Posts tagged physics
Bear with me. I have a villain who wants to get ahold of a nuke, except I'm not sure why exactly. I think he thinks he can create a singularity that would swallow up the entire universe (which beli...
I'm trying to figure out a concept for some sort of super-advanced space propulsion system that works by bending spacetime. As I understand it, planets' orbits are actually straight paths, but the...
Without going into too much detail, let's say someone has a superpower which gives them "control" over actual, physical light: Photons, electromagnetic radiation, what have you. This power requires...
Essentially, what would be the most efficient way of causing the Earth's core to cool as much as possible without damaging human civilization in any other way (the outcome can damage it, but not th...
A disclaimer: There is a lot of real Science involved. Imagine a world which is exactly a copy of Earth (at least in terms of power as a species and technology). There is a company that aims to m...
Can two objects solar powered, equal in weight, traveling on the same orbital path in the opposite directions propel each other to intersect on the opposite side of the Earth in alignment to propel...
Does matter, physical things that can be observed and measured by our five senses, have wavelength (or phase) the way that radio waves do, and if so can that be manipulated somehow? Let me explain....
I'm building a world that orbits close in to an M-Dwarf sun. I've figured out a bunch of the physical parameters of the world, I just can't quite get a solid handle on my tides. I know my tides wi...
Could a natural satellite in geosynchronous orbit be used as a counterweight for a space elevator? Does the counterweight need to be of approximately the same weight as the anchor? If so, I suppose...
I'll confess that I have a real issue with iron--it rusts quickly. In fact, the History Channel program Life After People constantly states that, left to its own devices, the iron that makes up a ...
For my world, I would like a coastal mountain range that partway along its length is offset by a few (say, 100) kilometres, forming a pass through the mountains, like so: (N.B. I've drawn this ...
This question is partially a spinoff of some points that came up in another recent question at Worldbuilding about interstellar space travel. Runaway Truck Ramps I live in Colorado, and on the do...
This is a bit hard for me to put into to words, but it is an idea I have been working on for a few days, with input from a few other people. I have actually brought up part of this in a previous qu...
So I have some worlds with different physics, and need some way to explain it. As with other sci-fi, it would seem best to find something plausible but may be extremely unlikely or have negligible ...
Yesterday while Green, Andy and I were recording new episodes for the podcast we stumbled upon a bit of a problem that we need someone with physics/astronomy knowledge to help out with. We want to...
Some of what I read in How could a 4D organism influence events in our world made me think in a different direction about a question I asked before. I'm trying to create a large sphere shaped fiel...
I'm building a world with almost weekly extreme windstorms, driving the residents to either live underground or in the 'wind shadow' of sealed-off valleys. To sum up the windstorms' power, "You kno...
I'm writing a science fiction story based on: turning Jupiter into a star. colliding Callisto and/or Io into Ganymede to increase mass and changing the orbit to provide warmth, atmosphere, and r...
I am making a science fiction computer game where you can travel between planets. I would like the planets all to have some kind of differing materials. Now I have no idea about which kind of "mate...
Can using blimps to hold power lines and implement laser filamentation of ablout 7 meter span from the source of power for a contact free power supply to power an electric engine (designed to run o...
Inspired by Spaceship orbiting a black hole under the event horizon - a prison where no one escapes, I was wondering if it is possible to make a space elevator that goes down into a black hole. In...
I've been playing with ways to make my world interesting, and also further justify the limited use of ferrous metals. One idea I had was that my world might undergo regular and intense geomagnetic ...
I'm looking into the destructive power of a 5km asteroid strike, a bit smaller than the k-Pg event. How does the angle of the strike affect the destructive capability of a land-based impact. For e...
This article references breaking ice through resonance, but is not specific enough for my case: Resonance method of ice destruction I have a situation where I would like a robot character to break...
What existing material (e.g. 410 steel, no unobtanium) and what thickness should the ribcage of a creature (of humanoid size and shape, let's say it's a genetically-engineered human) have, to survi...
Imagine a world whose sun is swinging like a pendulum above a flat surface. This is a sketch of the diagram. A complete cycle lasts twenty-four (24) hours (from an end to the other and back aga...
So I have a planet with tectonic plates that are separated by massive canyons that reach all the way down to the mantle. Obviously this means that the planet is very unstable and violent, experienc...
There exists a Universe in which all of outer-space is filled with some form of human-breathable air. Theoretically, you could fly a Zeppelin up there and explore other worlds, with a sufficiently ...
Assume you have access to some very large amount of energy but there are no exceptions to currently known laws of physics (for example, you can't go faster than the speed of light). Is it possibl...
I'm inspired by this question and was thinking that it is nigh impossible for sun, moon and star to exist in this world and even if they do, there is no way to sun and moon to orbit and create day-...
A good friend of mine, who's a doctor, is very well traveled, and he told me he's seen skies of different worlds take all the colors of the rainbow (and the grayscale to boot). I suspect that he mi...
Let's say we have a micro-gravity environment where people are staying afloat in the air because they have wings or some other means of resisting the low gravity, but then for some reason they find...
Say you have a planet and the planet has a moon: could the moon have visible satellites as well? I don't mean a gas giant planet, I mean something habitable by humanoids or humans. Will the moon'...
Is it possible to use thermal byproduct of daylight operation to power night time operation of volatile computer storage? In my setting, a moon-like moon with almost no atmosphere has one of its s...
My first post here, and it's more about destroying worlds than making them. Consider this scenario: An earthlike planet where a powerful magic spell has been cast, protecting all positrons from a...
I am trying to figure out how to make a moon (75% of Earth size) of a gas giant habitable. To give an idea of the technological level, here are technologies the colonists have access to: fully a...
I have a superhuman character with the ability to fire tightly packed "bullets" composed of electrons at very high velocity and over a distance, say a few meters at a minimum. I know that normall...
I got pulled into 1885, just like Doc and Marty (Or I'm one of them, assuming I can get IP rights :)). I need to go back to the future, which means that I need to get my Ford Pinto time machine up ...
On another world, there is giant ravine leading into a cave where a sentient species live (Let's call them Cavers). They have limited access to materials; the only resources they have are rocks, m...
I am envisioning an apocalypse scenario where a majority of vehicles and electronics are disabled and a vast majority of Grid infrastructure is destroyed. The Carrington Event in the 1800s produced...
I'm an aspiring author, aiming to determine the physical realism of certain fictional concepts within a constructed universe identical to our own. There are many contingent ideas which I must expla...
Forgive me for misusing any terms. This is a subject I'm not knowledgeable in at all aside from doing some online research. In the novel I'm writing, I have an abandoned scientific polar research ...
If a human being was shrunken to 1/2744th of his original size (his atoms being shrunken as well), what would be the immediate and long-term biological effects on the body, given that the natural w...
The Background: It's the year 4000 (or whatever), and mankind has cheated FTL travel. As a result of this 'cheating' rather than solving, however, they can't easily go beyond their borders. Howe...
How dense would the atmosphere of a theoretical planet have it be, in relation to Earth's atmosphere, to fly with, say, a 10 to 15 foot wingspan? Math is acceptable and encouraged, and a set of art...
Suppose that I have come into possession of a substance, technology, or spell that functions as a perfect insulator and reflector. No energy can pass through it, and is instead reflected back the w...
If we want to be realistic, we imagine ships pushing stuff out the back and relying on the conservation of momentum to move forward. Gravitational waves carry momentum. Are they viable as a kind o...
A terrible virus has made most of the populations and government officials of the largest superpowers on Earth stark, raving mad, without depriving them of their intelligence. They have decided t...
I'm trying to come up with a the most economical design for artificial gravity. The simplest design for a space ship is to have a spinning ring structure around a central body. People living in the...
Ludicrous Leg Man has never skipped a leg day, as a result of which he has infinitely strong and fast legs and all attendant secondary superpowers. Don't ask why, just roll with it. While performi...
