My "invention"

[billydkid]

Ok, I was thinking it would be cool if you could create an anti-balloon. By which I mean the equivalent of a balloon, but containing a vacuum and thereby being bouyant in the atmosphere. I wonder if this is possible with today's high tech materials. My first thoughts were something along the line of a lightweight graphite frame with a mylar skin. Another option might be a sphere made out of ultralight weight shuttle skin type foam with a skin around it and draw a vacuum on that. Is this simply ridiculous and implausible? Also, I was thinking of something equivalent to an eggshell made out of lightweight polymer of some sort. Of course, it would have to be big enough that the volume of the vacuum gave sufficient lift to overcome the weight of the structure.

 

[Mojo]

Other people have had the same idea...

http://www.unm.edu/~keithw/mindWanderings.html#vacuumBalloon

http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/lana.htm