Effective use of natural sunlight in a habitat.

--- In spacesettlers, "ANTIcarrot" wrote:

> A couple of questions:
>
> What would a fiberoptics switch look like in a 10kW application?

You wouldn't have a 10 Kw switch. You'd have 10,000 one-watt
switches. Or, if we use the micron fibers Ian Wollard has me thinking
about now, you'd have a million 0.001 watt switches.

> What abouta dimmer switch?

If had say 1 Kw coming in, and you wanted half of that, you'd switch
off 5,000 one-watt fibers. If we use the micron fibers, then you'd
switch off 500,000 of the 0.001 watt fibers.

> How would it function safely and effectively?

The best engineering the private and public sectors together can come
up with.

> What engineering would be required to run a 10kW optic-wire through
> a room with humans (or other flammable material) in it, with the
> same level of safety they'd gain from the current method of 'dual
> 10mm2 + earth'?

Well, in most cases you'd be running a half kilowatt optic-wire, maybe
even a 0.25 Kw. How many rooms use more than 250 watts anyway? A
very large room, with very bright lighting, might require a full
kilowatt. The 10 Kw wire would be a rare and special thing, and thus
could use more expensive safety features.

> Which is more common, copper or silicon/oxygen?

Silicon/oxygen.

> If you're building one habitat it doesn't matter, but if you're
> building tens of thousands

I'd sure like to.