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Activity for dot_Sp0T‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
Question How to attach and distribute suspended weight to multiple envelopes?
In my conworld I've got heavily armoured airships majestically floating through the skies with help of a science-defying lighter-than-anything material. While I don't mind introducing a pinch of phantastium to my world, I prefer having things structurally sound and rooted in reality wherever I can. ...
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over 5 years ago
Question How to design an organic heat-shield?
When they started dropping from the skies.. or no, they landed. They were so similar to us, yet so different. Like nothing we would've ever designed or created - but so much like everything Eyewitness account, 2 weeks after 'The Event' For first-encounter project I am working on, my version o...
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almost 6 years ago
Question What conditions would make having them sunken into the ground the predominant way of building large structures?
As he neared the outskirts of the city the canyons of multi-storey buildings lined with coffee- and tea-houses gave way to the large squat shapes of factories, storage-halls and other industry. If it weren't for the ramps leading below ground, or the occasional slid-apart roof of a shipyard reveal...
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about 6 years ago
Question Ringstadt: Can my mountains be what I need them to?
When the old mining town was founded, nobody did think of this ever growing into much more than a coal-mining town. The deposits of iron-ore, aside from the already developed peat bog to the north, driving the tools & weapons industries this city is now thriving from, have originally been estimate...
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over 6 years ago
Question Ringstadt: Getting sulphur into my water
You sure lad? For some of you folks normal beer is already an acquired taste, but this... this beer definitely is. You understand that this stuff is brewed with water from the devil's choke? You know, that vile spring right behind the abbey? Last words Hans M'wambe, Private 1st Class, recalls be...
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over 6 years ago
Question Ringstadt: How sensible is my topography?
Look at you all sitting here. Quite some of you have probably never ventured beyond the outskirts of this city, mayhaps not even past the wall? You've spent your whole lives in this place, but what do you actually know about its lifetime? Introductory course to the History & Sociology of the tri...
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over 6 years ago
Question Where on my spaceship can I justify more space for my humans?
Spaceships are a peculiar thing; as are the Humies - the hardy folks working and living inside these hunks of metal for weeks or months at a time. Ironically in space living-space is at a premium. Any places inhabited for amounts of time need to be oxygenated, ventilated and shielded from radiation -...
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over 6 years ago
Question Can I have droplets of fluids that aren't... well... droplets?
For a story I am drafting I would like to have droplets of fluid that form another shape than the regular domed droplets we usually see. Is there any other shape such as e.g. a doughnut-shape that droplets could naturally form given the right circumstances? Answers are rated by the coolnessTM of the...
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over 6 years ago
Question Train-World: The shatterpated machinations of Spoorcaneers - Tossing & Turning
...and while I'm at it: You've another 47 seconds to finish up and get back here before I gotta throw her in reverse... Acting Navvy on the Marube @63kph and 4km distance from a forthcoming train Welcome to a future. Mankind has brought doom upon themselves, their cities have been flattened b...
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over 6 years ago
Question Train-World: Storing RHUs for decades to centuries
...no, I mean, supposedly, I believe there is more about it than mere kans on our part. Installations like this one are found all along the spoorwegs, and yes, around some you should tread lightly. Yet most are safe, and held, maybe still hold, functional warmers! What was th- Ade, 2nd Class Eng...
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almost 7 years ago
Question Train-World: Feasibility of radioisotope steam-electric engines
...It's paradox. They left us these technological marvels, yet with all their might and knowledge they failed to prevent their own doom... Excerpt from a lecture by the High Historian of Berlin Falls Welcome to a future. Mankind has brought doom upon themselves, their cities have been flatten...
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almost 7 years ago
Question Could a decreased heartrate thanks to better hemoglobin lead to an increased lifespan?
When looking at mammals and their heart rates one can find a correlation between the lifespan of a mammal and their heart rate. Namely most mammals seem to get about 1 billion (the American one) of heartbeats in their life (with some slight discrepancies). Now mammals, such as humans, use blood to...
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about 7 years ago
Question What near-future propulsion system(s) could be employed by my spaceships?
In a near future setting I am working on, humans have built space-habitats and have established colonies on celestial objects such as Luna. Their spaceships cannot go faster-than-light and have their fair share of other issues - yet are still the primary means of transport across the Solar System and...
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about 7 years ago
Question Why would technology dictate graphical interfaces to be rare on spaceships?
This question differs from that question in that the other question is asking about a change in history while this question is looking for a change in the future. In a near future setting I am working on, humans have built space-habitats and have established colonies on celestial objects such as L...
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about 7 years ago
Question Synthesizing fuels with excess energy
Inspired by this question on putting massive capacitor-banks on spaceships I have been wondering about alternative ways to store excess energy from ever-running reactors. In this question I would like to explore the possibility of synthesizing elements with the excess energy that could be then again...
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about 7 years ago
Question How to keep my spaceship properly pressurized for merfolk?
take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't comin' back DaaaahWhoosh - 2min ago Merfolk live in the deep, plenty deep exactly, around 800m below sea-level. At these depths we talk about little sunlight and pressures of 90bar (or 1300psi). Ignoring the difficulties of getting such a craft out ...
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over 7 years ago
Question Where to place my space-station so it observes one full planetary revolution per 24 hours?
For a SciFi project I work on I have a space-station orbiting earth that uses an 8 hour 3 shift system for its staff. Each shift is assigned to one-third of the countries and organizations on earth - namely those that are facing the station during the 8 hours of the shift. The above premise requires...
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over 7 years ago
Question How hot can I make the insides of my spaceship before damaging crew too much?
Spaceships are a peculiar thing; as are the things inside them. Humans... Humids... Humies - the colloquial term for those crazy enough to make a living by crewing these hulks of metal. A special breed. Hardy folks. Not only smart but ingenious - able to calculate trajectories and fix & maintain ever...
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over 7 years ago
Answer A: What realistic way could limit an FTL drive to only travelling between stars?
Make the aiming difficult If the lowest precision of coordinates you can aim at still has an error margin greater than the typical size of a solar system your method would not be usable for travelling distances shorter than said margin. Example: Aiming at the sun would result in arriving anywhere b...
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over 7 years ago
Question How to build a gun that shoots wet towels?
If you've never been in a shower fight you cannot possibly imagine the pain a wet towel can inflict.. Pete Williams, 12b Avergreen Road, 4th grade, likes Brussels sprouts1 A towel can be many things. It can be a means to wipe oneself dry after a dip into the cold wet. It can be a used to ...
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over 7 years ago
Question How big could an alien-made object on the far side of the moon become so that discovery still can only happen by accident?
A great way to introduce advanced technology to a story is to have it be of extraterrestrial origin. E.g. have a spaceship crash on earth, or, like I was planning to, put a derelict spaceport on the darkfar side of the moon and have humanity discover it by accident. What I mean with by accident is h...
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over 7 years ago
Question What to do with all the heat in a Dyson Sphere?
In the wake of this, my answer to this question about where to put a Dyson Sphere an apparent issue came up. And it needs some good resolution: What are we going to do with all that heat the system generates? The premise is that a Dyson Sphere with a radius of about 1AU is/will be built around a st...
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almost 8 years ago
Question How to alter the atmosphere as to make aerospace engines highly volatile?
When thinking about a potential answer to this question about preventing flight in a cyberpunk dystopia, I had an idea that I do no possess sufficient knowledge to prove/disprove. &nbsp;Thus you'll be treated to a new question: Q: In what ways would the atmosphere have to be altered in order to make...
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almost 8 years ago
Question What single change in history would allow to make the German city of Munich be in modern France?
In our world's 2016, the German town of Munich is part of the country of Germany. Now in an alternate Earth I would like Munich to be part of the Great French Empire (in the alternate year of 2016 naturally). Q: What change in history could fabricate this situation? And why? Answers will be rated ...
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almost 8 years ago
Question How can I keep the computers on my spaceship from temperature related death after a hull breach?
Spaceships are a peculiar thing. We've got them in all forms, sizes & colours. They have vast computers needed to do all the real-time calculations required for astrogation. Assuming our computers are not as perfect as we designed them to be. There have been some miscalculations and we've been hit b...
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about 8 years ago
Question What Disease(s) could Kill an Immortal?
Ignorance is curable, living is forever. Robert A. Heinlein1 Cutting to the hard data: Due to some or another reason2 the genetic information stored inside cells (aka DNA) of my Immortals does not deteriorate over time. Replacing old cells with new cells does not result in inferior/misaligned...
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about 8 years ago
Question How to shield my spaceship against all that deadly radiation?
Spaceships are a peculiar thing. We've got them in all forms, sizes & colours. They are everywhere and go everywhere else. carrying with them anything from music, over tractors, to foodstuffs and frozen babies... but space is vast and empty actually filled to the brim with all sorts of fancy exotic r...
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about 8 years ago
Question How to get rid of all the heat in my spaceship?
Spaceships are a peculiar thing. We've got them in all forms, sizes & colours. They run on nuclear fusion, creating loads of power driving all sorts of shenanigans... but they still generate lots of heat that has to be gotten rid of somehow. Assuming we have mastered the challenges of creating stabl...
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about 8 years ago
Answer A: Are there any other colors to radioluminescence?
According to Wikipedia, Yes Apparently Tritium is often used to illuminate things, alas it's got a half-life of only 12.32 years it is often deemed enough for common applications Various preparations of the phosphor compound can be used to produce different colors of light. Some of the colors th...
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about 8 years ago
Question How do the people of Hjårdan 'farm' the Booze-Rat?
Why certainly! We have all sorts of exotic drink. Can I excite you for a pint of Tarnesian Starköl - bitter, tart, nutty brew this stuff; or rather have shot of H'elvanian Whisky(?) - 7 years old(!), strong, but with a sweet finish... Actually, looking at you more closely - you're not from the ar...
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about 8 years ago
Question How to make the development and use of Steam Engines preferred over that of Combustion Engines?
Intro: I have gone some way to make airships more preferable over land-based transport in my beautiful conworld. E.g. making tunneling harder & making flying easier. Though there's plenty left to do... For now I would like to address one of the bigger issues/themes of my creation: The usage of steam...
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about 8 years ago
Question How did the Booze-Rat evolve its defensive mechanism?
In a specialised organ, the Vesica Spirite, which in function and makeup resembles a cross between the Ventriculus and the Vesica Biliaris, the animal creates and stores potent spirits by the means of a symbiology with a species of Saccharomycetales so far only found in that location. Excerpt fr...
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about 8 years ago
Question How does the Booze-Rat fuel its defensive mechanism?
Of all the creatures in Hatjörn's dominion, there is none as peculiar as the Murinae Spirita, the mean booze-rat. A vermin so resilient that has developed the most wondrous means of defence and thus survival. Excerpt from Hjårdan Animaliæ Welcome to the Most Ingenious Questions You Never T...
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about 8 years ago
Question What sea-dweller did my hexaped Beast-of-Burdern evolve from?
Disclaimer: This question is the third of a new series of questions of mine about introducing hexapeds to the fauna of my conworld. There are/will be other questions addressing i.a.: characteristics, ecosystems, taxonomy Setting: In my conworld the world is divided into two humongous continents, e...
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about 8 years ago
Question What scientific principles could be 'abused' to make the moon have physical phases?
The lunar phases describe the form we perceive the moon having based on the light it reflects from the sun while being partially turned away from us. Q: Can we abuse science to make the moon have physical phases? By having physical phases I mean that the physical shape of the moon changes in cyclic...
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about 8 years ago
Question Where would my hexaped Beast-of-Burden fit into Linnaean taxonomy?
Disclaimer: This question is the second of a new series of questions of mine about introducing hexapeds to the fauna of my conworld. There are/will be other questions addressing i.a.: characteristics, ecosystems, evolutionary factors Setting: In my conworld the world is divided into two humongous ...
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about 8 years ago
Question How to make my Beast-Of-Burden work?
Disclaimer: This question is the first of a new series of questions of mine about introducing hexapedae to the fauna of my conworld. There are/will be other questions addressing i.a.: ecosystems, evolutionary factors, taxonomy Setting: In my conworld the world is divided into two humongous contine...
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about 8 years ago
Question How many Sovjet Era transport planes would be required to transport 30'000 Rhinocerotidae to the southern US border unnoticed?
In a world similar to ours, a mad scientist is bent on preventing the ascendance of one certain individual over the rest of the people inhabiting the northern part of the continental America, also called U.N.A. (the Unity of Northern America). The U.N.A. hold presidential elections similar to those o...
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over 8 years ago
Question What would be the most-optimal location for the Lunar Radiotelescope?
In a story of mine mankind has established a permanent base on the earthward-side of the Moon complete with a beanstalk dangling into Earth-Luna-L1 for easy transport of material off Luna. Getting off earth is simply a task of getting into LEO at which point craft from Luna take over crew and materi...
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over 8 years ago
Question How would mountains and hills have to be made-up in order to impede tunneling them WHILE still allowing them to be mined out?
In my con-world I went lengths to introduce a plausible lighter-than-air element and did rather large amounts of thinking about landmasses in order to promote the development of airship technology over that of land-based technology. This question is about the geological characteristics of most of th...
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over 8 years ago
Question How would the design of tools differ if people had developed crassly dissimilar hands?
Introduction: Welcome to a world where hominids developed to have two different sized hands (similar to the male fiddler crab). We have developed societies, art, and naturally war. But, how exactly does our world look like? Facts about the creatures: They have developed pretty much along the line...
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over 8 years ago
Question What ways are there to keep a steady altitude with large fluctuations regarding load?
Setting: In my world I've introduced some science-defying material. I use it to grant the ability of flight to airships that are less Hindenburg-y and more ship-y. They are not literally ships that fly, but in order to comply with the aesthetics that I have in mind and still stay afloat, real lifting...
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over 8 years ago
Question How long would it take us to detect a Deimos-like object moving towards Sol from Alpha Centauri
In a backstory for a potential videogame I'll likely never realize I've got the situation that a Deimos-like object... let's drop the facade here, the object is indeed Deimos, one of Mars' satellites, complete with: a large spacestation attached to it that originally was orbiting Mars on its own ab...
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almost 9 years ago
Question What effects would changing the weight of air have on flora/fauna?
Following up the ideas given in this question, we introduce a new gas to the mix of air. Meta: Assume an Earth-like planet. The proposed change is a pre-development change (meaning it's there since the forming this planet). As most known gases will do their best to anesthetize air-breathing beings ...
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over 9 years ago
Question How would flora behave on a two continent planet?
Note: This question is a follow up to this question, and hence forms part of a bigger complex of questions about geology and biology in this certain scenario. Meta: The planet consists of two enormous continents, each encompassing one of the two hemispheres (northern and southern). There are two s...
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over 9 years ago
Question Is this concept for an LTA-gas' associated element lifecycle feasible?
Introduction: I've spent some fair amount of time thinking about inventing an element to make part of my world easier for me. In this case, it is an LTA gas which I gave the WIP name LAL-gas (Leichter Als Luft - the german equiv. to Lighter Than Air). The gas is intended to be used to lift things fro...
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over 9 years ago
Question How to increase air density on a planet?
The question is about what changes would have to be made to an Earth-like planet, in order to increase the density of air and hence make lifting gases more effective. If that is scientifically possible at all, that is. Examples of lifting gases with capacity at Earth-sea-level: Helium with a lifti...
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over 9 years ago
Question How would tectonics behave on a two continent planet?
I am working on constructing a world which is basically (from the northern pole to the southern pole): smallish frozen over ocean huge land mass encompassing the northern hemisphere tremendous ocean forming an effective 'belt' dividing the planet in two halves slightly smaller land mass than the no...
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about 10 years ago