Activity for AndyD273‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: Could Two Planets Form A Binary System? The way the moon formed was that something big collided with early Earth when things were still pretty gooey, and knocked a big chunk out, which then fell into orbit instead of drifting away or falling back to earth. If you had a planetary mass that was somewhere between 2 and 3 earths, and hit it... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Wormhole inside a human brain? One possibility is that the brains have implanted hardware that controls the brain to machine to wormhole interface. The way I understand the science, a wormhole would be a sub-atomic, quantum type thing. Not something that you could put anything real through. A signal of exotic energy on the oth... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are there any real-world ingested poisons with these characteristics? Rat poisons are a good start Thallium is one, and was widely used. Depending on dosage Thallium can be either fast or slow acting, potentially taking several weeks from the initial poisoning. There is no known antidote once the poison has been absorbed. Warfarin would be interesting too. Give a dose,... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Genetically engineered de-evolution There could be desirable traits that are wanted. For instance, many with European ancestors have Neanderthal DNA. Neanderthals were believed to have been bigger and stronger, though possibly not as smart as homo sapiens. By editing the DNA to emphasize the size, strength, skeleton and musculature of ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would the eyes of a cave-dwelling race be like? They probably wouldn't be blind/eyeless, since there is light from fungus and creatures. Also, unlike a cave fish, they would probably at times go to the surface just to see what is happening, maybe even do some trading. Unless they were down in the caves for a very very long time there wouldn't b... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Anatomically Correct Elemental Elementals are based on the 4 classical elements: earth, fire, air, and water, as those were all that the ancients knew of. However, with science we have learned that none of those are actually elements as defined by the periodic table of elements. What would an elemental creature based on actua... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Effects of continuous but varying levels of precipitation? Food would be an obvious one, where plants would need to be able to grow in low light levels. Precipitation means clouds, which means lower solar energy reaching the ground. This isn't really a problem since any plants developing there are going to be adapted to the environment. Most earth based plan... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Technological applications of light only wormholes Colonization of other moons and planets You could open up portals around a bunch of bodies in our solar system to increase insolation and make teraforming more viable. Titan would be a real possibility for teraforming, with a thick atmosphere, water, etc. The problem is that it is really really ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How could 1BC Earth speed up communication across vast distances? Pigeon Express Messenger birds have been around for a long time, and can travel much faster than a man on horse. The Romans were good at roads, and with peace comes trading, so it would be in everyone's best interest to establish a good route with inns every 30-40 miles. These would also be great pl... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What earth conditions would make a permanent bronze-colored sky? Dust/fines in the atmosphere would be able to do it. Mars has a reddish sky because of this. The reason is that the dust particles in the atmosphere absorb sunlight in the 0.4-0.6 µm range, giving it a red tint. Could we do it? It would be harder on Earth, as the moisture in the air would collect a... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is there a drive for a spacecraft that produces decent acceleration? A fusion drive would fit your requirements, and produce plenty of thrust. One of the early designs estimated that the VISTA spacecraft could deliver a 100-tonne payload to Mars orbit and return to Earth in 130 days, which is pretty fast. The reason this hasn't been pursued much in the last few deca... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the parameters of a planet having multiple moons? You have to deal with the 3 body problem, specifically the small moon being pulled toward the much larger moon, and then moving away, and how this would destabilize the small moons orbit. The distances you set up could support this, but calculating the effects of that extra mass is interesting. Larg... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can free-space holograms exist? Yes they do! We are really close to having this using femtosecond lasers. One cool thing about these projections is that you can actually feel them. Who knows, in a century it could turn into something like Voyagers doctor. As 2012rcampion points out, this is early technology, and there are some ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Anatomically Correct Angels Couple thoughts on this... Angels aren't bred. Meaning, they don't have to mate, have baby angels, evolve, etc. Instead angels are designed and created, like robots, genetically engineered clones, or something, to be servants for God and to perform tasks; be messengers, be protectors, etc. This d... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What single change would have given the best chance for the Axis to win World War 2? Assassinate Hitler In 1941, mid war, Hitler is assassinated with the hope that this would weaken the German top ranks, cause infighting, hurt morale, and bring a faster end to the war. Instead Erich von Manstein is able to seize control quickly and stop the march against Russia. Using this as a wa... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Size of a world with airships Since all the tech (including the airship engines I assume) runs on mana, then in addition to bowlturners ideas, you could limit speed by the need to "refuel". I'll have to make a few assumptions since you didn't specify how mana works, but if mana isn't a constant, unlimited resource, then it'll ha... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would a gravity disruption affect the world when ground zero is Antarctica? The biggest thing would be the storms caused by extreme low pressures. First off, because of the depressurization the temperature is going to drop way down. This would be cold even for Antarctica, where -49°C is the average. Because all the air going up and out, a lot of air is going to be pulled... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Elevator through the earth? Yay or Nay As Gary Walker said, there are not that many places that have land on a straight line tunnel that goes straight through the core. The good news is that you could go around the core by taking a hypocycloid path between two non-antipode points. You still have to go deep into the mantle, which is sti... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do species with ability to project high energy beam from its eyes prevent overheating? Radiator Fins Blood, lymph, or some other liquid is pumped around the ocular lasing organs to absorb waste heat and then through a radiator fin, where the heat is radiated off through the high surface area. Weather and temperatures would have an affect on how much the laser could be used without ma... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is moonvertising feasible? Painting the moon with lasers wouldn't work, as the light of the sun would overwhelm just about anything, the power needed would be prohibitive, it would only work for short amounts of time while the moon is in the sky while it's dark and in range of the laser, etc. They'd be better off putting up a... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Perpetual fog issues I see rail being an attractive transportation option, since visibility is less important when you don't have to steer. Plants and Crops would also be effected, and imported warm weather food stuffs would be a big trading opportunity. If you have to deal with low light half the year, then the plants... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What goods would be worth trading between Earth and Mars? Earth -> Mars trade is going to be "almost everything" for a while, with emphasis on things that can't be done on Mars. Over time as corporations begin to develop Mars, heavy equipment and things for making things are going to be the main export. Mars has untapped minerals, so something to take thos... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Drug which lets you forget everything Most amnesiac drugs only work while they are in your system, making it so that new memories can't be recorded, without messing with old stored memories. This is really useful for anesthetic, since if someone is having open heart surgery you really don't want them to remember anything afterward. One o... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can hive-based aliens develop advanced technology without telepathy? Weaver ants in Africa use chemicals to communicate, and can work together to make huge colonies with hundreds of nests spanning many trees and containing millions of ants. With a rat sized ant and some intelligence and reasoning ability, I don't see why they couldn't come up with more advanced techn... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is this an intelligent life form? It could easily be done with instinct, and not involve "intelligence" in any real way. For instance the Golden Ratio is all over the place in plants and animals, but it doesn't mean any of them know what it means, or are able to control it. These creatures don't sound like they have any control ov... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is a moon inside a hollow Earth possible? Not without artificial gravity or some other outside source. Your mega structure large enough to have an earth sized pocket is going to have a lot of mass. Something that big is going to need futuristic materials and technologies to keep from collapsing. Anything on the inside of the sphere is goin... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to preserve the remaining trolls? Why do they have the right to live? Serious question. They eat us. It's all they do, and we have a right to defend ourselves from being eaten. If they can be taught to eat something else, fine. But the real message of history is "adapt or die". This is just evolutionary pressure to become somethi... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are subsidiary lifeforms on the Moon possible? Because of radiation and other dangers, a lot of people think that stations on the moon will be buried or dug down deep. There are extinct volcanoes on the moon, which means there could be lava tubes and caves where life could leave the stations and be sheltered. Bacteria, fungus, and lichen would be... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would it take to be an Illuminati-like group? It would take a lot of ruthlessness, and even then rumors would get out. Any members that get out of line are eliminated, anyone that asks the wrong questions has an accident. First, being a sociopath would be an advantage to people in this line of work. As others with the right traits came to light... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: A summer colder than winter? You could be looking for a weather phenomena similar to June Gloom, which is a weather pattern that happens yearly around June in southern California, resulting in overcast skies and cooler temperatures. Something similar happen in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon) that is referred to a... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would artificial gravity be achieved in space? Most realistic way is centripetal force, which is the rotating wheel that you see on space stations and ships in movies. Linear acceleration also works, but requires you to maintain constant thrust. Sci-fi ways to do it... If you had room temperature super conductors, you could use super conductin... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What single element could destroy the world? Edit: When I first wrote this I didn't grok the "single element" statement fully. I'm not really changing my answer, just changing the execution. With the right planning and equipment, you could wipe out the majority of life on earth with only 120-210 kg of Uranium/Plutonium. Take the uranium and s... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How dark can a habitable planet be? Fungus-like plants grow well without light; they just need something to feed on. So there are insects that feed on the fungus, and larger animals that feed on the insects. The fungus feeds on the droppings and bodies of the insects and larger animals. We have whole ecologies that exist in total da... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: She Can Move Mountains (Literally) With unlimited energy, and an afternoon to get the job done, I think anti-matter is going to be the best way. A large-scale power plant generating 2000 MWe would take 25 hours to produce just one gram of antimatter. One gram of antimatter annihilating with one gram of matter produces 180 tera... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How much blood does a vampire need? It depends on other things, like metabolism and digestion. If you convert the blood into proteins and sugars like we do, then it isn't very efficient, however you could use blood from other sources like cattle. But classic vampires don't feed off anything but humans. So maybe it's not just the blo... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to create a nuclear explosion localized to only a few square feet? The smallest warhead created for the US military was the W54 Davy Crocket which used 23kg of Pu239 and had a yield equivalent to 10-20 tons of TNT. Video of the Davy Crocket being fired. According to other research, the smallest amount of Pu239 you can use to make a bomb is 10kg, which still has ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Question	—	How could something like a Gargoyle evolve? Namely, a creature that is immobile and stone(like) during the day and mobile at night. Something like the old cartoon, but they don't have to be sentient. They don't have to be actual stone, just something like stone, and unable to move. They don't have to fly either. Other than humans, would they... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Buying Jupiter for the price of a space station I think the hard part would be each nation wanting to make sure they got a piece of the pie, and it might be hard to do that with a single space station and set of equipment. They'll be fighting over it like a bunch of parents fighting over the last Tickle Me Elmo. At some point some idiot will say "... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: People of the Sea- Living on a Migratory Fleet Very well thought out. A) I'm sure the conversion from armored battle fleet to floating colony would take a while, but that would be ok because you wouldn't need it to be done in a hurry. It would just happen naturally in a lot of small steps as more people came on board and more structure was neede... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Walking on clouds Based on this question/answer: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/25918/ There is a place you could kind of do this, namely one of the gas giants. If you fell into a gas giant you would fall until you hit a point where the cloud density matched your own density. If you were wearing an unubta... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Evolution of a creature that uses light as a weapon Others have put up some good ideas for how to generate light. As eimyr pointed out, tooth and claw is going to be a lot more effective than shining a bright light on them, though using it to blind/stun isn't a bad idea. Here's a possible why. If their primary predator was photo sensitive, then a l... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How long would a carrier group survive unattended anchored just off shore There was a Life After People episode about ships. Most of the navy ships would still be floating after a couple hundred years (depending on hull thickness, weather, hull imperfections, if the interior hatches are open or closed to allow water to flow freely). The big problem is when the anchor chain... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the design considerations for my underwater settlement? Someone is trying to do something like this on a smaller scale. But you could do better. Construction Thankfully 50 meters isn't all that far down, so while it will take some heavy duty construction, it won't take Rapture level technology. Power You could use a few different renewable power techn... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What power generation method is the best to sustain a hovering city? This is a supplement to @SF.'s answer just because. Atmospheric electricity can be used to provide you some power, and technically could be done even without a space elevator. In 'fine weather', the potential, aka 'voltage', increases with altitude at about 30 volts per foot (100 V/m), when cli... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to get across the galaxy moving slower than light - in a single lifetime? It seems like you could do it without even getting close to the speed of light if you could bend space. The whole "Imagine the universe is a 12 dimensional piece of paper. Fold it in half so that the place you are and the place you want to be are touching. Now punch a hole through the paper so you ca... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Close Quarters Combat... In Space It could be a matter of resources. Missiles are expensive, flak is cheap, and has the added bonus of deflecting lasers. So if one ship can surprise another ship then a missile might take it out, but that's pretty hard with sensors being what they are. So most of the time the ships have to get pretty ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would the conditions on a methane world be like? What would the planet be like? Cold. Very cold. Methane is liquid between −182.5°C(−296.4°F, 90.7 K) And −161.49°C(−258.68°F, 111.66 K), so very, very cold. On "warm" days the seas would boil. You'd have some interesting snow around, like radon and xenon. Fire would be very bad, because liquid ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I explain a planet with perpetual rain? If the planet was a bit closer to the star, like Venus, had a lot of surface water, and slightly higher gravity, you'd end up with a kind of runaway greenhouse effect, where water would evaporate into the atmosphere at a greater rate, and higher gravity would mean thicker atmosphere which would mean ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How Would a Post-Planetary Civilization Measure Time? Each planet would have a standard time, with periods that make sense. Mars day is 20 some minutes longer than Earth. So you could just add a couple minutes here or there, or do a time slip, where the clock his midnight and stops for 20 minutes, then starts again. Each planet would have its own time,... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to Design a Flying Tree Spider and its Evolutionary Tree? So this giant flying spider has really, really long legs, three to four times its body length. Its legs are also very hairy, with fine, feathery hairs. Like a jumping spider it is able to leap very far. When it jumps it holds its legs straight out from its body, and the hairs mesh together to form... (more)	—	about 9 years ago

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