Q&A with a focus on more stringent analysis. Questions and answers should be well-researched, clearly explained, and supported with references, equations, or empirical evidence based on current, widely-accepted science. Please read the category guidelines.
Filters (None)
Doing research into my time braking world I was referred to Split Second by Douglas E. Richards. It turns out he conceived of the exact same machine that I did, however he handled the paradoxes dif...
In my story, a ship is built in orbit around Earth, designed for a 20-person scientific expedition to a planet 11.4 ly away. It will accelerate at 1g for half the distance, then flip around and acc...
I want to send a flying saucer (a $\frac{1}{10}$ scale Independence Day City Destroyer - calculated as a sphere cap 112m high with 1.2km segment radius, $\rho$ about 43.3kg/m3) away from the sun as...
In FTL-free universes, interstellar travel is often done by vessels capable of continuous acceleration (the drives themselves are often magitech), which can use the effects of relativistic time dil...
What would be the approximate gravity, atmosphere etc. of a planet for a species to never make or use launch vehicles with rounded shapes like tapering cylinders, because they make use of the incre...
Let's say our villain fires an antimatter rifle from behind a magnetic field over a km from the target. The bullet is traveling over 1000 meters per second. If it reaches its target, the 13 gram bu...
In my scifi setting small utility robot swarms are used for many purposes. I'm currently trying to estimate how much energy such a swarm would need to operate. Since biology, robotics and nanotechn...
I came across the design of a nuclear pistol from a deviantart artist, shown here: I want to know if this can actually be built. My additions: The "egg" needs not be uranium, which has a huge ...
Time traveler here, stranded in the year of 1019 AD, medieval ages. Location: europe. While I can still access and post on web forums because my temporal transmitter has a 1Ky range, I have a broke...
I want to beam into solid concrete as a bomb. I have transporters and unlike Star Trek I'm not afraid to use them. Terrorists have taken the tech and have nasty plans for us. The bomb is 1 kg sphe...
After what feels like forever and after asking several questions (like this, this and this), I believe I may have decided upon a suitable orbital system for my world: $M_{S}=2.272\;571\;144\;5 \...
I'm considering adding a particle based weapon within my setting. It would be used in atmosphere and utilise [electrons] (http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sidearmenergy.php#id--Particl...
Amide bonds are extremely stable and their half-life for hydrolysis in neutral aqueous solution is estimated to be seven years. Amides bind to metal ions through the carbonyl oxygen. Neodymium Mag...
NOTE: If there is anything about this question that needs clarification or editing, please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments. Get ready, because you're in for quite a ride. I have t...
A scientist is resetting the clock on his microwave one day as he considers the hopelessness of keeping the time exactly right. Not for the reasons we worry about like power outages and daylight s...
The Breakthrough Starshot is a method of robotic interstellar exploration by launching thousands of small centimeter-sized probes, each equipped with a 4 x 4 meter light-sail. Thanks to their small...
I wish to create a world such that it can support the following plot point: the world experiences gravitational waves that are directly noticeable to the human population (i.e. they can feel or see...
Which minimal order of magnitude is required to simulate single cells and microorganisms in cyberspace? In an utopian future, people will be possibly able to rapidly design new cures, be their rea...
There are 2 planet sized structures that are artificially made with no means of propulsion. Each structure has the approximate mass of Earth but are hollow inside. The inside area is where the peop...
Working on a D&D campaign. As a physics nerd, I'd like the orbital mechanics of the planet, its sun, and its moons, to follow standard Newtonian/Keplerian mechanics. I'm trying to come up wit...
Short question: which hormones should high contagious fungi spores produce to make their human host spread the joy and infection (by hugging and kisses) on early stages of infection, and become p...
WARNING: This post contains some spoilers for the anime/manga Dr.Stone. As I'm watching Dr.Stone, I see Senku and the gang trying to make vacuum tubes for their circuits. The vacuum tube is an anc...
On Mars any initial colony will be power limited. Power sources can be brought from Earth, but any power generation capacity would reduce the mass available for other, more useful cargo. Alternat...
The black hole question reminded me of an idea I wanted to implement at some point in a space campaign, but didn't go forward with because I was unsure whether it's merely statistically very implau...
My (your) goal is to melt several tons of snow and ice in a small area using electromagnetic radiation beamed down from a spacecraft in orbit. The atmosphere that's in the way is vaguely Earth-like...
I've read all the related questions on here and as far as I can tell this should be breathable on my planet Liskuel, which has 1.5 bars of pressure. However, I'm really bad at maths and don't reall...
I'm working on a story involving humans looking for another habitable planet, and I have been scouring the net for days, finding lots of info on varying levels of oxygen and nitrogen, but none that...
Today I visited a two hours long organ concert (man, it was amazing) and weird idea have popped up in my head: organ powered by steam instead of pressurized air. This also made me thinking that it ...
Currently writing a scifi novel and am trying to do the math to establish time frame of the lore. The main points are that in 2068 CE Earth sent a generation ship to colonize Proxima Centauri. They...
In my setting, a permanent "fog" hangs over the ocean. It is thick, granting low visibility to anyone within it. Instead of water droplets, however, this fog would consist of some substance or comb...
On the earth today most animals use a two sex mating system where male and female provide the same amount of genetics to the resulting offspring, despite the fact that in many cases the female prov...
I recently saw this answers where it was suggested that the galactic core could illuminate a planet suffiently to make sure it is always summer on one side of the planet. This got me curious and af...
Bob the time traveler has a problem. He went to 75,000,000 BC to get some dinosaur eggs (don't ask) and his time machine re-combobulator broke and a big chunk is missing. Fortunately he can still ...
In this near-future setting, biotechnology is slightly more advanced than our own. Genetic engineering is cheap as well, but due to an ecological disaster the environment just doesn't have enough c...
The year is 2035 and Channel 55-KYED decided on a new reality show. the XXI century knighthood games. It will be your basic renaissance faire re-enactment of medieval combat but since they are doi...
A squid-like organism uses gravity powered flight but relies on jet propulsion for launch, pouncing, and evasive tactics. It's aerodynamically based on the way a true squid flies however it has ev...
I read this and wonder now, what if we would introduce a new planet to our solar system; would the force of gravitation demand a similar plane as that of the other planets? Mercuries 6.3° indica...
Wikipedia states: "Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (i.e., voltage) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field." This one ...
Consider current level technology - surveillance satellites, patrol boats, coastal guards, both USA and Russian anti-submarine jet aircraft patrolling skies of Arctic Sea. I have a big group (~100...
Sadly, the asteroid belt isn't the place to showoff your ace pilot skills. It is so sparse you wouldn't even see an asteroid most of the time if you flew through it. But Saturn's rings! The rings ...
What would it look like if a human (with the proper protection) walked across a lava stream? Assume that 'proper protection' means some way of insulating against the heat so that they don't get...
I want to launch the heaviest booster + spaceship possible in about 1.5 of earths gravity, using the technology we currently have. To make things easier, imagine there was the same atmosphere as on...
After reading the following question, I know that there are not that many solutions to the 3-body problem, and I know that a ternary system is unstable. The 3 stars all orbit each other in a rotati...
Suppose someone dropped a black hole into our lovely Sun a few million years ago. It was big enough (far bigger than that) from the start to eat matter faster than radiating it away, and kept growi...
We actually today have programs to keep an eye out for various rocks in space that may hit Earth. It's a common sci-fi trope that when one is on course to hit us, we deflect it. That's pretty muc...
What sort of force would a railgun need to produce to have a measurable affect on the trajectory of a large spacecraft? In the scifi book I am working on the primary craft of the story is a milita...
Assume that space warfare is dominated by gamma and x-ray lasers (Wakefield-Plasma and Free Electron Lasers) capable of killing targets several light-seconds away. Stealth in space is possible due ...
Assuming that the only fancy available technology is FTL drives (to get there) plus anything needed to protect and sustain a crew during the journey from Earth to Sagittarius A (whether it takes a ...
I am dealing with a dystopian story that tries to come up with some kind of total surveillence or control from higher authorities. The authorities threaten to kill those who disobey them by simply...
EDIT Why this is a world-building query. If I had framed this as, "In my world where magic requires the expenditure of energy, a powerful wizard decides to open a path through a large lake,etc. Th...
