Journal: Diving Bells

I worked out the mass of polycarbonate plastic required to make a 3 metre diameter by 6 metre tall bell jar with a wall thickness of 10 cm.
(Heavy man...nice too)

I am wondering about the optical properties of polycarbonate at a thickness greater than 5 cm...

The visual properties could start getting cloudy at this thickness, and the whole point of the excercise is to make a clear viewing platform.
If you can't see through it there's no point.

I'll work up some more numbers this week.
Need to find a bulk supplier of clean polycarbonate prills. (8 tons ought to do it)

UPDATE:

I have decided that polycarbonate is not
the way to go.
Due to the leaching of Bisphenol-A from
the plastic into the ocean, the bell would
soon become a contributor to oceanic pollution.
Not very good if you're attempting to be a naturalist.

Glass, now there's the ticket. Although,
glass takes a great deal of energy to
founder....