Imagine that you are watching a science fiction movie. A starship is disabled in an attack. After the transfer of the crew to the alien ship, the alien invaders begin to change the atmosphere inside the ship to meet their biological requirements. As they do so, the ship's hull suddenly and unexpectedly gives way and the ship "explodes." In terms of air pressure, explain why this might have happened.
2007-12-16 13:50:57 · 7 answers · asked by ? 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The aliens require an atmospheric pressure far greater than humans. As the ships' hull was designed and constructed with the human-required atmosphere in mind, the structure couldn't withstand the increase in pressure and exploded.
2007-12-16 13:56:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
all of the answers so far focus on pressures being high but a ship can gain structural integrity from air pressure so if the pressure is reduced or the atmosphere causes corrosion or oxidation the ship could also explode. the best answer so far is the one about how beings require a specific range and the ship is deisgned for that range so when you alter the range you change the dynamics of the ship. either that or the aliens left a bomb on board.
2007-12-16 14:01:39 · answer #2 · answered by ron y 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since you gave the hint "in terms of air pressure", then its perfectly obvious.
The aliens needed an atmosphere at a higher pressure than the hull of the craft was capable of withstanding.
No human built ship would be able to stay intact under all air pressure conditions, so their requirements were beyond design specs.
2007-12-16 13:56:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The tensile hoop stress in an "infinitely long" cylinder of radius r and wall thickness t due to internal pressure p is given by stress = pr/t. Since the radius and wall thickness do not change, the stress is proportional to the pressure. The higher the pressure, the higher the stress. If there are holes for fasteners, rivets, etc, then this stress would increase to 3pr/t in the regions around the holes. This could be compared to the tensile yield strength of 300 series stainless steel or aluminum 6061 T6, both of which fall in the range of 32,000 lbf/in^2 minimum. At some point, the stress would become sufficiently larger than the yield strength for the skin to stretch to failure and unzip along the fastener holes. Aluminum would fail more quickly because it is less ductile.
2007-12-16 14:40:19 · answer #4 · answered by Larry454 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
they increased the pressure inside too much that the surface of the ship couldnt handle the tension. thats the best possible explaination someone could comeup with.
2007-12-16 13:59:46 · answer #5 · answered by Dhillon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The pressure inside and outside the spacecraft are different.
Think of balloons.
As they rise the pressure around them decreases so they can expand. They can't hold forever so they pop.
2007-12-16 13:53:55 · answer #6 · answered by Ilan K 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
LIAR!!!! YOU CAN OBVIOUSLY TELL THIS IS FOR HOMEWORK!
HUN, DO U THINK WE'RE STUPID OR SUMTHIN?
NICE TRY.
2007-12-16 13:53:31 · answer #7 · answered by Chico 2 · 3⤊ 2⤋