Posts tagged light
I'm curious if it's possible for human life to survive in both of the following cases: 1. A fantasy world with only sunlight (no night). 2. A fantasy world with only night (no day). Note: let's ...
Other than photosynthesis being an issue, if the Earth's surface became inhospitable and humans were forced to live underground, what biological changes would they be expected to go through to adap...
I'm working on a humanoid vertebrate species that I'd like to be capable of true, flapping flight, but still have arms and legs completely separate from the wings. I also wish to avoid a "six-limb...
So I'm writing a story about a crew of scientists that explore the universe searching for a hidden knowledge in embed in the fabric of the space itself. More like to the Destiny's crew from Stargat...
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...
Believability of a fantasy creature can go so far. Case in point--the title feature. I have first seen it on a Ringwraith's winged mount... ...then on Smaug... ...and finally on the dragons...
In a Rocheworld scenario where two planets are tidally locked and share an atmosphere, but where both the planets are so small that their gravity is very little (as low as one of the dwarf planets ...
(See diagram) Presupposing that a Rocheworld can even exist... I imagine that sunlight would work more or less the same in the atmosphere of any part of an Earth like planet that was tidally lock...
Is there a way to induce a solar flare / coronal mass ejection (CME)? For instance, could a very tight glob of charged particles reconfigure the the Sun's corona leading to this type of event? Is ...
Suns are stars. They are orbited by planets, and sometimes other stars. Planets are orbited by moons. Reasonably advanced civilizations may launch artificial satellites into orbits around their pla...
Assuming a civilization has the capacity to build space vessels designed to travel from one solar system to another, what is the technological difference between traveling at 50% light speed and tr...
I saw this video, and I'm curious what color bark would be if the sun was in one position constantly. The video explains that birch trees are white because of stuff in their bark. The reason is be...
Human's abilities to perceive light is quite limited. Essentially, we have three type of light sensors that each give a linear signal, and if two different light sources give the same signals they ...
So I have a planet that is slightly larger than Earth, orbits an orange star slightly closer than earth orbits the sun, has extreme weather patterns and volatile tectonics. It has bad storms, tempe...
Assumptions One habitable world in each system (blue sun system and yellow sun system). The two worlds are fundamentally Earth-like. The native humanoid species on each world are genetically comp...
So I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and one of the effects that is used through the game (and the series really) is that ether (the game's version of mana) can often be seen floating in the...
A previous question's answer established that naturally occurring positrons could be gathered through positron-emitting isotopes. I've started looking into means that these isotopes could be gather...
Is it possible for a plant to have the ability to fly? More exactly, the plant would either need to live without having any roots (and it would never need to touch the ground), or with the abilit...
It's Earth and the moon with all parameters as they are in real life with one exception, the moon is twice as reflective as usual. Instead of an albedo of 0.12, the moon has an albedo of 0.24. This...
I know that light can be affected by gravity. But what if there was a planet where if you shone a light in a direction and it could hit your back. I'm talking about a planet where light is bent aro...
Background: Most of the population on earth has wings. Wingspans are normally around 13-19ft long depending on the person. Some have lost wings, but I don't want them to be 100% crippled and unable...
I've been thinking of ways that an FTL-capable galaxy would prevent weaponized FTL missiles. Ignoring causality violations and paradoxes, I'm looking for a way to keep something based on an Alcubi...
In attempting to come up with a semi-reasonable method of intergalactic travel, I ended up conceiving a general method of FTL travel relying on brane cosmology and the "bulk" being transversable in...
Faster than light travel is a really cool thing to have in sci-fi settings. It allows humans, in relatable time scales, to travel the galaxy and see a variety of worlds. It allows for conflicts spa...
Lana Lang (Because no one really gives Lana enough love) is the newest recipient of the superhero lottery. Boasting an impressive repertoire of powers, yes, but there are only a couple of ones we ...
I'm working on a universe where FTL exists but arrival times can be unpredictable to say the least. On average FTL trips are conducted at 4C but ships can take much longer to arrive than that speed...
The classical rigid airship uses a heavy envelope which accounts for the large buoyancy balloon. This comes on account of aerodynamics. My first concept was a thin and long "cigar" where the cockpi...
Consider an earth-like world without any flying species. What could be the possible (I'm looking for a physics or chemistry/biology answer) cause of this? Set aside trivial solutions as "rando...
What planetary conditions would make flight easiest for both lighter than air and heavier than air craft together? The planet is earth like and habitable, but the conditions can be adjusted to sui...
This question is partly a nod to the current fortnightly challenge. In many fantasy settings and resources, there are creatures capable of, or described as, breathing lightning. How might a creatu...
I am writing a Sci-fi/detective story and I'm wondering if Quantum Entanglement is a feasible means of FTL travel. (I know very little on the subject so if no is the answer please suggest a possibl...
There seems to be a connection between orbital revolution (one year) and distance from the star the body orbits. For example, Earth orbits the sun at a distance of 93 million miles and completes o...
I would like to know on how powerful a solar flare must be to affect blind the eyes of living things, if it's indeed possible. Will it blind only half of the planet, or will it emit for a day or tw...
I'm working on some physics questions for dragon riding, mostly regarding changes in temperatures at different altitudes and how that might endanger dragons and their riders. Recently I started won...
QUESTION So recently I was doing research on Magnetic Coil based weaponry in the Halo universe, and while reading about how the "Super Mac" worked, I noticed that the theoretical speeds at which t...
I have a homebrew setting with a moon that has some specific features orbiting an Earth sized planet, and I'm trying to find out how these features would affect how the moon looks from the surface ...
By request, these are the two previous questions in this "series": Low Voltage Lightning and Alien Nitrogen How To Make Lightning I recently asked a question about lightning storms on planets. O...
The light from the sun is dissipated in a sphere, so there is a squared relationship between the distance from the sun. Would it be possible to place either a lens or solar collectors with a laser...
My story premise is that a human expedition to Europa has happened and the travellers have tunnelled through the ice and formed a colony in the ocean. When they breached into the ocean, they disc...
Using our world's physics, how could one explain the mechanics behind a witch on a broomstick? Not just the propelling part, but even the most basic fact - sitting on a broomstick - seems problemat...
Assuming a civilization has the technology and capability to build a worldship, a planet that doubles as a spacecraft, installs an FTL drive on it and has the energy to power it, what would the eff...
I am hoping to create a planet with a greater rotational speed, making it oblong, thus causing differential gravitaion from the equator to the poles. I am hoping for the gravitarion to be lighter t...
It is understood that a way to prevent causality violation and time-travel while still having faster-than-light travel is to introduce a specific reference frame. This is explained in detail in th...
The vast majority of the sun's energy is wasted -- the light and warmth are sent out in a spherical shape, and the planets only pick up those little bits of energy that happen to be going in the ri...
I'm trying to find some type of space weather or other natural occurrences that would result in the intensity of Earth's magnetic field dropping for a few hours to maybe a week or two at most. Pola...
This is specifically about the climate, and where on the planet it would be mildest. Imagine Earth, rotating at the usual distance from the sun. Except, it is tidally locked to the sun; a so-calle...
In the (relatively new) Star Trek movie Into Darkness, we see Dr. Bones and Captain Kirk in a world composed mainly of red plants. Obviously these are just eye candy with no real basis behind it, b...
Lets indulge in a bit of Mad Science, here. Assuming the world described here: Making the Enterprise Fly (60% of earth's gravity, 50% denser atmosphere) what is the wingspan needed to allow an ave...
I'm designing a world similar to Earth (liquid water, temperate climate, there is an atmosphere, oxygen and complex life everywhere). The only big difference is that there is a giant (not glowing!...
