Writer seeking Braniacs for answers

Hi all,

I'm a writer working on a Sci-Fi novel set far in the future. I'm looking for a little insight. In this future world there is no more room on the planet for waste, the only option is to launch it into space. I've been told by a handful of experts that a theoretical possiblity would be launching the garbage into space using an "Anti-Graviton Field" would be the most likely and cost effective way of doing such a thing.

Does this make sence? What would this look like? How would it work?

Is this the right place for asking such a question?

Thanks.

 

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It doesn't make sense to me. Why not incinerate our waste? We'd also get electricity, I'm sure it could be done in a reasonably environmentally friendly way, just need to filter/extract the toxins.
Or you could just use your "Anti-Graviton Field" to the same effect couldn't you?(strong varying field would rip everything apart)

 

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Excellent idea. Do you think the waste could be disinigrated without releasing dangerous toxins into an atmosphere on it's last leg?

Would it be possible to incinerate the garbage than use the Anti-Graviton field to release the deadly toxins into space? Or does that not make sence?

 

James,

This is in the future. 250 years at least. Do you think we'd have that kind of technology by then?

 

Use the waste as fuel for the "Anti-Graviton" thingy? Could all waste be broken down to hydrogen in this manner?

 

Are you proposing that the Anti-Graviton device could use the waste as fuel, then once into space disperse the toxins? Would the burning of such a fuel not be toxic? Or am I not following you?

 

I would imagine if you could create gravity fields/waves then you could break matter down to the most basic element(hydrogen), this would make a good fuel. So you there would be no toxic waste & no need to use space.

 

Makes sence.

So say the waste was broken down into hydrogen, could the hydrogen be turned around from there and used as fuel for cars? Wasn't that what they did in "Back to the Future"?

 

I think that it was something very similar....

 

Well I don't know why you would want to get rid of waste, but anyway:

Well are the economics very good? I geuss there is a lot of people and you could hire a billion or so to sit on a big machine, say like lots of bicycle-type powered generators all hooked up that should give you enough power.

Some people are attempting to harness spider web, which should be strong enough to hang down to earth from a satellite without breaking, so maybe you could winch it up on a spider-rope.

I could go on.

 

There is no current anti-gravity technology, so if you decide to use this device it's all up to you as to what it looks like or how it works. Like some other people said, a more practical solution would be to break down the garbage into useful products again. There was a recent article in Discover Magazine about a process that can turn most organic waste into oil and minerals. I'd imagine in the future this technology would be advanced enough so that any garbage could just be processed back into usable material.

Heres a link to the company featured in Discover:
http://www.changingworldtech.com/home.html

And the Discover article:
http://www.discover.com/recent_issue/index.html

 

That's right, there is no such thing as waste, just resources we haven't figured out how to use yet.

If 'anti-graviton' devices were available, the world would be able to use them in many more exciting applications than just waste disposal; you could build cities in the sky, send spacecraft around the solar system that ignore the pull of the Sun's gravity, colonise the atmosphere of Jupiter...

Great stuff, but a waste if you only use it to get rid of waste.
_________________
SF worldbuilding at
http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html

 

I'd say that the best way to do it is like rayzinnz mentioned about spider web. I believe it was nanotubes that are super strong and super ligth weight. These could be mounted to just about anything in space (The moon?) then we could use them as space elavators.

 

The mega cities in this book are only able to grow so large due to the protective barier that surrounds them, eburacum45
mentioned using anti-graviton to build cities in the sky, it would be possible to support the weight of a whole city, this "Anti-Graviton" device?

 

Well, there is no such thing as a free lunch- but if the device can take objects into orbit cheaply , it can probably support large buildings and flying cars.
The question is is, does the anti graviton device
either
1/ negate gravity,
2/ repel objects with positive mass (like certain postulated forms of exotic matter
or
3/use energy (perhaps electricity) to act against weight.

If 1/ then you can suspend things as if in zero gee.
if 2/ you can fly away as if falling into the sky.
if 3/ you can only use it as a relatively efficient way of lifting heavy objects.
Hope this helps
__________________
SF worldbuilding at
http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html

 

Yeah! I think we'd (humanity) come across other, bigger, problems before that. Sorry I couldn't help Nev.

At the moment landfill sites do actually produce electricity: The methane powers turbines.

 

There was an article a little while ago on slashdot about new advances in nanotube production.

Slashdot Article

You wouldn't want to mount the elevator onto the moon because you need something that's in geostationary orbit. Plus, the moon is just too far away. The best candidate would be a captured near-earth asteroid.

Space Elevator Links:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html

http://www.howstuffworks.com/space-elevator.htm

Theres lots more, just look up space elevators on google.