Appendix 1 - Fictional Methods

Fictional Methods Which Are Not Supported By Known Physics or Engineering

This section includes fictional methods which do not have any support from physics or engineering. Those that do have some supporting theory are listed in Part 2, Section 10 Theoretical Methods

Pre-Industrial Age

c. 1st Century

• Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, manuscript approximately 1st century. Contains the story of Daedalus and Icarus, who use wings made of feathers and wax. This fails on engineering due to the weakness of wax and power/weight ratio of humans. Feathers obviously work for birds, but they weigh much less than people do, and the feathers are attached directly to the skin, from which they grow.

1657

• de Bergerac, Cyrano, A Voyage to the Moon, 1657. Uses glass containers of dew for lift when the Sun falls on them in a first attempt. Dew is just condensed water, and exposing it to sunlight in nature simply evaporates it. In a closed container it would evaporate or simply sit there as a liquid, depending how much was there. In a later chapter ranks of firecrackers are used, which are not imaginary, but merely too low in energy.

Fictional Methods Which Are Supported by Known Physics or Engineering

This section includes methods which have appeared in fictional works, but which are possible based on currently known science and technology.