Activity for Shalvenay
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
How do I determine the physical size of a quartz crystal of a given shape and vibrational mode needed to approximate a specific resonant frequency? So, one of my D&D characters has a cut/relief-carved quartz crystal amulet (medallion shaped) that's both an arcane focus (crystal) and a holy symbol (amulet), and I thought it would be a good idea for it to resonate within the audible range, given that quartz crystals can make good, pure-tone mechan... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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With today's technology, could iron be smelted at La Rinconada? La Rinconada, Peru is notable because it has an effective oxygen concentration of only 11%, leading to the need for special techniques just to keep a fire going, and preventing the use of combustion-based heat for smelting iron, as they simply can't get hot enough under the oxygen-starved conditions.... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How large can a terrestrial, territorial pack carnivore get before we can no longer domesticate it? Let us assume that we are settlers on some alien land and we run into a terrestrial, territorial pack carnivore among the local fauna. This animal has many of the traits needed for domestication: It forms a strongly hierarchical pack structure, much akin to wolf packs It is intelligent, on par wit... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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"Rich mix" methane/oxygen atmosphere on a planet -- how would life develop? Let us assume we have a rocky planet by the name of Pyros orbiting a single star, the Star of Random. It has an atmosphere consisting of 77% methane, 21% oxygen, 1% water vapor, and 1% other gases (argon, CO2, NH3?), all at a surface pressure of 101kPa (one Earth atmosphere). Temperatures at the su... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How could a wolf-man be explained without magic? The legends of lycanthropes go back eons; while they have changed over time, a common modern expression of them is of an infected or cursed human that is given the power to transform into a wolf and/or a hybrid canid-humanoid form either willingly or when triggered by certain events (anger, full moon... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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Can long-term exposure to high-energy radiation without corresponding visible radiation induce melanism in a species? In some environments (think of the Faerunian Underdark for a fantasy example, or a planet orbiting a pulsar for sci-fi folks), high-energy (UV and up, but I'm mostly concerned about UV and very soft X-rays here as hard gammas are going to make animal life impossible anyway) radiation predominates ove... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How would an interstellar civilization construct a planetary shuttlecraft? One thing that just about all interstellar civilizations need if they want to be anything more than long-distance friends is a way to get from their starships down to the surface of planets and back up again. In other words, they need some flavor of shuttlecraft that can survive re-entry into a plan... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
What is the most plausible ancestor for tool-using, sentient, bipedal reptilians? A classical trope of fantasy is lizardfolk, or a similar species by another name (see for instance the Argonians of Elder Scrolls fame). In general, though, we're dealing with: Bipedal, often plantigrade but sometimes digitigrade Tool/weapon-using (albeit not particularly sophisticated), with oppo... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
How much energy does it take to fuse 1m$^3$ of seawater, and how much energy is released by that fusion? So, assume that you have 1m$^3$ of normal Terran seawater you can adiabatically raise to an arbitrarily high pressure/temperature in situ (say, by compressing it with nuclear shockwaves from all directions simultaneously). Just how much energy would those shockwaves need to impart to said 1m$^3$, an... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
How structurally strong would an object need to be to survive a trip through an ergosphere? Let us assume we have a Kerr metric (rotating) black hole of 10 Sol-masses, spinning at 300 revs/s (as measured by a rest frame observer). What yield strength (assume that yield strength is limiting here in order to prevent failures in compression) would be required for the structural members of: ... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
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Can a biological laser exist? We know that Earth creatures can generate high-voltage electricity (your nearest electric eel can attest to that). We also know that ordinary air at Earth atmospheric pressure can be used as a laser gain medium -- this is used in Transverse Excitation at Atmospheric pressure (TEA) laser designs. Wh... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Planet of the Aves: Knowledge of Aerodynamics and Weather Phenomena So, on the Planet of the Aves, Tres' sapient crows are the dominant sapient species. Given that your average bird spends plenty of time on the wing, how intuitive would they find subsonic aerodynamics, compared to us ground-bound humans, who have to crunch all sorts of numbers just to figure out how... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can a main-sequence star with planets exist orbiting a magnetar? Lets say you have an average-ish magnetar "” about 3 solar masses, with a magnetic field of 108 teslas (it's decayed a bit since it was born). Now lets say we have a solar system with a small-ish main sequence star (about ¾ths of the Sun's mass) that has a mature set of planets orbiting it (say 8"“... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Under what conditions could a human-edible slime-mold evolve? Slime molds are a fairly well-known grouping of organisms, performing a valuable function as real-life detritivores and bacterivores, as well as inspiring fantasy tropes such as oozes. Many slime molds will generate fruiting bodies, as well, in order to distribute their spores (think mushroom), and ... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Anatomically Correct Gnolls Since we're dealing with cat-folk already with the question about the Khajiit, I figured we'd toss a different evolutionary lineage for furry humanoids around, that of the hyena. Ever since the early days of D&D, the gnoll has been a most curious creature "” a ravenous, bipedal, somewhat-social hyen... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
What examinations would a sentient non-human visitor receive if they came to Earth? So, a visitor (whether they be from another planet or another reality) gets deposited on the face of the Earth. They find that the air's breathable, that water and suitable macronutrients are available, and that there are signs of sentient presence (us!) on this planet. However, between: Their in... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Alien Papers -- how would someone from another reality use *their* native documents to function in our reality? Related to this question, which deals with the no-papers visitors. However, in my case, instead of a character with no paperwork whatsoever -- we're dealing with someone from an alternate reality who has some form of identification or travel documentation from their native reality; this could take t... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
What physiological trait would make it impractical for someone to wear flat shoes? So, I have a character who has an interesting quirk: they cannot wear flat shoes or boots (i.e. where the heel is at the same level as the ball of the foot or approximately so, within 1.27cm or so) without risking pain/injury to their feet and legs. What sort of physiological trait or "defect" would... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Are there any real-world ingested poisons with these characteristics? So, I'm looking to get one of my characters poisoned. However, if they notice that something's up, the jig's likely up as they'll seek treatment for what happened, so this needs to happen "under their radar" so to speak. Hence, the poison needs to have the following traits: Delivered by ingestion (... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
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Forming the "useless coast" -- i.e. no shipping allowed How would you form an extended stretch of coastline that is effectively useless for overwater trade -- i.e. there are no sheltered areas to serve as ports, or trade routes that can reach all the way to the shore to allow ships to trade? It seems that a coast with cliffs would be an important element ... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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Crystalline materials in someone's bloodstream -- what effect would they have? What effect would a crystalline material that is inert under ordinary environmental conditions have on someone if it was injected into their bloodstream? Examples materials include finely pulverized silica or alumina, and the quantities under consideration are at the gram level. (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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Emulating a geocentric planetary system Some published settings -- such as the Greyhawk 'verse commonly seen in conjunction with Dungeons & Dragons -- treat the prime planet's host solar system as geocentric. How could this be reconciled with what we now know about orbital mechanics and gravitation, though? The only theories I have come ... (more) |
— | about 10 years ago |