Timeline for How can I move a planet?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 17, 2016 at 18:14 | comment | added | JDługosz | “You can't just magically turn any energy into a gamma ray laser, after all.” any energy that can be turned into electricity will do. lcls.slac.stanford.edu/WhatIsLCLS_1.aspx How easy is it to turn any energy into antimatter production? | |
| Jul 17, 2016 at 10:57 | comment | added | Deuxis | It may be possible to sustain a continuous stream of matter and antimatter, making it a next-gen jet instead of an explosion. And even if not that, one can use frequent small explosions to get an effect similar to that of a a pulse jet. And yeah, of course it's not 100% efficient, but all the efficient methods are unprecised. You can't just magically turn any energy into a gamma ray laser, after all. | |
| Jul 17, 2016 at 2:24 | comment | added | JDługosz | I think I see: a omnidirectional blast is blocked by a shield so it (inefficiently) thrusts in one direction. It would be better to just use tge energy to power a gamma ray laser that efficiently thrusts in one direction (away from the planet). Your bomb idea doesn't track with your description of the rocket (being a rocket and) being securely attached to the planet. | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 23:59 | comment | added | Deuxis | I may have worded it badly. When matter comes into contact with antimatter, it releases the energy equivalent of the two (E=mc²) as gamma radiation. The released energy is so strong that if directed in one way can push a planet (or so Lem suggests). To direct it in one way a shield is used on the other side, but there is no such thing as a perfect shield and so it absorbs a part of the radiation, heating up and possibly acquiring kinetic energy. That is the engine. The force exerted upon the engine is transferred via the anchored attachments and moves the planet. | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 23:37 | comment | added | JDługosz | “It pushes the shield, because all the gamma radiation spreads in all directions, and upon hitting the shield dumps some of the energy into it, but of course most of the pushing comes from newton's third law.” — sorry, what? Yes, rockets work via Newton's third law (not just most of it). What gamma radiation? Why is it hitting a shield? Why are you “pushing the shield” instead of allowing the rocket to transfer forse through the firmly anchored attachments? | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 23:32 | comment | added | JDługosz | Why is the shield being hit by gamma rays? Maybe you need an illustration or better description. Why do we need a shield? I don't understand pushing on the shield, when the rocket would simply move the planet by being firmly attached to it. Now you mention wormholes? The answer says simple propultion with no external objects. | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 23:17 | comment | added | Deuxis | The shield heats up because it gets hit by a lot of energy via gamma rays, and the most common byproduct of absorbing energy is heat. And about force... I don't know how much, but without using relative transport like wormholes that problem exists anyway, no matter which method you use. You might as well reinforce the planet if that is a problem. | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 23:15 | comment | added | Deuxis | It's like a capacitor, allows you to accumulate stored energy at your own pace. That's firstly. Secondly, you also need a way to use the energy, and that engine provides that. It pushes the shield, because all the gamma radiation spreads in all directions, and upon hitting the shield dumps some of the energy into it, but of course most of the pushing comes from newton's third law. Finally yes, the planet's rotation does make it hard, but you can do alternating engines or one that rotates in the other direction. And about force, use any amount you want. You control the antimatter usage. | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 22:50 | comment | added | JDługosz | You can use the energy incrementally to change the momentum of the planet, too. So why store it? I also don't follow: if the rocket is anchored to the planet, why do you push on the shield? And doesn't tge planet's rotation make it difficult to point the rocket in the right direction? By “anchored” you mean to the crust? How much force could that take without wrecking the world? Why does the shield heat up? | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 20:13 | comment | added | Deuxis | Because you can store antimatter, using it similarly to a battery. Produce antimatter using solar energy, atomics, whatever floats your boat, store it and then use it for the engine. | |
| Jul 16, 2016 at 4:36 | comment | added | JDługosz | So where do you get the energy to make the antimatter? Why not use that energy directly for the engine? | |
| Jun 25, 2016 at 3:11 | review | First posts | |||
| Jun 25, 2016 at 3:24 | |||||
| Jun 25, 2016 at 3:02 | history | answered | Deuxis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |