Bioshock’s Columbia, Can It Happen?
Entry posted by morganism2.0
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==> Go to YouTube and search "Game Theory Bioshock infinite" and the video for this post will be the first result.
If you have ever played any of the Bioshock games it is nearly impossible not to be blown away by the sheer majesty and fantastic splendor of the chaotic settings you are dropped into. The settings, while seeming far fetched and impossible give off a realistic feel that drives the emersion home. Columbia, The floating city in the infamous game Bioshock Infinite, is a place you cannot even believe to think is real. HOWEVER, with the explanations given and the physics involved in said explanation... This Majestic country in the sky is indeed possible with super conductors!
As the scientific mind behind the floating city of Columbia claims that they keep the city afloat by using "Quantum particles frozen in space time at a set height". This is actually quite possible in theory. Super conductors are materials that, if made a critical temperature, can maintain energy without any energy loss. Meaning if you were to give a wire of this material a surge of electricity then remove the source the flow of electricity would be able to cycle through the wire FOREVER. Pretty neat right? Not if you are a magnetic field though. Another property of super conductors is that they expel any magnetic field foing through them, this is known as the "Meissner Effect". But sometimes super conductors can be so thin that magnetic fields can penetrate them in a certain way that makes the matter of the super conductor stay in a fixed place (unless pushed of course). So with this type of technology and super magnets on the sea floor below it is possible to have the floating city float! But living on it is not as easy as keeping the city in the air unfortunately. Due to the freezing temperatures and air thin-ness that would be at the altitude the city is claimed to be at, it would be very hard to breathe let alone survive without ten layers of clothing. The moving of the clouds contrary to the fixed position of the city would also cause severe motion sickness.
For more cool info on how the science of columbia works see the rest of the video! Also find out why we can make columbia but not necessarily live there!
Wishing you Physics Fun!
Morganism2.0 OUT!
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