Re:German students win hyperloop competition, reaching 200 mph
by Fishman343 on Monday August 28, 2017 @06:49PM
(#15120787)
The trouble with blowing a hole in the tube somewhere to re-pressurise is that whatever is inside the hole is hit by a wall of air travelling somewhere around the speed of sound. There are a LOT of problems with hyperloop not limited to someone walking up to the tube and shooting it with a .50 Desert Eagle, earthquakes, and the expansion and contraction of the tube as the sun rises and sets.
It's definitely the most unlikely of Elon Musk's plans.
Re:German students win hyperloop competition, reaching 200 mph
by namlem on Tuesday August 29, 2017 @01:36AM
(#15122315)
The hyperlink won't be a vacuum. It's just a low air pressure chamber. The plan has never been to maintain a vacuum since that's too difficult at such large scales.
Re:German students win hyperloop competition, reaching 200 mph
by mikeash on Tuesday August 29, 2017 @09:46AM
(#15124200)
Hyperloop is planned to run at roughly 0.1% of sea level air pressure. For the purposes of a discussion about human survival in the event of pressurization failure, that's effectively a vacuum.
You don't die instantaneously when exposed to vacuum, although it is pretty quick. I wonder if it would be possible to repressurize the tube (by blowing a big hole in it?) within 15 seconds or so.