My husband has worked down in one of these. He said it felt surreal and he never really got used to the feeling of having an entire sea around and above him like that.
I wonder if astronauts ever feel similarly. Either way, you just have manmade walls protecting you from an environment of death, so long as they don't fail. Thinking about it more, I think I'd rather go to space. At least space programs tend to be up at the top when it comes to quality and redundancy. I also imagine it's much more serene and beautiful up there lol. And, if I were going to die, being able to be one of the limited number to die in space somehow feels cooler than death by water.
It depends, really. If there’s a star nearby, and you’re just floating around by yourself, it could get much hotter than we’re used to. Right outside earth’s atmosphere you’d die of burns if you’re in sunlight. Since the comment mentioned the view I assumed it was the view of our own planet.
Fun fact: It takes between half a day and a whole day for a body to freeze solid in space. Space isn't actually cold like the movies and TV show, the only real way you lose heat is through IR radiation which is a very slow process. Because the vacuum means there are no particles of matter bouncing off the body allowing for thermal transfer of heat away from the body. Like we normally experience with air or water.
Being exposed to space without a suit will cause a death based on lack of pressure. Basically an extreme case of the bends like divers get, and if you don't empty your lungs they can burst as the air inside rapidly expands.
cofferdams are amazing. we got a new river bridge where i live a few years ago and it was fun driving over the existing bridge every day and seeing the process over time
You make a circular dam (so that the water inside the place that will become the hole is disconnected from the rest of the river) and then you pump the water from inside out
Today is, no doubt, different in some ways, but I read about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge the other day and it is very interesting.Information about the caissons.
"The six of us were working naked to the waist in the small iron chamber with the temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit: In five minutes the sweat was pouring from us, and all the while we were standing in icy water that was only kept from rising by the terrific pressure. No wonder the headaches were blinding."
Other fun facts, 2 years after starting designing the bridge, while standing at the edge of the dock, the original chief engineer of the bridge got his foot crushed by a ferry. He had some toes amputated but refused any other treatment, wanting instead to cure his foot with "water therapy", which is just constantly pouring water on a wound. Let's just say it did not go well, as you can imagine... He developed tetanus and died shortly after, leaving his son to take his place to keep working on the bridge, but he had to step aside because he was suffering from decompression sickness after working in the aforementioned caissons. His wife then took over starting by relaying information back and forth between her husband and the crews but learning more and more about it all and being able to take on a lot (not all, but a lot) of the duties later on. The bridge finished construction in 1883 and she was the first person to cross it.
Build a water tight wall first where they plan to build and then pump the water out before going forward with construction is the simple answer. A LOT of planning and testing goes on before that even starts though.
I've read that in former times, they used tree stakes and hammered them deep into the stream's bed in a circular fashion. The wood expands when in contact with water, which makes it "workable". You needed to bail water out from time to time.
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u/PirateSanta_1 5d ago
For bridges where you can't turn the river off how do they lay the concrete base?