Originally posted by The Lizard King
Not to mention,
the math does not add up.
Your math isn't taking into account the rate of acceleration, or deceleration. The
alleged "train" wouldn't start out at 14,000 mph, nor
would it come to an instantaneous stop when it reached its destination.
Also, just because a VHST
may be able to reach 14,000 mph (in a vacuum) doesn't mean it necessarily would. Do cars
always travel at
"top speed"? Do jets
always fly with full afterburners on? Just because a vehicle has a "max capability" doesn't mean that the alleged
capability is always, or ever, used. My car's speedometer goes to 140 mph, but I've never tested that mark.
I'm no stranger to the tales of underground U.S. VHSTs. The main problem in the theory, that I see, is in maintaining a vacuum. From what I've read,
they purportedly use a heating system (laser tech?) to "melt & polish" the tube's walls to a "glass like" finish; however, the
slightest
seismic activity could/would severely hamper that factor.
There's also the issue of gaps and crevices beneath the surface of the earth. In some places there's simply nothing there to "melt & polish". The
only way, that I see, to overcome this would be to bore a larger space, and construct a smaller diameter "tube" within it. That would leave a gap to
help buffer the tube from any minor seismic occurances.