What If We Built a Tower to Outer Space? - video Dailymotion

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1/5/2024

Would you spend a night at the top of the first tower to space?

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00:00 Would you spend a night

00:04 at the top of the first tower to space?

00:09 At 100 km (300 mi) above sea level,

00:11 it would be the highest structure

00:13 that humans have ever built.

00:16 This tower could house

00:18 almost a million residents.

00:19 But would that be worth

00:22 the giant price tag of $25 trillion?

00:27 Could humans even survive

00:30 the extreme conditions at the top?

00:33 Would the Earth's crust be able to support

00:36 the weight of this massive structure?

00:40 And how could we prevent it

00:42 from falling over?

00:44 This is WHAT IF,

00:46 and here's what would happen

00:48 if we built a tower to outer space.

00:52 When it comes to building a space tower,

00:55 there are a lot of obstacles to plan around.

00:59 First, there are the extremely cold temperatures

01:02 that could freeze you to death.

01:05 Then, there are the Category 5 hurricane winds

01:08 that could cause the tower to sway and fall over.

01:13 Oh, and did we mention there would be

01:15 barely any air pressure at the top?

01:18 So you'd likely get altitude sickness,

01:20 which could kill you.

01:23 But even with all those hazards,

01:25 we still think we can build one

01:28 safe enough for humans to stay in.

01:31 Want to see what it looks like?

01:36 Yes, it might look a little strange,

01:39 but this is how we'd have to structure our tower

01:42 if we don't want it to fall over.

01:45 If we didn't shape our tower like a pyramid,

01:48 it would buckle under its own weight,

01:50 tilt to the side, and crash to the ground.

01:53 At 100 km (156 mi) tall,

01:55 this pyramid would need a base

01:57 as large as the area of Hong Kong to keep it stable.

02:02 It would also need a reinforced core

02:05 to prevent it from swaying in the extreme winds

02:08 found at the top of our atmosphere.

02:11 At 70 km (156 mi) above sea level,

02:14 winds of 252 km/h (1,000 mph) can occur.

02:19 And the top of our tower

02:22 would be 30 km (15 mi) higher than that.

02:25 Now that we've got a stable structure figured out,

02:29 we need to find a way to transport people up to the top.

02:33 Traditionally, elevators are limited to a height of about 500 m (2,000 ft).

02:39 After that, they would be too heavy.

02:42 So we're going to need something a little more modern,

02:45 like magnet-powered elevators, for instance.

02:49 But even with those,

02:51 we'd still be looking at super long elevator rides to go up and down.

02:56 This would be a serious problem

02:58 if we wanted our tower to contain residences and offices.

03:03 One group that would be happy about these extra-long elevator rides

03:06 would be the advertising industry.

03:09 Talk about a captive audience.

03:11 Instead of just watching commercial after commercial,

03:18 wouldn't you rather use all this free time to get creative

03:22 and even earn extra money?

03:24 Well, you can do that with Voqal.

03:26 Voqal is a publishing platform for creators of all kinds,

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03:34 to connect with engaged audiences and earn money.

03:38 You can promote your latest content by embedding it in a story on Voqal,

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04:00 Voqal also hosts weekly challenges

04:03 for your chance to win cash prizes and more.

04:07 Here at What If, we've been sharing our own stories on Voqal.

04:10 Check out the link in our description box to read our most recent story,

04:14 where we wrote about what would happen if everyone stopped drinking coffee.

04:18 Spoiler alert, it wouldn't be good for those long elevator rides.

04:23 So sign up as a creator on Voqal today

04:26 to start earning from your stories and get connected with a new audience.

04:30 You've got all this free time these days.

04:32 Why not put it to good use?

04:34 But before we go selling our elevator ad space,

04:40 we need to see if it would be safe for us to go up that high in the first place.

04:45 At the top of Mount Everest,

04:47 the air pressure is dangerously low,

04:50 about one-third of the pressure on the ground.

04:53 And our space tower would be 11 times taller than that.

04:57 If we didn't regulate the air pressure inside the skyscraper,

05:01 you could experience altitude sickness.

05:04 And if we didn't regulate the temperature in there,

05:08 you could freeze to death by the time you reach the top.

05:11 Next, we'd have to figure out how to provide running water throughout the tower.

05:16 It would take a lot of pressure to pump water up so high.

05:20 We would need hundreds of water reservoirs

05:23 located on different levels throughout the building.

05:27 These water reservoirs would be filled in sequence,

05:30 with each one being used to fill the one above, all the way to the top.

05:36 If the residents were to use as much water

05:39 as the residents of the Burj Khalifa do per day,

05:42 we estimate that our space tower would use about

05:46 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per day.

05:50 And that's a lot to pump up.

05:54 And even if we solved all those challenges,

05:58 there would still be one underlying issue

06:01 that could inevitably sink the whole project.

06:05 I'm talking about the Earth's crust.

06:08 The Earth's crust is only about 30 km (15 mi) thick,

06:12 with a soft mantle underneath it.

06:15 Like a house on unstable soil,

06:18 the tower would start to sink down into the ground over the years,

06:22 as the Earth's crust would be unable to sustain its weight.

06:27 So for now, maybe we'll just have to settle for the tall towers we already have.

06:34 Or if you really want that nice view from space,

06:39 you could always sign up to be one of the first space tourists.

06:43 But that's a story for another WHAT IF.

06:48 [music]

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