There’s probably no in principle possible way to hollow out the Earth significantly while retaining its structure;
My tulpa, which belongs to a Kardashev 3b civilization (but has its own penpal tulpas higher up) disagrees.
For example, you can construct a gravitational shell around the earth to guard against collapse by compensating the gravity. Use superglue so the wabbits and stones don’t start floating. Edit: This is incorrect, stupid Tulpa. More like Kardashev F!
I think your tulpa is playing tricks on you. A shell around the Earth will have no effect on the interactions of bodies within it, or their interactions with everything outside the shell.
You’re correct. There’s other ways to guard against collapse of an empty shell, it’s a similar scenario to guarding against collapse of a Dyson sphere.
Hey, that’s a great idea—lots of little black hole-fueled satellites in low-earth orbit, suspending the crust so it doesn’t collapse in on itself. I think we can build this ladder, after all!
edit: I think this falls prey to the shell theorem if they’re in a geodesic orbit, but not if they’re using constant acceleration to maintain their altitude, and vectoring their exhaust so it doesn’t touch the Earth.
My tulpa, which belongs to a Kardashev 3b civilization (but has its own penpal tulpas higher up) disagrees.
For example, you can construct a gravitational shell around the earth to guard against collapse by compensating the gravity. Use superglue so the wabbits and stones don’t start floating. Edit: This is incorrect, stupid Tulpa. More like Kardashev F!
I think your tulpa is playing tricks on you. A shell around the Earth will have no effect on the interactions of bodies within it, or their interactions with everything outside the shell.
It could counteract the gravitational pull which would cause the surface of a hollow Earth to collapse otherwise. Edit: It would not :-(
A spherically symmetric shell has no effect on the gravitational field inside. It will not pull the surface of a hollow Earth outwards.
You’re correct. There’s other ways to guard against collapse of an empty shell, it’s a similar scenario to guarding against collapse of a Dyson sphere.
Hey, that’s a great idea—lots of little black hole-fueled satellites in low-earth orbit, suspending the crust so it doesn’t collapse in on itself. I think we can build this ladder, after all!
edit: I think this falls prey to the shell theorem if they’re in a geodesic orbit, but not if they’re using constant acceleration to maintain their altitude, and vectoring their exhaust so it doesn’t touch the Earth.