The Botanical Dome

[mparsons1981]

Why would this explode and be open to space when the rest of the ship was ok?

Presuming that the top is some sort of glass/transparent plastic material that is by its nature weaker then the normal hull of the ship, as i understand it for this area to be exposed to space the shield around this area would have had to failed. Yet it seems we are meant to believe that it does broke due to the glass or whatever it is.

So, did the shield in this area fail, and if so what reason would there be for this?

Or am i missing something here, is the shield even up when Destiny recharges? Surely it is right?

I feel like I must be missing something here!

[Pond Hopper]

My guess is that there was still a vacuum between the inner side of the shield and the hull of Destiny, the heat weakened the integrity of the dome and then the difference in pressure finally broke it and everything spread out into the vacuum.

Or perhaps Destiny knew the dome was a lost cause and saved the power for other parts of the shield, it was overriding Rush and Eli at every turn.

[Pharaoh Atem]

The sun was hotter then what destiny can normally withstand at her currnnt shield levels

[mparsons1981]

Or perhaps Destiny knew the dome was a lost cause and saved the power for other parts of the shield, it was overriding Rush and Eli at every turn.

I guess thats possible, that destiny dropped the shield over the dome. And i always kinda imagined the shield being skin tight so to speak.

[Shylodog]

I think Park explained it while the others were gathering food. Something about the attenuation of the shields over a large area of transparent material in that kind of star. Or something like that.

[mparsons1981]

Oh right thanks Shylo, i'll look out for that in my rewatch.

[The_Asgard_live]

I have similar questions...

If the Dome was removed, why didn't the shields compensate to cover just that area.

If the answer is, the shield is a bubble around the ship and not a 'skin', then shouldn't the atmosphere have been sucked out of a room that size quickly? And from then on from Parks perspective it should have been as peaceful (save the heat) as a stroll on the hull?

If the shield is a bubble, not a 'skin', shouldn't the hole the Smurfs cut into it sucked the atmosphere out of a good portion of the ship once they departed?

Why is the dome even transparent? I assume they spend most of their time, or days at a time flying at FTL. Of what use is a transparent dome if you're traveling faster than light?

[morbosfist]

The dome is weaker than the solid hull. The heat stress was already enough to cook the inside of the ship, shields or no. The shields are insufficient to completely block out the radiant heat. Combine that with the weaker dome and the dome pops. The atmosphere vented because the shield can't hold atmosphere in large breaches like that.

[geddarkstorm]

I have similar questions...

If the Dome was removed, why didn't the shields compensate to cover just that area.

If the answer is, the shield is a bubble around the ship and not a 'skin', then shouldn't the atmosphere have been sucked out of a room that size quickly? And from then on from Parks perspective it should have been as peaceful (save the heat) as a stroll on the hull?

If the shield is a bubble, not a 'skin', shouldn't the hole the Smurfs cut into it sucked the atmosphere out of a good portion of the ship once they departed?

Why is the dome even transparent? I assume they spend most of their time, or days at a time flying at FTL. Of what use is a transparent dome if you're traveling faster than light?

There was also a raging inferno going on inside the dome, also heating it even more from within. With so much solar heating (that dome would make an amazing solar oven) expanding the atmosphere in it, weakening the materials during all that rough solar turbulence stress, and then having a massive fire vastly increasing pressure from inside the dome.. it's no surprise we see it blowing outward. In fact, if there hadn't been all those plants in the dome, it may well have survived.

The shields are skin shields, but do not prevent atmosphere from leaving the ship, that was established in the first three episodes. For instance, when we see them originally discover the dome, there a huge chunk missing out of it were the shield is flickering as atmosphere from the newly opened door is vented out. When the blue aliens left, the atmosphere did indeed vent (they sealed, or Destiny sealed, off the compartment. Notice there are doors everywhere on that ship, which is good design meant to deal with hull breaches), we didn't see it on screen, but it was used later during the Lucian alliance assault.

The dome is transparent for who knows what reason. Maybe it actually collects and amplifies light for growing plants. FTL is very bright, and may well provide the full spectrum plants could use (the majority of plants mainly absorb blues and reds, which is why they are green; and FTL is rather blue).

[garhkal]

Plus it was repaired glass for a good chunk.. which by my Builder friends says is always Less strong than newly made glass.

[Gollumpus]

There was also a raging inferno going on inside the dome, also heating it even more from within. With so much solar heating (that dome would make an amazing solar oven) expanding the atmosphere in it, weakening the materials during all that rough solar turbulence stress, and then having a massive fire vastly increasing pressure from inside the dome.. it's no surprise we see it blowing outward.

I was wondering about the interior of the dome. It seems to me that the floor and walls would have to be as strong as the rest of the ship's hull for it to be able to withstand the heat.

regards,
G.

[thekillman]

pretty much every transparent material i can think of is weaker than a non-transparent material i can think of.


unless they made the entire structure out of diamond. though i don't know the yield strength of diamond.

Diamond has a Yield Strength of 2800-2930 MPA.

Tungstenl has a YS of max 3500 MPa
Osmium has a YS of max 3600 MPa

in short, there are better materials than Diamond.

[Evan8r]

I believe this is a simple explanation with basic physics. Figuring that this area has a clear dome, this area will act as a greenhouse. As the water/vapor/gasses in the dome area began heating up, their molecules became hyper accelerated and the pressure in the dome simply became more than the materials could bear. To add to that, you would also have to figure that the 300+ degrees Celcius that were experienced inside the dome, the materials likely would've began to weaken.

Taking all of this into account, it would've been a bigger surprise had the dome room not shatter.

[Evan8r]

Simple physics can explain this. The atmosphere in the sealed portion of the ship, the dome, will be super-heated in a greenhouse effect. Think a greenhouse growing plants in the winter, it traps the radiation within the transparent dome and superheats everything within.

Gasses will expand and become hyper-accelerated when they are exposed to this much heat, and therefore will create an increase in the amount of pressure being exerted on the inside surface of the dome against the vacuum. Destiny wasn't designed to withstand such intense heat, and the dome surely started having some bit of integrity failure from the heat to begin with, that combined with the extra pressure from the hyper-accelerated atmosphere molecules within the dome could've easily caused it to blow.

[morrismike]

The dome would likely be made of amphorous metal (i.e. transparent aluminum). Yes this substance exists, it's just that making anything larger than a shotglass is impossible at this time.