From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 3:52:00 AM UTC-8, MrAnderson wrote:   
      
   > Mr Fergerson - I would say this coronium we call today plasma, but Mendeleev   
   > didn't know that.   
      
     No, coronium was postulated to be a chemical element unknown on Earth   
   because green spectral lines were seen only in the Sun's corona that didn't   
   match any known element. Similar to Helium, except we eventually found that in   
   Earthly sources.   
      
     It was supposed to possess unusual interactions between heat and magnetic   
   fields to help explain why prominences and the coronal "wings" could get so   
   far from the Sun, and to explain why the corona is actually hotter than the   
   solar surface below it.   
      
     There are a couple of competing theories to explain the latter puzzle, and   
   the "coronium lines" have been subsequently attributed to ordinarily forbidden   
   long-lived transitions between ionized states of either iron or oxygen.   
      
     (Oddly, none of those transitions have been directly observed in Earthly   
   laboratories; the attributions are strictly due to calculated effects. IMO   
   coronium hasn't quite been "disproven".)   
      
   > Is muonium heavier than normal hydrogen?   
      
     Anti-muons mass about one-ninth of a proton, so no, it's much lighter.   
      
   > If it would be stable, and non reactive, we would have an inert gas perfect   
   > for airships!   
      
     Unfortunately it only lives as long as the anti-muon does, about 2   
   microseconds, and its energy levels are about the same as ordinary hydrogen,   
   so it would burn in air the same as hydrogen. Still, one-ninth the mass...   
      
     What would it take to stabilize the anti-muons? I don't know.   
      
   > PS The airship I am currently working on, is truly gigantic - 420m long and   
   > 60 meters wide, equipped with quite impressive weapons and with lifting   
   > capability of around 1100 tons if filled with hydrogen (at least that's what   
   > I calculated :p), after looking at structural masses of pre war airships I   
   > think half of it would go for structure mass, rest for engines, small nuclear   
   > reactor, crew areas, aircrafts, cargo and at the end, weapons.   
      
     So you can go with Ridiculously Strong (tm) materials for your envelope and   
   internal structure, making it lighter while still holding helium, or you can   
   try for vacuum rather than hydrogen.   
      
     The foam/vacuum idea is just fine IMO. It will free you from needing to   
   stick with conventional cigar airship shapes, which allows for things like a   
   ship that can split up into smaller sub-craft, or an overall-wing-shaped craft   
   for more lift at speed.   
      
      
     Mark L. Fergerson   
      
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