is it possible to have an endless journey in space with a craft made from diamond?

Question

wouldn't it be useful to have an indestructable craft

Answer 1

suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.

Answer 2

Well, it wouldn't be indestructable. In fact, diamond is brittle enough that it could be worse then something made out of metal.

Diamond is hard, but it's not very tough. The carbon atoms in a diamond are so tightly packed that they don't really have the ability to flex or absorb an impact. That's what also makes them so hard, but if you were to take a diamond, put it on a hard enough surface and smack it hard enough with a hammer, it would shatter. If you did the same thing with a chunk of metal it might deform, but it (depending on the metal) would probably not shatter to pieces.

If you are travelling in space and hit a piece of debris going really, really fast (or just sitting there while you are going really, really fast) it's going to shatter the entire ship.

A big balloon would probably be more 'indestructable' then a diamond ship - where an impact on any part of the diamond would spread the force across it and (possibly) shatter the whole thing, a balloon would hopefully just have a small hole punched right through it to be patched up later.

Answer 3

It's not destructability that's the issue -- it's sustainability. You'd have to have a renewable power source that could supply enough energy to power the craft. Solar wouldn't work, fusion might -- but you'd have to find a planet and land on it to pick up more material to power a fusion generator. But to answer your question, a craft made from or coated in diamond would be darned close to indestructable but not completely indestructable. Remember, we have the capability to cut and shape diamonds, so they CAN be broken or shattered.

Answer 4

depends. if you wanted to be able to change direction etc. you would need a power source, if you wanted to just go in teh same direction at the same speed for ever, you would only need the fuel to get you off the ground.
You would need enough food and water if a person was going, and if you wanted images beamed back to earth, again, power is needed. However, if your starved to death body and your space craft wanted to just float around the universe, i don't see why not.
Though you would have to be pretty rich to make it out of diamond. I would not be indestructable, as if something hit it at enough speed, it would shatter, and it would melt if you accidentally ended up too close to the Sun.

Answer 5

Why would diamond make it indestuctable?

It may be the hardest naturally occuring substance known but would still shatter if hit by say a meteor, comet or asteroid, be pulled apart by some immense gravitational field or melted by some hot star.

Also, how would you manufacture such a craft? Being the hardest natural substance known how would you sculpt / weld one together?

Answer 6

Diamonds are not indestructible. Get your mom's wedding ring and hit it with a hammer, it will shatter. Diamonds are the hardest of known compounds, but they are somewhat brittle.

Answer 7

1.st any journey that would be slow enough would be endless
2.nd diamond is definitely not indestructable... any star would melt it if you came really close to it ... also almost anything fast enough would crush it ... in these terms :
you would have to start journey in certain point in universe and point yourself in direction of it's expansion... however, you cannot be certain in duration of universe existence, thus you cannot predict if your journey could be endless...

Answer 8

sure, area is limitless, assuming that the universe takes the form of a sphere (finite and unbounded). there is not any side and no end. that is like stepping into a circle for infinity. the three dimensional area, as all of us comprehend it, is like the floor of a ball or a epidermis of a spiracle rubber balloon. the contained in the balloon as our previous at the same time as the exterior is our destiny. the present is the increasing epidermis and is the three-D area the position we are trapped. There are only 2 "outdoors": our previous which we cant bypass into or our destiny the position our universe drives us into. we can only move freely in the floor, yet with the aid of the indisputable fact that's a sphere, you'll locate no side and no end: it really is how our "area is limitless".

Answer 9

I think kevlar is tougher than Diamond

Answer 10

If it got hit by something going fast enough it could still vaporize.

Answer 11

mmmm lay off the angel dust buddy