On research

(Unsure where this should go.)

Just a few minutes ago, I did some distancing research for my novel, and boy did I have a blast.

In my novel there is a very large room, and what I want with the room is for it to seem very long. However, this room is under a mountain, and I want to limit the amount of support structures that are in the room to a certain number (to have a recurring number). However, I find the problem that this creates, is that I want the big spacious room, but at the same time I want it to be plausible for the room to be able to exist underground (because if the spacing between columns is too great then there would be cave-ins). I can cheat a little in the fact that magic exist in the story, but it helps little because the room was built by people don't have access to nor use magic.

From what I have figured, 26 feet between columns with the columns measuring 4 feet (these are made of stone btw), from wall to wall, is a plausible set-up. The pillars are set up in a 9x14 configuration, where 9x14=126, the recurring number. Doing the math 30n+26 (the last 26 is for the space after the last pillar), the dimensions come out to 296x446.

So I went outside to the parking lot, and let up a tape measure. The tape measure can measure 100 feet. However, it is nighttime so I can't exactly see where the other end of the tape is. I had to run back and forth between the tape, checking to make sure the measurements were exact. I had to do this quite a few times. I was able to measure 296 feet and the 446 feet.

Eventually I was able to get my measurements. I looked back on the distance from each point respectively, and I must say it is quite big. The latter stretches at least 3/4 of the parking lot, and thats quite big. It took me 30 seconds flat just to run the distance.

And that is only at a spacing of 26 feet between pillars. I did a measurement of two real-life pillars at a local Subway at around noon yesterday, and they were 32-34 feet between. I measured that using my shoe, and the spacing was 40 shoes, and my shoe is about 10 inches in length. In theory the spacing between the fictional pillars could be somewhere as wide, though of course the real-life pillars don't have a quarter-mile of rock to support.

It's pretty interesting though, and I'm sure glad I did it though. I even worked up a sweat while I was doing it

Just thought I would share that.

That's what I call devotion!

That's incredible! Demizzle's right. That is some real dedication right there. More power to you!

And I must admit, I found it very intriguing as I read this. I'd have loved to be there. I should do that myself sometime. A writer putting math to good use! BRILLIANT.

Thanks for the compliments, they mean alot.

Just a quick update, I just got done watching a movie titled October Sky. In the movie there is a mine, and from what it looks like there is a big open space with no supports except for the walls. In appearance, the space under the mine was more than 26 feet.

This got me to thinking, so I went on the internet and looked up types of mines (because the room is in a mine, in fact it is a sort of foyer to the mine). I came across a page on room and pillar style mining, and looked at it for a while. I then tried around the internet for room and pillar calculators. While I didn't find a calculator per say, I did find a sight that gave me numbers. To quote: "A typical design would have the entry ways ( or rooms) with a width of 20 feet, and the pillars with width's of 40-60 feet."

Typically, that is the case, though from what I've seen the ratios can vary. Once again I am allowed to cheat a little in the fact that magic exist, and it did occur to me that the miners might not necessarily recognize the material. This means because the material has no value to them, they would merely use it to support the room. However, this also means that the ratio of 26 and 4 might have to be looked at again, as it doesn't follow the typical plan. It shouldn't be required, and even if the ratio is changed to say, 23 and 7, I would only lost 3 feet off both the length and width measurements.

The movie also brings up another point, as this room does not have to be half a mile under ground, mines usually aren't that far. To be more precise, 900-1400 feet underground would be more accurate. That allows for a little more flexibility as the weight the columns need to support is not as much (around 50% as much). The weight is a lot less, which would make the pillar distances even more plausible. It may not even be that, the room could be as low as 500 feet underground, as the room is reached by a slowly descending tunnel from the outside.

I will have to look into this more.

That wasn't quick at all...