Would an anaconda float?

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Would an anaconda float?

Postby Straylight0 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:04 am

Just checking whether an Anaconda would float on water; I'm fairly sure it would, but might have made a huge cock-up.

An Anaconda is about 150m flong from the other thread. If it's about 20mx20m cross-section, this gives it a volume of 60000 cubic metres (6x10^6). Shipbuilder gives the mass of a trading conda, not too dissimilar from my exploring one, at about 1000 tonnes or 1x10^6 kg.

Most of the volume of my ship is taken up with hydrogen fuel, liquid density 70kg/cubic m, or 80 or so for deuterium. Or air, about 1kg/m^3. Water (seatwater isn't much denser than normal) has a density of about 1000 kg/ cub.m. That gives a net buoyancy of about 900 kg/ cm (not bothering converting to Newtons). For 60000 cub.m that's 54 million kg buoyancy, 54,000 tonnes, comfortably above the weight, even if I've made some big miscalculations of volume. The problem might be being too buoyant and bobbing around uncontrollably!

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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby TorTorden » Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:00 pm

Im just guessing and I honestly don't have a clue about these things, but my guess is that without a keel for stability it would flop over and float upside down.
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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Straylight0 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:19 pm

I'm kind of hopeful it might be designed that way because of its boatlike shape... getting a lot of interest ont he main forums https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=171886

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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Straylight0 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:20 pm

I need a big signature, it's now going so fast people are reading stright past my (eminently sensible) posts!

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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Gorf » Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:43 pm

I haven't read the frontier forum for exactly the reason you describe - it's so active that it's too easy to miss something of worth in all the dross that gets posted.

As regards your floating anaconda - the magic word is displacement. An object floats if it weighs less than the liquid it displaces. In the case of your anaconda, you have more of a submarine shape, not a boat shape, because it's enclosed. This means that you have to work out its average density.The density of individual items within the hull doesn't matter - a tonne of hydrogen has the same effect on the whole ship's average density as a tonne of gold.

By my calculations (based on 152.4 x 61.8 x 32 lxwxh in metres) you get* a volume of over 105 cubic metres. If its mass is 106 kilos then you have a density of 10 kilos per cubic metre. Seawater is 1,027 kilos per cubic metre. Your anaconda is going to float like a cork.

* Using the formula for volume of a pyramid - a reasonable approximation given how little effect it had on the end result.
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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Straylight0 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:48 pm

Yeah, it's almost unrealistically light! For writing in a story, would make sense to pretend it's a little heavier. I think it would make sense to assume, seeing how ships can make planetary landings, that the 'conda can work as a kind of super-flying-boat.

You're not wrong about the main forums. Everybody is flaming away busily about seals and quoting each other ad infinitum...

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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Gorf » Tue Aug 04, 2015 2:14 pm

(Just went to look at the thread...)

Something to remember about the shape of the conda is it has a big brick-shaped section to the rear which according to the wiki is the cargo hold.

If on water, this part would float and the area forward of it would counterbalance the short but heavy drives to its rear. It might sit a little lower in the water due to just this being the part that's in contact.

It is airtight IMO - if the non-occupied areas of the ship were exposed to vaucuum then it would be venting a station's precious air every time it entered and left. Of course its integrity may be compromised after a fight, but there's a tax on repairs to cover the cost of station air lost through ship damage.

[Edit - I made that last bit up, it's not part of any lore that I've seen]
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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Daniel Dakota » Tue Aug 04, 2015 2:56 pm

Ah, I was just about to make one and see if it floated in the bath :)
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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby Straylight0 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:28 pm

Lol. I wish they'd release the 3d models, there's a place in town with 3d printers you can use for just the cost of materials...

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Re: Would an anaconda float?

Postby UnmarkedBoxcar » Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:52 pm

Straylight0 wrote:Lol. I wish they'd release the 3d models, there's a place in town with 3d printers you can use for just the cost of materials...


They just installed a couple of those in the -other- campus here in the valley where I live.

Same deal, you just pay for the materials, and print to your heart's delight.
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