Activity for ArtOfCode‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: What determines distribution of natural resources? You can look quite a long way back into the planet's history to answer this. Stars are formed from giant gas clouds called nebulae. When enough material accumulates in the nebula, it collapses under its own gravity. As it does so, the pressure causes a temperature increase. Eventually, nuclear fusio... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How many people can you feed per square-kilometer of farmland? You might well be interested in my answer to this question, as it details minimum requirements. In it, I do some calculation to find out that to feed one average human for a year, you need 5110 potatoes and 460 square metres of space. That takes care of one year, but if you plant potatoes again the ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Transportation across a liquid metal lake Let's have a look at what methods of propulsion could be used. Sailing (wind) Paddle power Steam engines Sailing requires a large sheet of sailcloth attached to a mast. Paddles require big paddle wheels attached to the side of the boat. Steam engines are big and heavy and need to be attached to s... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Lighter-Than-Air Bridge Technology Air is incredibly light. It's hard to conceive of any materials that are actually lighter than air and sufficiently so to keep lift while under load. However, it might be possible to use balloons as a lifting device. The gas is a subject of some contention. Helium has a lifting force of 1 gram per l... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Question	—	Jet Powered Animals Looking at the recent questions on dragons and aviation bureaucracy has got me thinking about some animals I could include in my story. I want these animals to be jet powered. One of the answers on the first dragons question explains why dragons can't be. However, cows aren't the only animals that p... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can we actually "blow up" the sea? tl;dr: Not without killing everything. Let's do some maths and actually figure this out. The specific heat capacity of water is $4.186 \text{ kJkg}^{-1}$. That means it takes 4186 joules of energy to heat 1 kilogram of water up by one degree. The average temperature of the surface of the sea is 17... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can you use an AI to shackle (control) an AI? I'm really having trouble here. Let me outline my thinking: The First AI This is my major problem. If the first shackling AI is weaker than the next, which is weaker than the next, and so on, then surely the shackled AI would just outsmart the one below it and persuade it to release it. My first th... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What size asteroid is needed to move the Sun? tl;dr: It can't be done. Meteors and all the various different classifications of them (meteorites, meteoroids) are small. The sun is big. More importantly, the sun is hot. If a meteor is heading for the sun, not only would it do almost nothing when it hits, it would be vaporised long before it hits... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can planets die of old age Planets can die, but it either takes a lot of energy and effort, or is very boring. Boring Planets can just stop working. As stated by some other answers here, if a planet has no life on it and its processes such as the rock cycle and atmospheric phenomena such as weather have stopped, it can be fa... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Matrioshka Testing: A way to keep your AI honest (or at least guessing) This method would work, almost without doubt, on humans. There would always be some doubt in their minds as to whether the universe was real, so they would probably not kill everything. Probably. Now, consider AI. What is AI? Code. So, if your AI doesn't have sensors, yes, this method works. It can'... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to avert AI. as a main player in the future? This is my opinion on the topic. There is another point of view, as demonstrated by Tim B, but if you want to include humans in your story then perhaps this will help. The question posed recently about controlling powerful AI may interest you. Essentially, as long as humans are involved, there will... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Result of terraforming away the deserts To expand on a point Sempie made, the colour of the ground determines how much light it reflects. White is the best reflector; black absorbs. This is why a black car will be hotter on the outside than a white car after a day in the sun. This principle also applies to infra-red, which is the type of ... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would plants be affected by a 48 hour day? Plants survive the night by producing excess energy during the day. This excess they then convert to starch and store. Research shows that chemical reactions in the plant's cells then calculate, based on their energy store and the rough length of the night, how to proportion their starch stores to la... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How big should a terrarium be to be self-sustained? Problem 1: Food This is the major contributing factor to the size of the biosphere. Humans need to consume around 2,250 calories per day (averaged between men and women) to sustain themselves, and more if they are doing physical work. 2,250 cal = 10,460 joules (or 10.46kJ), but that's not very usefu... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Terraforming for robots Why would they live on a planet? These robots, with sufficiently advanced AI, could have a pretty advanced social system. They could have community leaders, followers, criminals even (if the programmers didn't consider this, that is - or they've altered their own code (have a look at the recent Chal... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would lack of sunlight affect a human population? You've touched on the major points already: vitamins and skin colour. They are linked to an extent. Vitamin D is the major vitamin we get from sunlight. It's partly a "happy vitamin" in that it provokes serotonin neurotic responses, which makes you happier (have a look over at Biology.SE for more de... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Precious Materials in a Galactic Empire As you say, the most sought after materials are the rarest. You also correctly assume that the rarest materials are often those with the greatest molecular mass. This is because it takes a much, much bigger star to produce heavier elements. For example, say in a sector of the universe you have 100 st... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What kind of/How a secret language could be developed in middle ages by a secret society? I remember a book I read several years ago now, involving the Voynich manuscript. The basis was it was not decodable in any way - until a university student who happens to know symbols of another ancient language reads it, and finds two of these symbols. The passage between the two is the secret mess... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could people survive intense global warming? First and foremost, not everyone would be able to survive. Much of it depends how quickly this warmup happens: if it's quick and the ice melts very quickly, people on the coast aren't going to get out in time and you'll get much loss of property and life. If it's slower, you'll get less loss but more... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to fragment a moon to form a ring around a planet You could certainly try. A less sensible method, if your local astrotech store sells them, is to get hold of a mass transporter and a matter inversion matrix (though in many timelines the latter comes in around the year 4121). This would enable you to move dense objects such as small neutron stars a... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would happen if a virus could not be cured or contained? First and foremost, everyone would not be infected, let alone die. Look at Brazil and Peru and the tribes of the Amazon, many of whom still haven't been contacted. Since they have no human contact, they won't get non-airborne diseases from outside. Since you say it is fluid-borne, they won't be affec... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would be the effects on the human body if the oxygen level increased by a lot? It would be brilliant. 30% oxygen atmosphere would mean that our human bodies have more available oxygen and would take more in in a single breath; this means that we would be able to respire faster in times of necessity, giving us more strength etc. However, if we use this extra strength often, it i... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I get rid of the Earth or local Solar System? This method seems a bit extreme... if you want to destroy Earth's politics but keep their culture, there are far easier methods. However, some solutions anyway: Nova Bombs In Andromeda, all Commonwealth warships carry Nova Bombs. These are bombs powerful enough to cause a star to nova by negating i... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could higher land-based life exist on a planet with a pressure of about 1 MPa? Plausibility To answer your implied question about the possibility of this high pressure: Jupiter's surface has a pressure of 100 times the Earth's. Cosmically, pressures this high are trivial: think of "small" cosmic bodies like the Sun, which has a pressure around 50 times that of Jupiter. Scaled ... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What would be a realistic, competent response from the rest of the world if Britain were wiped out by a zombie virus? In any epidemic situation, there are a few important steps to work through: Contain Treat Learn Containment Fortunately for the rest of the world, Britain is an island. That takes care of a fair bit of containment - unless the disease is water-borne. However, the fact that zombies can't swim cou... (more)	—	over 9 years ago

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