floating massive hole and filling it with water? The Sahara's pretty big and it's mostly sand so would be relatively easy to move and we can use some of it to build a sea wall to make the hole a bit bigger so how about just digging about 2 miles deep and then lining it with something (erm, maybe use all the waste plastic to help solve that issue) so it doesn't all bugger off and bingo sea level rise solved.

I await my Nobel Prize and impending riches and adulation with mild interest.

So, why would that not work or is it as I expect a super solid plan?

Theoretically it can be done. But the volume of soil/sand/earth that needs digging out is an incredible amount. If you've ever seen those pictures of huge quarries with like a spiral slope running down to the bottom, and enormous machines (bigger than 2 semi detached houses) driving the stuff to the top, you'll understand the scale of what you're proposing is probably physically impossible. Those quarries are probably one thousandth the size of what you're proposing. It would probably cause more global warming than the excavation could keep up with! :lol:

Nice thought though.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Preezy** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:28 pm

Just nuke the oceans and flash boil a couple of quadrillion gallons, that'll help lower sea levels. You're welcome!

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **pjbetman** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:38 pm

Festivus Maximus wrote:Just nuke the oceans and flash boil a couple of quadrillion gallons, that'll help lower sea levels. You're welcome!

I was just going to say - the easiest way to dig a big hole would be to detonate a nuke in the desert. Then run a channel from the sea to it. Obviously not going to happen, but thats the only way a hole that big is getting dug.

PostRe: Stupid question time 2. by **Moggy** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:55 pm

pjbetman wrote:
Festivus Maximus wrote:Just nuke the oceans and flash boil a couple of quadrillion gallons, that'll help lower sea levels. You're welcome!

I was just going to say - the easiest way to dig a big hole would be to detonate a nuke in the desert. Then run a channel from the sea to it. Obviously not going to happen, but thats the only way a hole that big is getting dug.

Stupid question time 2.

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