Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Thailand cave rescue, your ideas

Thailand cave rescue, your ideas

Pyro_cat - 7-7-2018 at 16:14

How to Make a Thermal Lance Kit - Hot Enough To Melt Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA-VCaBUsCA

Pyro_cat - 7-7-2018 at 16:28

Fragment of a National Geographic show "Megastructures" where a new technology is presented to "burn" a hole into granite. It can burn a hole of 5" diameter, 10" deep in just 3 minutes..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXl8rrVzTU

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Pyro_cat]

XeonTheMGPony - 7-7-2018 at 17:55

why not just pump out the water? What are the volumes we're dealing with?

unionised - 8-7-2018 at 02:44

Quote: Originally posted by Pyro_cat

Fragment of a National Geographic show "Megastructures" where a new technology is presented to "burn" a hole into granite. It can burn a hole of 5" diameter, 10" deep in just 3 minutes..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXl8rrVzTU

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Pyro_cat]

OK to be any use the hole has to be about 15 inches in diameter, that's 9 times the areas so I guess it would be about 9 times slower.
10 inches in 3 minutes is 200 inches per hour.
A ninth of that is about 2 feet or 0.6 metres per hour.
They are 800 metres underground
So, that's 1300 hours or 56 days.
I don't think an 8 week delay is acceptable and I don't think a 10 or 20 fold improvement in the technology is going to happen quickly enough to help.

(assuming they could get enough hydrogen to the place quickly enough- which may be a problem)

Morgan - 8-7-2018 at 04:14

Another idea that may or may not be feasible ...
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/07/elon-musk-making-kid...

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Morgan]

Pyro_cat - 8-7-2018 at 06:58

Quote: Originally posted by unionised

Quote: Originally posted by Pyro_cat

The goal of the original technology was to compete with the cost of mechanical drilling. If the goal is just speed use acetylene, lots of it. Bring it in one of those twin rotor military helicopters.

I would think/hope Elon Musk and his rocket engineering team could in a day drastically scale up what that guy on Mega-Structures built in his garage with what looks like parts from the plumbing section of Home Depo .

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Pyro_cat]

Vosoryx - 8-7-2018 at 10:09

Drilling into the cave would pose a risk - the cave might collapse on the boys.

The main hurdle to getting them to dive out is one section where scuba tanks must be taken off and pushed in front of the divers. One experienced SEAL has already died there, getting an number of children, none of whom have done diving before, out through there poses a risk. One option proposed was to widen that area via drilling, but then again there is the risk of collapse and sealing them off.

Pumping isn't really a good idea either - it's monsoon season and any water removed would be filled back in pretty quick. I suspect the best route is to keep bringing them supplies until everyone is confident that diving them out is an option.

If drilling is to be done, it needs to happen BEHIND the trapped boys so that if there is a collapse it's less likely to kill them or cut off supply.

EDIT:
Four of them are out! They're being dived out of the cave, no causalities as of yet.
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/thai-cave-rescue-live-int...

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Vosoryx]

Vomaturge - 8-7-2018 at 11:00

Glad to hear some have been rescued already! Let's hope the rescue can continue without any further injuries or deaths.

Even if the entrance is narrow, remember; they moved through it initially while trying to escape the flooding. The passage is dimensionally the same now, although it's now underwater. The main issue is negotiating it without drowning. Yes, diving through an existing, flooded tunnel is certainly going to be quicker than drilling through a kilometer of stone. Plus, there's no risk of causing collapse, or of the victims being killed when the drill enters their compartment. Humans are much less resistant to cutting, friction or (especially) flame than the rock which is being drilled.

Quote: Originally posted by Vosoryx

The main hurdle to getting them to dive out is one section where scuba tanks must be taken off and pushed in front of the divers

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Vosoryx]

Perhaps this particular issue could be reduced by using a breathing mask supplied via a long thin hose, instead of a tank which the diver has to carry. The mask could have a regulator on it, or just a steady positive flow (e.g. 10 lpm, able to put out significant pressure when immersed) and a nonreturn valve to vent exhaled breath and excess air continuously. Still risky, but maybe better than having to carry the air tanks.

[Edited on 8-7-2018 by Vomaturge]

VSEPR_VOID - 8-7-2018 at 13:15

“Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?--TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out.
Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price.”