Do domes really weigh less than their component materials?
[From Pat Salsbury] Well, the structures weigh less when completed because of the air-mass inside the dome. When it’s heated warmer than the outside air, it has a net lifting effect (like a hot-air balloon). This is almost unnoticeable in smaller structures, like houses, but, as with other things about geodesics, being as they’re based upon spheres, the effect increases geometrically with size. So you’d be able to notice it in a sports stadium, and a sphere more than a half mile in diameter would be able to float in the air with only a 1 degree F difference in temperature!
