Hydrogen Dragons

Let's talk about dragons for a bit. Giant, flying, deadly predators with teeth and claws and fire and scales. Unfortunately, "giant" and "flying" don't play together nicely in physics' playground.

Birds, as we know, are lighter than they look thanks to having hollow bones and air pockets throughout their bodies, but even birds top out long before they are big enough to carry a human. But how much lighter could an animal become if those air pockets were filled with a lighter-than-air gas like hydrogen instead?

Could this be used to mitigate the tyranny of the square-cube law and create a giant flying creature? Hydrogen could be generated through bioelectric hydrolysis, and could also be used to create fire (though hopefully, the fire-generating organs would be kept very far away from the internal hydrogen sacs).

How big could a hydrogen dragon get while still looking and acting like, well, a dragon? I'd like a creature at least big enough and strong enough to carry a fully-grown human and still remain agile enough to make a formidable aerial fighter. A giant beast the size of an elephant, capable of trampling a formation of medieval soldiers, would be ideal.

posted almost 5 years ago

IndigoFenix‭

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