Posts tagged energy
Long story short, this civilization found very little oil and natural gas in their world (or maybe they ran out of both), but there are huge deposits of amber and special pine trees which produce r...
What would be the best way to send energy that is generated outside the Earth's atmosphere, possibly in the asteroid belt (nevermind the means), so that it can be used on the surface of the planet?...
If we were gonna develop a colony on mars would it be possible to explore geothermal energy and would it be viable? (Assuming we could transport the required equipment) Edit: Recently I found thi...
Could a species, over centuries of evolution, evolve a special organ that stores pure energy and allows it to control its own magnetic field? What possible steps would have to happen for this to oc...
A group of scientists has been slaving away largely in obscurity for two decades, with very few publishable results. Suddenly, one of them has an epiphany, which turns out to be instrumental to ena...
This question about genetics (not required reading) contains the phrase "science of a Type II civilization." This got me to thinking: although we intuitively know what this means, does this actual...
Here is the basic outline for the drive: The drive, at its most basic, is a device that converts any matter into pure energy, and the operator can choose exactly what kind of energy is produced, ...
What materials would be significantly better than currently commonly used radioactive materials (Uranium/Plutonium) for energy generation? I am looking for some material which could've been brough...
I am looking for a (at least somewhat) plausible organic matter, which is able to store massive amounts of energy. After reading up on biobatteries and so on, I am aware that I would need something...
Is a scifi setting of constant artificial light everywhere plausible? I'm thinking to the point that the average adult person has not gone out of a city and has no experience of general darkness (o...
I am familar with current reactor (experimental) fusion reactor design. But imagine a fusion reaction happening without a reactor, so there is no reactor hull to shield the sound from an innocent ...
Let's assume that I managed to create a wormhole, only problem is,that I have to observe it with microscopes (it's so small), but I can keep it open. Also, I have a dyson sphere. I want the power ...
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 ...
In an early chapter in my book, I want to explain some of the inner workings of an experimental power plant to the reader. However, I also want to get a certain object (a smart coffee pot) in the c...
I'm talking about ionized gas not the plasma in our blood. I have been reading science articles about plasma and they keep hinting at the idea of plasma based life. Here is my first example and an...
Perpetual motion doesn't exist... or does it? In space planets continuously spin around stars for trillions of years due to inertia and gravity balancing each other out. What if a race of brilliant...
Cosmic rays are energetic particles coming from space that hit the Earth's atmosphere and produce a lot of secondary radiation (some of which we see in visible light as aurorae). Would it make sens...
Affected continent is Asia, the world is running out of coal and natural gas. A major mega structure project is underway, its goal is to provide electricity across the continent with a single fusio...
I recently finished reading the Kim Stanley Robinson novel 2312 - set, of course, in the year 2312. Part of the background to the political negotiations and ongoing terraforming in the outer Solar ...
Looking for options with at least some grounding in science: Several hundred years in our future, a group of wealthy philanthropists lavishly funded a colonisation project designed to create a Uto...
Assumptions: We have materials that can withstand the temperatures/pressures/acidity of Venus. We can get to Venus and back reasonably easily (NASA does shuttles every 3 months). Here is Venus:...
If a race were advanced enough to colonise space and travel between galaxies, would it be possible for them to harness a black hole in some way to generate power for the massive ships needed to col...
I'm working on a story set in a generation ship traveling through the stars. Its propulsion is a solar sail, which will accelerate it over many decades to a substantial fraction of the speed of lig...
Hear me out before you downvote; It's not as simple as it seems. On Earth, nuclear reactions produce heat energy. This is used to heat water, creating steam, powering turbines connected to generat...
I want to live in a pollution free world, where all creatures can breath clean air. I also want to live in a high-end space civilization, where its possible to travel to other planets in our sola...
I am currently orbiting Jupiter, the rent is pretty cheap and the view is magnificent. However, my former electricity provider refuses to connect me to earth's grid for petty reasons like "are you...
Antimatter annihilation is the best source of energy per weight. However, antimatter is not readily available anywhere within reachable distance, it's insanely difficult to produce and contain. Ho...
Is it possible to contain similarly charged particles in a magnetic field or traps, in generally large scale (say, all of them have positive charge), and could be utilized as power reserves quite e...
My world is based on the concept of afterlife, with a twist: people who died in other worlds are resurrecting in mine. Once in the afterlife world if they suffer another lethal injury or condition ...
Could a kugelblitz be stored in a container lined with metamaterials to reflect back the outpouring of hawking radiation or would it require something more exotic? Could it be pinned in the center ...
An O'Neill cylinder for those not in the know is basically a space habitat consisting of a rotating cylinder 32km long and 8km in diameter. I want to turn one into an actual spacecraft rather than ...
Is there any hypothetical way that a crazy advanced civilization could convert matter to digital form (or energy) and back? How far away might such technology be from our current tech level, if th...
Imagine for a moment that a plant (let's say a maple tree, though any plant will do), has unlimited energy. There's no conversion of sunlight or anything - the energy is just there, being soaked di...
Consider the following: We have a city, designed to be a retreat. Everything consumed and needed by the population is created via a machine in the middle of this stronghold. This machine is able ...
I am making design of a fictional doomsday weapon which is like a miniature version of Death star's beam. I.e it can rip apart chunks of planet and impart significant change in its mass. However ...
So I'm just wondering about something that was on my mind. I am writing a story that is inspired from the comic book genre and takes place in a hypothetical Marvel Universe. Now let's say one of th...
Consider a civilization with the industrial age technologies. Oil and coal are rare (probably used up). All products produced by oil and coal are also nonexistent. The civilization has invented ele...
Two vastly dissimilar organisms turn out to be the same species upon gene sequencing. In this hypothetical animal species one or more components of the life cycle is a fungus, algae, plant, lichen ...
You're the head engineer for an advanced civilization. Humanity has long since spanned the stars, as as vast as her civilization has become her need for power has increased exponentially. To feed t...
My understanding of the hypothesis is somewhat hazy, so I probably have gotten something wrong. But as I understand it, the total energy density of the universe is either very small or exactly zer...
The premise for the the world I'm building is that the Superpowers of Earth lost an interplanetary war with the Colonies of Mars. As a result, most of Earth's governments have either collapsed or h...
I've devised a world where artificial intelligence (AI) have taken over as middle-class (America), leading to the further division of human classes: a superior upper-class and a now much lower-clas...
I was told to ask more impractical and unrealistic questions in the world building SE community, so here's my question. Say we have a hypothetical solar system that we want to destroy by separatin...
Ignoring, for the sake of this question, how exactly the gravitational fields required for this to work are generated: The question Our stalwart adventurers have a spaceship, perhaps a gateship, ...
Could one (and how much) generate electricity by building a wall connecting: South Africa to Antarctica South America to Antarctica Northern Canada to Northern Greenland Northern Greenland to Rus...
This is for a storyline that I have been building. Currently, scientists are able to teleport spin cubits in laboratory conditions. This is often mentioned in connection with information transfer....
I have a world in mind that is essentially a planet-wide underground ocean. The planet doesn't have a strong magnetic field, so radiation on the surface is too high to allow life, but what I'm thin...
Caveat: No cold fusion! Questions Q1: Where can my dragon source for nuclear energy on Earth set in medieval age and how does it convert this energy for fight or flight? Difficulty:âš Q2: How ...
Our hero is a normal teenaged boy, living in north central California. Somehow he gains the ability to manipulate heat. My original plan for his origin was a "freak snowboarding accident involving ...
In my world, there are a race of microscopic humanoid organisms (0.3 mm - 0.33 mm). They live in a variety of biomes, such as leaf litter, stone and on plants and trees. In terms of technological a...
