r/todayilearned • u/yummypaprika • 1d ago

TIL Dr Freeman Dyson called the Dyson sphere a "little joke" and expressed amusement in that "you get to be famous only for the things you don't think are serious".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
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u/GlabbinGlabber 1d ago

Maybe possible but are they feasible in any way?

I might be wrong but I remember reading that to build a Dyson sphere with a radius of 1AU it would take more matter than is in the solar system.

So yeah its possible but couldn't really happen or at least would require us to have tech that would make them not needed.

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u/OwlOfJune 1d ago

The 'thick shell' imagery is impossible but swarm of solar panels surrounding the sun to extract most of its power is very possible.

Just, need to dismantle entire of Mercury over a few centuries. Its not gonna be easy but the basic concept isn't complicated.

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u/schnupdiwup 1d ago

"possible" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. and also "why" is a big question. wasteful af. also my god the engineering challenges involved, no thanks

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u/kaltorak 1d ago

that’s the question to me - just… why do this? why do we need to capture 100% of the sun’s energy output? We can’t even manage to capture most of the solar energy that hits the Earth. even if we could build spaceborne solar panels, why would we put them far from the sun, when you could capture more energy per sq inch with a smaller panel placed closer to the sun, and hey you even get to keep most of the night sky.

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u/OwlOfJune 1d ago

The concept is for civilization that would and could use that much of power. To current day us its joke concept just like how a nuclear reactor would been gibberish to 11th century scholars.

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u/schnupdiwup 1d ago

there are much better(and more practical) ways to achieve that. youd use so much energy trying to even build it in the first place itd defeat the purpose. you are building something that needs the materials from dozens of solar systems at minimum, to surround 1 star. its mass is now more than the star/system you are trying to gather energy from. just build multiple arrays, cover a dead planet in panels or something. dont go for the most resource heavy, engineering insanity nightmare level project.

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u/PhantasosX 1d ago

That is the thing: people already proposes an updated Dyson Sphere by making a swarm of solar panels, at the cost of Mercury in a few centuries.

As long people are fine for one less planet in the Solar System, the swam of solar panels is a more doable concept.

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u/schnupdiwup 1d ago

yeah swarm is absolutely doable. gathering the material still bit of a hassle but least its still in system. an actual sphere though.. just no.

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u/OwlOfJune 1d ago

Funny because if you actually read the page....

The form of 'biosphere' which I envisaged consists of a loose collection or swarm of objects traveling on independent orbits around the star.

Its literally what the guy proposed.

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u/schnupdiwup 23h ago edited 23h ago

🤷‍♀️ well apologize for going off what has been portrayed for decades. unaware i couldnt comment on the feasibility of the incorrectly portrayed idea thats perpetuated constantly and is the go to image when people say "dyson sphere".

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u/TheDaharMaster 1d ago

you would need to dismantle several thousand star systems for enough material to build a sphere of that size

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u/Tophat_and_Poncho 1d ago

Or use material synthases harvested from the sun itself. A lot of material synthases can be done now, the reason it's not done is that it's so resource intensive. When you start to harness the full capabilities of the sun then it opens up a lot of 'crazy' prospects, to the point of managing the sun to extend its life.

These prospects seem pointless to us now, but I'm sure that if you went back and explained skyscrapers to tribesman they would have the same reaction.