- #1
Jason K
- 6
- 2
Suppose that there exists a rotating water planet, i.e. a planet with a fairly deep ocean, which contains a large structure of a particular geometry submerged within the ocean. If this structure was assembled within the ocean will it, once it reaches a steady state, rotate at the same rate as the planet, or will it rotate at a different rate due to friction and other interactions with the fluid?
The structure itself may be solid or hollow.
In the simplest case the structure is a thin torus that goes all the way around the planet at a particular depth.
More complicated geometries may include the net of a hosohedron, or that of a platonic solid, or the net of a (3-D) projection of, say, a dodecahedral prism.
So essentially, the question is if such a structure were to be build, would it eventually start rotating from the point of view of someone who rotates with the rotation of the planet.
The mass of the planet, depth of the ocean, rotational period, inner diameter of the structure, its orientation relative to the rotation axis of the planet, the mass of the structure, the density of the material of the walls or the interior and physical properties of the ocean can be given as parameters.
The cases which seem more interesting would be those where the mass of this structure would be much, much smaller than the mass of the planet and the interior diameter of the structure remains much smaller than the diameter of the planet or the depth of the ocean for that matter.
Any ideas on how to tackle this problem would be very appreciated!
The structure itself may be solid or hollow.
In the simplest case the structure is a thin torus that goes all the way around the planet at a particular depth.
More complicated geometries may include the net of a hosohedron, or that of a platonic solid, or the net of a (3-D) projection of, say, a dodecahedral prism.
So essentially, the question is if such a structure were to be build, would it eventually start rotating from the point of view of someone who rotates with the rotation of the planet.
The mass of the planet, depth of the ocean, rotational period, inner diameter of the structure, its orientation relative to the rotation axis of the planet, the mass of the structure, the density of the material of the walls or the interior and physical properties of the ocean can be given as parameters.
The cases which seem more interesting would be those where the mass of this structure would be much, much smaller than the mass of the planet and the interior diameter of the structure remains much smaller than the diameter of the planet or the depth of the ocean for that matter.
Any ideas on how to tackle this problem would be very appreciated!