P6_10 Satellite Five

Abstract

In the BBC show Doctor Who, the Doctor takes his companion Rose to a 500 floor broadcasting satellite named Satellite Five. The heat produced by the first 499 floors, is recirculated downwards in order to provide a cool environment for the alien editor on the 500th floor. We consider the effect of this on the external aluminium shell of the satellite. Heat produced by the 499 floors is found to be 4.25 × 10^11 J. As a consequence, the temperature rise and volume expansion of the aluminium shell are found to be 16 K and 13 m^3 respectively. The pressure, if thermal expansion were to be restricted, is found to be 8.2 × 10^7 Nm^-2, which isn’t enough to break the shell.