Timeline for Forging with geothermal heat: Possible alternative to fire in alien species' technological progression?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 17, 2019 at 23:02 | comment | added | BonnetBee | Yeah, probably not then XD | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 22:56 | comment | added | Arkenstein XII | I suspect that in a high oxygen atmosphere that this strategy will likely result in the swarm spontaneously combusting... | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 22:42 | comment | added | BonnetBee | Here's another alternative that admittedly seems a little silly, but which does have an interesting precedent in earth's ecology: Japanese Honeybees have a unique defense mechanism in which they swarm into a tight orb around an enemy, trapping it inside. They then vibrate their muscles in unison, which can generate heat upwards of 117 degrees Fahrenheit, cooking the predator to death. While this is still not quite hot enough on its own, and idk if being much bigger would mean these guys could generate more heat without injuring themselves, could something like that work? XD | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 22:07 | comment | added | Arkenstein XII | Even pottery has issues because steam is wet and will mess up the clay. Perhaps you could have the species secrete a biological polymer from a specialised gland that has steel-like properties? They might build their vehicles using suitable plant materials and their own super-secretions. | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 21:51 | comment | added | BonnetBee | Yeah, that's kind of what I figured... Maybe they could manage Pottery this way, but not Metalworking. I guess they could always excavate rocks and/or build mounds of mud- they are like ants or termites, after all, so they're pretty strong and can move large loads with lots of them working together- and use those to create their first forges, and there would be plenty of charcoal around from the regular naturally-occurring fires, but would that be enough to keep the fire from spreading in an oxygen-rich atmosphere at such high temperatures? | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 21:43 | history | answered | Arkenstein XII | CC BY-SA 4.0 |