Is a trans-oceanic tunnel from the US to the UK or to Europe possible? Is it feasible to do? Some friend of mine and I were talking about it tonight about the Channel Tunnel (they live in England), saying wouldn’t it be cool to take a train to the UK or Europe, or even drive there from the US or vice versa instead of having to take a plane (in theory making the trip cheaper). The general consensus is that it is possible to do, but that it wouldn’t be feasible…and might even be a bad idea politically. Any one have any ideas on this?
There was a great science fiction story about just such a tunnel, but I can’t remember the title.
I suppose it would be possible, but it would certainly be the biggest construction job ever attempted in the history of mankind. There’s no way a car could carry enough fuel to make the trip (and I’d hate to figure out how to vent the exhaust) but a nuclear-powered train could definately pull it off.
Cost and cost-effectiveness apart, I suspect there is a basic engineering problem that it would have to cross the mid-Atlantic ridge which is an active plate tectonic boundary. IIRC the Atlantic is getting wider by an average of an inch or so every year, tearing apart across the plate boundry the gap being filled with fresh magma.
The same feature also accounts for the geologically active volcanic islands strung out along the mid-Atlantic - e.g. Iceland.
Maybe they could still do it, but it isn’t like other tunnels (Channel, major Alpine, intra-island Japanese) which don’t cross active plate boundaries. I don’t know of a tunnel which does.
Given that the Chunnel itself was (at the time it was completed) the most expensive construction project in human history, at $21 billion, I’d say a transatlantic tunnel is economically impossible.
The Chunnel is about 31 miles long; the distance from Newfoundland to the western coast of Ireland is a little under 1,900.
Newfoundland and Ireland probably aren’t practical as endpoints, either.
Reykjavik and Newfoundland (St. John’s, specifically) are a little closer at 1657 miles. Still not exactly perfect endpoints, but closer.
Let’s try, say, New York City and London: 3470 miles.
Given that it took about 3 years to dig the Channel Tunnel, without the geological problems that beset the Seikan Tunnel, we ca assume the drilling will proceed at 10 miles per year, working from either end. Even with major advances in drilling technology, NYC to London will still take about 300 years.
The real problem, IMHO, would be the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Drilling horizontally at that depth across a major fault line would be somewhat hazardous, I believe.
Hopefully a geologist or engineer will be along to answer that one.
Well, thats kind of the consensus in our discussion. It would be too expensive. I didn’t realize about the geology, though it makes sense. I guess its something that would be way cool, but isn’t practical at all. Too bad really. I guess my friends in England will just have to take the plane if they want to visit me.
No columns several miles deep will work, with the same added problems of the tectonic behaviour. Pontoons could hardly be relied upon in a full Atlantic storm.
Well, if you built a (huge-ass) bridge across the Bering Straight, linking the U.S. to Russia via rail, you could start in England, take the Chunnel to the European mainland, go by rail to the other side of the Eurasian landmass, cross the Berling Bridge to North America, and from there go to anywhere in North America.
It’d still be a lot faster to go by plane, of course. But what’s the fun in that?
The idea of a floating tunnel is that it would (well…) float and be held underwater by long cables several miles long sunk into the muck. No need for tall pillars.
Neat idea overall, but such a huge fifty-year project would never be started, and so it would never be finished.
The whole problem is that it’s not muck - it’s huge volcanic mountain ranges. Impossible to anchor anything to. And a cable miles long wouldn’t be stable enough.
It would be possible with nanotechnology, or at least it would be possible if a specific kind of nanotechnology becomes possible - build the entire thing (and I mean ALL of the structure, supports etc) out of self-organising nanomachines - as the plates move apart, the machines can simply(!) extend the middle section intelligently to fit.
Quoth Mangetout It would be possible with nanotechnology, or at least it would be possible if a specific kind of nanotechnology becomes possible - build the entire thing (and I mean ALL of the structure, supports etc) out of self-organising nanomachines - as the plates move apart, the machines can simply(!) extend the middle section intelligently to fit.
I tend to agree with that; a suspended, floating tunnel, say 300m deep, with an evauated tube running maglev trains at (say) 2000km per hour;
a network of those could run on solar or fusion generated electricity and be completed - what? 2180?
Rapid intercontinental transport in the post oil era.
A sitting target for terrorism too-
voila! a plot for an SF story if you want it…
One in New York, one in London. Everyone gets into a capsule, the elastic gets pulled back a mile or so and wheeeee. The two capsules could even be made to pass close by each other so that the occupants could wave as they pass at the halfway point.
Once they get near the landing point, large parachutes would deploy.
