Posts tagged physics
Let's say through some magic or other, the Earth's spin came to a halt (to the point that the same side now always faces the Sun) How would this process feel? Obviously it would depend on how long...
Could a 'planetoid' created by reassembling pieces of a shattered planet, use the cooled metallic remains of a neutron star as its hub?
If two incredibly strong incredibly indestructible characters were fighting on earth could one punch the other one into space? By space I am assuming that we at sea level and are trying to escape t...
Setup: Earth is the same (somehow, minus the tides -- don't overthink this bit) Moon is 2x the mass Moon is 2x closer Moon contains the derelict fissile fuel-dump of a hyper-advanced civil...
Alright, my understanding of both modern physics and classical cosmology is a little shaky, so I hope this question is neither unclear nor foolish. Here goes: In Aristotelian cosmology all matter...
I am in the midst of writing a book wherein one of my characters (Let's call her X) can affect spacetime, mostly by causing time to dilate. My character is earthbound and a shadow organization di...
Compressed archives in computer science are, from some perspective, decreasing the data size by minimizing repetition of data. Take each particle (to any precision you prefer) in the whole univers...
My plot is to have temples,castles and cities built on top of the remains of previous structures repeatedly to create a multi-level underground dungeon. My goal is to figure out how many levels thi...
Say we took an adult racing horse from Earth to a planet identical to Earth, but with half its gravity. Exactly how fast would it be able to run? Would the low gravity have any significant effect o...
A bridge is collapsing, and our poor MC is stuck in the middle. The ground beneath them collapses, but they miraculously are able to climb up the falling debris and safely make it to the main land ...
[This is an extension of this Worldbuilding.SE question.] So, general relativity states that: For example, objects in a gravity-less environment, but in a container accelerating at 9.8m/s^2 (such ...
I've discovered some ways of coloring the atmosphere through personal research: The atmosphere could be colored by particles or colored gases (as on Mars, unless I'm wrong) The atmosphere could b...
For starters, allow me to define more carefully what I am asking. For now I am not worried about any of the following, as if this question is answered they will be covered in later questions: The...
I have a planet approximately 3.5 times the mass of the Earth. I have a moon orbiting that planet that has to be habitable as well, because my story will take place on the first expedition to this ...
For starters, allow me to define more carefully what I am asking. For now I am not worried about any of the following, as if this question is answered they will be covered in later questions: Bon...
So, as I've mentioned in previous questions, I am writing a series in which the four young main characters encounter natural, traversable wormholes that connect the present time to another one. I'v...
It seems like nothing can move faster than light and this is quite bothersome for interstellar travel. It takes decades in the best case to get anywhere interesting in our little Milkyway (Many tho...
And could it look anything like the universe we know? Don't get hung up on the terminology. In general, you seem to see through it easily, so I don't want any more answers mentioning that. I'll sa...
I was wondering: what if a planet (such as earth) suddenly had all surface tension removed (mainly in water, because all carbon based life forms need it.). What would happen?
My planet has an atmospheric density 12x that of earth with 0.8 Earth Gravity. Someone pointed out a while back that this would increase the wind strength proportionally. Now this is a problem as a...
Situation: A knight wants to kill me. I have a night to prepare. It will be a duel. Me: I'm a time traveler (and I ended up in the worst possible timelines of the multiverse) I have a laser w...
This seemed too scifi or hypothetical for physics, so here goes. Suppose a manipulated quark with 0 mass could travel faster than the speed of light. It's known that the faster you go, the slower...
We know lasers right? Damn accurate, pew pew.... Meh. What I never saw, is using lasers to create pressure waves, to resonate something into its destruction. But Boeing even patented the plan of a ...
Suppose that Khufu, pharaoh of Egypt and builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, was introduced to the idea of an amusement park. More specifically, suppose that he was visited by a time traveler a...
Imagine a pair of black holes in orbit around each other. I'm wondering how this would distort their mutual event horizons. In fact would it be possible to "break" the event horizons by reducing th...
There's a famous saying in science fiction: "Relativity, causality, FTL: pick two". I choose causality and FTL. In a Newtonian universe, where there's a privileged reference frame, the speed of l...
Picture a planet identical to Earth, but with rings. It has a satellite similar to the moon, except smaller; I'm not sure how big it needs to be but distance from the planet is more important so ...
For purposes of this question, assume whichever body position and/or axis of acceleration is most likely to provide a successful outcome. And if it is not possible at all, what is the maximum lengt...
As far as we know stars have a limited fusion cycle. Once they fuse elements up to the element iron, there is no subsequent energy that can be released through fusion, given the inherent atomic str...
I would like to have a planet in which somehow it becomes necessary to harvest aurora for energy (and maybe matter if that's feasible). The civilization of this planet is moderately advanced -- e...
I was considering the possibility mermaids might make use of sailing ships similar to the USS Monitor, but with sails and supposedly wood. Now, the mermaids wouldn't mind the ship being filled wit...
If I understand it correctly, moving in the absence of forces like gravity and without friction doesn't require energy, only accelerating and decelerating does. So you could move a spaceship a very...
When I was younger I learned about time dilation and since my story was (and is) set post-planet I thought many hours about how to handle it. I came to the conclusion that I could just drop it and ...
Our universe is described as having three physical dimensions, plus one time dimension, where the eigenvalues for the physical dimensions are all the same, but the eigenvalue for time is opposite (...
In the novel I'm writing, there is an island that sinks below sea level and rises up again at a later date. How is it possible to do this, while both keeping the surface of the island dry when it r...
I've read that even in a "perfect" vacuum, matter exists in the form of virtual particles that spontaneously pop into existence only to be immediately annihilated. This suggests to me that it might...
I'm currently working on a story and I'm having some interrogations about the plausibility of a civilization. Quick backstory: Humans had to abandon Earth a few thousand years ago for the classic ...
The Precursors are looking for recruits for their interstellar army. Obviously they don't need primitives who can only just bang rocks together, so they've set up a test - a beacon, lying above the...
Could an artificial planet be created considering there is a perfect void, the core is a super-magnet(an artificial planet core made of magnetic metal) that is coated with earth as is our planet an...
I'm designing an FTL system for a new universe, and I'm trying to figure how 'plausible-sounding' this thought is. The idea is that space is tangled and twisted in twelve dimensions, so that dista...
Was wondering if anyone with physics knowledge could tell me something about desert worlds. If the surface of a planet was mostly a fine sandy material (e.g. Sand) then could tidal forces cause th...
Given that a laser beam is made up of coherent light waves running in parallel in the same direction, and that space is not a complete vacuum (dust, radiation, electromagnetic forces etc.), what ki...
Suppose you took earth and gave it approximately 3 times the air, with most of the extra being N2 or Ar. Combustion goes up with the partial pressure of oxygen. So unless we want to burn down the...
I have a creature that can transform itself from matter into energy. Some scientist try to trap it by tricking it into a cage. But what kind of cage will hold an energy being? This take place in ...
I've got a cave civilisation who have never seen the Sun, and don't have much of a concept of time. I was inspired by a Reddit post from someone with a similar situation, and like me, the OP was wo...
If there were some way (sub question: IS there some way?) to get neutron star material out of the gravity well of a neutron star, -say maybe a high-speed collision of two such stars- how would that...
Many authors describe worlds with higher gravity than our own, from whence super-muscular aliens originate. However, as we increased the size, mass and surface gravity of a world; there would be p...
If two planetary bodies were tidally locked to each other (e.g. pluto and charon) then could there ever be a situation where the smaller of the two bodies had the 'heavier' gravity? Could you ever ...
Say that America/NASA has developed a small city with around 100 or so inhabitants on the Moon. Would a cannon or slingshot or trebuchet type machine be able to launch cargo out of Earth's orbit a...
In a large body of liquid helium below the lambda point, what would be the best way(s) for submarine like vehicles to achieve acceleration and directional control? I'm willing to accept an answer ...
