Full G on the Moon or other small bodies?

On Jan 12, 2007, at 16:37 UTC, Lucio_de_Souza_Coelho wrote:

> Supposing a *really* big lunar torus, with a city and water masses
> inside, that would be catastrophic, with buildings collapsing and
> lakes and canals sloshing downside.

That seems unlikely. Remember, at the same time your gravity vector is
pitching over, it's also getting lighter -- ending at 1/6 its normal
value. It wouldn't be hard to build buildings to remain standing at an
angle in only 1/6 G, and you would presumably do this because the city
would have to be spun down occasionally for maintenance. Similarly,
any large bodies open water would presumably be designed with someplace
to go for spin-down.

I'm not saying this is a great or likely idea -- but it IS possible,
and we shouldn't weaken our arguments by employing strawmen.

Best,
- Joe

Joe Strout -- joe@...