The Space Lift & Lunar Aqua Park!

Here's a couple of genius ideas I had at the same time. They're a good example of ideas that might sit at either end of the actual genius spectrum.

A Lift Into Space!

Possibly not to scale.

In 2002 I came up with a genius idea of an easier way to get people into space. A lift, that would climb up a really strong cable to a geo-stationary satellite. Then once they're up there, they people can get into their spaceships that are conveniently parked in orbit. Thus saving on all that oh-so-expensive rocket fuel. Oh how my colleagues laughed.
But then, around 2 years later I read in the Metro that this was exactly what scientists were working on. Had NASA stolen my idea?  ....well no. A quick shufty on wikipedia tells me that the idea had been around for over 100 years.
Great minds, eh? This has to be my first proven genius idea. (and it surely is a genius idea - NASA's spent millions on the research already).

The 22-year-old me was so smart. I remember that day, I was on a roll. Later that afternoon I also came up with...


The Lunar Aqua-Park!

I also told my colleagues about this one. Genius it is... and before I explain it to you, please bear in mind that this can be done, but only in the far distant future... and by a company/person with extreme wealth and little consideration for the future of life on our planet.
The concept is a simple one: A water park on the moon. Can you imagine it?  ...You'd have loads of water slides, shoots and swimming pools. All housed in some giant geodesic domes. It'd be like CentreParks in space. But of course, the difference being there is much less gravity on the moon. It'd be awesome.

Now here's the genius bit. ('What Jon? Was that not the genius bit already.... the general concept?' .... Well yeah, but it gets better.) One of the attractions in this park is a ride that tunnels through the ground right through to the centre of the moon  ...and there would be a giant cavern carved out, and about 4 swimming pools worth of water dumped in there.  The water would all float like a liquid sphere in the centre of the moon and people would dive in from all angles. I call it The Lunaquasphere™. How cool would that be in the centre?... swimming about with every direction being up. And also, because there's less gravity, you could dive in from much higher and not hurt yourself. Brilliant eh?  ... Nothing can go wrong. Although, like I say, I've not really looked into the earthly repercussions of having a big hole into the centre of the Moon. If the Moon lost some of it's mass, it may actually affect the Earth's tidal patterns, seasons, the Moon's orbit round the Earth, and possibly even the Earth's orbit around the sun. It would certainly jeopardise the future of life on Earth...  Still, imagine all the fun you could have in a Lunaquasphere™.

My Theory On Gravity: Part I (The Situation of the Gravity)

Having read Brian Cox(not that one)'s excellent book 'Why Does E=mc² (and why should we care?) last year, I discovered that scientists don't actually know what gravity is.
They know what causes a gravitational field (Mass) and how to calculate and indeed predict what gravity will be in any given scenario... but they don't know why it exists.

Also, the book tells of a universal equation, that accounts for everything... ever. It's about why everything is like it is, and behaves and looks the way it does, and accounts for 3 of the 4 known forces in the universe (the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and electromagnetism).
Gravity doesn't fit into the equation though. Which is why I came up with a theory...


My theory concerns the fact that gravity isn't really a force in itself, but the effect of distorted space-time. It goes something like this:...

Space-time is distorted around objects. If there was no matter in the universe, spacetime would be constant, but throw a few planets in there, and it's like pushing some marbles into a sponge. The marbles displaces the sponge... the sponge that is displaced is denser nearer the marbles. Perhaps that's a bad analogy...
But if space-time behaved in this way, if it was compressed outward somewhat (depending on the mass and density of the planet) then it would naturally want to spring back to it's original shape. This would mean there would be a constant natural force towards a planet... which would be greater if the planet was larger and/or denser. (this also explains the formation of a black hole when a star collapses)

The other 3 forces relate to how non-touching particles/atoms react around each other within space. Whereas the "force" of gravity is pertaining to the actual shape of space. so it can't be considered a force.  ... Well it can, but it's not like the other 3. It's like (bad analogy alert!) comparing the attributes of 4 things, where 3 of the things are similar but very different, and the 4th thing is the universe.

The strength of gravity gradually dissipates the further from a planet you get.... to infinity apparently. You're still slightly affected by gravity of a planet on the other side of the universe (by an infinitely small amount), but you don't notice it much because of various other gravity creating phenomena closer to you. Particularly the planet you're standing on.

Anyhoo, in conclusion I will say that gravity doesn't and indeed can't fit in the universal equation because it's beyond it. To measure the distortion of space-time is like perhaps putting another dimension into an equation... To use one more analogy: When you know the maths to calculate out the exact area of a square when drawn on a flat piece of paper, then that's all good. But if you were a 2 dimensional being and all you knew was the 2 dimensional plane, then things would be different...When you draw the square on an apparently flat surface - but the surface was actually the surface of a sphere, then your calculations aren't going equal the actual area of the surface of the square you've drawn.

Any questions?