Ever wonder what it would be like to live in a Ring World?
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Ever wonder what it would be like to live in a Ring World?
A circular man-made structure out in space where there is no gravity except the centrifugal force generated by the structure spinning? To people standing on the "floor" of the ring, it is hard to tell the difference from being on Earth, but there are important differences.
On Earth, gravity pulls us down and keeps us on the ground.
On a RingWorld there is no gravity, centrifugal force keeps the residents on the ground.
On the Earth a ball dropped from a height goes straight down, but what is
"straight down" in space?
It may not be what you think!
Jump into a
virtual RingWorld and see for yourself.
[50K Java applet, 4.x browser required]
You start with a rotating settlement with six story buildings. You can place balls on
platforms at any height and make them fall to the ground.
Try moving the balls and throwing them, too.
If you have problems running the applet see the
Notes section.
Further reading
Non-fiction
and fiction:
PC and Unix:
Most 4.x browsers should do.
Netscape 4.05 or better is probably required. I have not verified
precisely which version Netscape and Microsoft got their act together.
I know early Netscape 4.0 browsers will not work.
Mac:
This applet requires a browser that uses the native
Apple Java.
Currently three browsers use Apple's JVM:
Download
You can download this applet and run it directly on your machine if you have Java installed.
| Curators: Al Globus and Bryan Yager |
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| NASA Responsible Official: Dr. Ruth Globus | Last Updated: July 10, 2002 | ||
| If you find any errors on this page contact Al Globus. | |||
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