From: "Zack Bass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > --- In LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Jim" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > Then again I've often thought of setting up a generator, > > a water tank, and a balloon with dangling chains as a sort > > of instant barrage balloon. > > Helicopters arrive, on goes the generator, hydrogen comes > > out of the water, up goes the balloon. > > Make it out of kevlar for extra frustration. > > > > Instant? I'd test the speed of generation of hydrogen with that setup > if I were you. > Might better have a hydrogen tank. EMP-proof too. > Or a gaggle of geese.
Plus, Kevlar is very porous to small molecules. It comes as thread, not film. In any thickness of Kevlar fabric (I'd assume backed by Mylar to actually hold the gas in) strong enough to stop more than a spitball, it's too fewkin' heavy. (I've actually spent a lot of time researching materials for lighter-than-air systems, since well before El Neil mentioned them in TPB). Electrolysis, yes, is very slow. Speeding it up to a rate to fill an effective barrage balloon would probably (I'd set the odds at 99.999%) cause an explosion. As usual, I hate to agree with Larry, but tanks of gas (hydrogen works, helium is expensive) are the better choice. You can fill the tanks yourself, even using electrolysis, but to do it safely takes time, expensive gear and a gagload of energy. -- Ward Griffiths [EMAIL PROTECTED] These histrionics were probably unnecessary, since there was no reason to think anybody would be watching us with more than casual interest until I made my first move to follow Buchanon's trail, in London. Still, somebody might check back this far later, and I always feel that if you're going to play a part, you might as well play it all the way, at least in public -- and it's hard to tell what's public and what isn't, these electronic days. Donald Hamilton, _The Devastators_, 1965
