Pyramids have been built by practically every culture, on every continent where man resides.
And what are the contributions of the modern age? Luxor in Vegas, and that absurdity in Paris. Surely we can do better?
Dome A is the coldest place on Earth, sporting Martian temperatures and an eleveation of 4,000 meters above sea level.
What better place, then, to erect a monument made of snow & ice? A pyramid to far exceed Khufu's in size, a true wonder of the world.
Might be interesting to introduce transparent ice section for prismatic effects (thinking Dark Side Of the Moon effects here).-- theircompetitor, Dec 25 2012 Jack McDevitt's Ice Sculptures on Pluto http://www.amazon.c...evitt/dp/0441002846 [theircompetitor, Dec 25 2012] 3D ice printing http://www.caddedge...eate-ice-sculptures [Kansan101, Dec 25 2012] Prismatic Effects http://www.thepalet...ide_of_the_moon.jpg/obvious [Letsbuildafort, Dec 26 2012] Great Pykrete Pyramid of Ellesmere Great_20Pykrete_20P...id_20of_20Ellesmereblatant elf-promotion [BunsenHoneydew, Dec 29 2012] Australia's big things https://en.wikipedi...alia%27s_big_thingsAmidst a very, very odd species, Australians are some of the oddest ... [8th of 7, Feb 23 2020] A long overdue gift to world culture. [+]-- Alterother, Dec 25 2012 An icy cold bun for you.-- blissmiss, Dec 25 2012 Kansan01 -- hope you're enjoying it -- McDevitt is a great "sense of wonder" writer in the best SF tradition.-- theircompetitor, Dec 25 2012 [Kans], neat idea, doable with an upscaled 3D printer rig (basically the same CNC chassis used on big industrial plasma cutters) combined with snowmaking equipment like that found at big ski resorts. Harvesting and melting local ice would probably be cheaper than pumping in seawater, especially since you'd then need to desalinate it.
As for lowering the ocean level...well, it wouldn't. All of the water pumps in the entire world operating 24/7 to siphon up seawater and store it someplace inland would take years to lower the average sea level by any significant amount. Then there's the probability that lowering the sea level wouldn't help matters; when you start messing around with tidal mass and current patterns things could go to hell very suddenly. Frozen hell, to be specific.-- Alterother, Dec 25 2012 // pumping water from the sea //
You're still going to have to desalinate it.
At 4000 metres, ice will slowly sublime even at low temperatures.-- 8th of 7, Dec 25 2012 "The Russians are gonna think we're up to something." "We ARE up to something!" [+]-- Letsbuildafort, Dec 26 2012 Calling it the great pyramid of Ices wouldn't be asping too much would it?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 26 2012 [+] N(ice)!!-- xandram, Dec 26 2012 What [xandram] said [+].-- Grogster, Dec 26 2012 good one, [2 fries]-- theircompetitor, Dec 26 2012 One problem with ice/snow is that it evaporates (sublimes, actually). Put a snowball in your fridges, and watch it disapparate.
So your ice pyramid won't last anywhere near as long as Kufu.-- DrCurry, Dec 26 2012 // Why? //
If the dissolved solids in the water are significant, then this will lead to imperfections in the lattice of the ice crystals that form, greatly reducing the strength.
The lower layers of the pyramid will need to have the best compressive strength you can engineer.-- 8th of 7, Dec 26 2012 Pykrete, surely, will solve all problems.-- calum, Dec 27 2012 Engineer for compressive strength? I'm not understanding something.
I mean, what exactly is the problem with the whole thing collapsing into a heap - when what you were trying to construct is a heap?-- lurch, Dec 27 2012 The ancient Egyptians knew the answers to all of the questions you just posed, but I don't.-- Alterother, Dec 27 2012 Like people used to think glass would behave as a very viscous liquid, ice actually does. If it has somewhere to go, you can watch it move - you can get YouTube vids of glaciers flowing.
Natural precipitation can feed a glacier fast enough to maintain a steady state. ["Can" and "does" are not necessarily the same, which political argument I shall capture here in its entirety: --> :( ): <-- there, that's done.] The interior of Antarctica, being very cold and not very steep, will exhibit a fairly low flow rate; as long as your input exceeds said outflow, you will be able to keep the heap growing.
[Alterother] - I might guess that even the best Egyptian pyramid architects likely would have been taken somewhat aback if faced with using ice as a building material.-- lurch, Dec 27 2012 An ice Sphinx would be nice.-- xenzag, Dec 28 2012 // on every continent //
Wackaloon rumours to the contrary notwithstanding, there are no pyramids in Australia.-- BunsenHoneydew, Dec 29 2012 {nips outside to small pile of left-over paving bricks}
Fixed that.
{starts work on signage for "tallest and most ancient pyramid in Australia - discounts for school parties"}-- pertinax, Feb 23 2020 I still love the word eleveation....-- xenzag, Feb 23 2020 // discounts for school parties //
You'll have some stiff competition there, mate ... given the Oz propensity for making giant "things" out of fibreglass ...
<link>-- 8th of 7, Feb 23 2020 //I still love the word eleveation....//
Happy to obleage-- theircompetitor, Feb 23 2020 //Dome Argus// I don't get it. Nobody's explained where the little pencils go, or where you click to buy, or where the collection points are.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 23 2020 random, halfbakery