Re: Aftermath: Population Zero

On Mar 10, 12:28=A0pm, Gene Ward Smith <g...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Mark_Reich...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote in
news:42cc4a6e-4a4e-43b2-9996-fe87ca1d80=
62
> @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > It would have to be internal rust from humidity because neither flood
> > nor rainwater has any chance at getting at the internal steel.
>
> So what would be the best choice for an arch building material--some
titan=
ium
> alloy?

If you want it to last millenia, yes, but it would have been
prohibitively expensive, and I'm not sure whether the strength
characteristics of titanium are up to sup****ting the structure like
the interior steel.  Just using stainless steel throughout would have
doubled or tripled the cost.

That reminds me.  Another structure the exterior of which will last a
long time is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which could only be made
with a titanium shell because the Russians dumped titanium on the
market at just the right time.