Questions tagged [electricity]
For questions regarding the generation or flow of electrical charge.
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How powerful does an electric field have to be to turn any matter into a plasma
I am writing a story where a character can control an electric field. In this story I need this character to be able to have the ability to turn any matter into plasma. Any electric field strength as ...
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How powerful can I make a character that controls electric fields [closed]
I have a character in my story that can control electricity. They cannot output large amounts of electricity however, they can generate massive electric fields. They can only output around 1000 volts ...
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How to make electro kinetic immune to electricity
In my hard science world there is a character that can output electrons around 30000 volts and around 50,000 amps.The problem is that they would instantly die every time they use their ability. So I ...
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Minimal inductance vs Superconductors and Unintended Consequences
I have a setting with railguns. To make them more feasible I have some particles that can be applied to metals, wirings etc.. These particles can change the properties of the metals/objects or the ...
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Using Neutron Stars to Generate Electricity
Quick question
In my world building project I have a civilization that lives on a planet that orbits a Neutron star. Neutron stars have an extremely powerful magnetic field so I was wondering if it ...
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Power grid on the Moon
Actually this is not an idea for a book, I thought about it after reading this article. The power grid they propose for the moon would require a lot of electric cables and robots that bring power ...
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Gas or Electric for a Zombie Apocalypse [closed]
This question is referring to tools, like chainsaws and weedwhackers.
Gas would be easier to get, being a liquid form that can be stockpiled, but gas tools are loud and leave fumes.
Meanwhile, ...
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How could the ability to produce a negative electric charge without a corresponding positive charge be used to power a basic portable circuit?
Relevant Information
My magic system consists of a fluid (called aura) emitted from the body whose position can be telekinetically controlled (manipulation), whose physical properties can be altered (...
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Would a weapon made of a piezoelectric material be able to notably shock an opponent?
In my world, people are able to use magic to produce piezoelectric materials of a high strength, making it a viable material for use in weapons and armour. For the purpose of this question you can ...
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Could a subterranean river or aquifer generate enough continuous momentum to power a waterwheel for the purpose of producing electricity?
The imagined scenario is of a small city built inside of a chasm that draws most of its water from an aquifer or underground river. The place and time in which the scenario takes place is Earth and ...
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Is there any reason a society might use electric boilers and steam engines in their trains rather than electric motors?
In an area in my world, people have discovered how to turn their aural constructs (magic stuff) into electrical supercapacitors, allowing for relatively advanced electrical technology.
Now that they ...
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Most effecient way to build a steam-electric bimodal locomotive?
A somewhat significantly sized city is faced with a problem. It currently wants to reduce the smoke from the steam locomotives in the city & build more efficient & compact stations, however it ...
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How would the biological ability to generate electricity to fight work in terrestrial animals? [closed]
In a series I'm writing, there are seven categories of species of intelligent, human-like creatures with magical abilities that vary by species. One of them is a revamp of mermaids, or as I call them, ...
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Would lightning bolts be effective against modern military vehicles?
In my setting, wizards from a pre-industrial fantasy world come to real life. One of these wizards is a destruction mage recruited by the US military and tries out her talents against modern forces. ...
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At what price does a working Maxwell's Daemon Engine become uneconomic?
There is a TL:DR version below. Fluffy story version:
The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet ...
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Are nonconductive carbon nanotubes possible?
So, I am exploring the idea of carbon nanotubes being used as an alternative to plastics in this sci-if universe of mine. They are flexible yet strong, while being biodegradable and nontoxic and so ...
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Necessities for a handheld electron beam weapon
So, since practically every science fiction writer under the sun has imagined some manner of handheld laser beam, I have been exploring alternatives for energy/particle weapons, one of which is an ...
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How to store and release vast amounts of electricity for industrial processes?
What Is It For? (skip if desired)
It's been less than a decades since the Ilus system was cut off at its interstellar phase-gate, a few short years after the keidran were created and a disaster forced ...
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Could Tesla coils be used for missile defense?
Some facts about the real world, Terra 2023: tensions between Russia, NATO, China, DPRK, India etc. are high. These powers keep trying to get the edge over each other to establish missile supremacy. ...
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How big of a RTG would you need to power a single home?
In the future, under a growing need to slow climate change while also needing to power the billions of homes on Earth, a plan to power every home is put in place. Each home will be installed with a ...
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Would a stationary railgun be possible utilizing 1910s electrical technology?
I am building a world in which gunpowder was not invented (chemistry is less advanced compared to other sciences), but other kinds of projectile weapons still dominate the battlefield (compressed air ...
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Amount of fuel needed for a long-running fusion reactor
Let’s say people (humans) arrive on a planet. Oh no, it’s too hot! Okay, we live underground in lava tubes. Oh no, it’s too dark! Okay, so illuminate the tubes with self-repairing fusion-reactors that ...
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How much electric power would instantly kill a person (volts, amps, etc.)?
Context:
It is a near-future sci-fi and they adopted electrolasers as main weapons, because you wouldn't need to worry about propellant, ammo etc. "Just" battery and fuel.
An electrolaser is ...
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Could a microbe draw in dust using electretic quartz?
The microbes reside in the rings around a gas giant, adhering to cosmic dust and feeding on sunlight and carbon minerals. While it seems there should be enough collisions to keep the microbes in ...
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What type of environmental phenomenon would impact computers but not low-level electrical applications?
An environmental phenomenon, cloud or mist of sorts, rolls into an area that greatly affects "thinking machines". Basically, any types of computers or logic instrument based on electrical ...
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Could robots live in Antarctica?
In my world, intelligent androids get invented. These robots have an appearance, mental attributes, and physical attributes very similar to humans. However, they are still ultimately robots. That ...
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Harvesting lightnings for energy...in real life Mordor!
I planned to have a region on my world that is similar to Mordor, as in a place with near constant thunderstorms and lightning strikes, about 30 times per minute at peak for at least 25 hours at night ...
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Would electric whips be good weapons in a medieval fantasy?
Whips are ancient tools that have been around for millennia. They were originally made to direct livestock and later on they were used to punish soldiers, slaves, and criminals. On the surface, a whip ...
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How would electric weapons used by mermaids function, if feasible? [closed]
Electric eels are animals that eat by stunning their prey with electricity before eating them. The amperage and voltage isn't usually high enough to kill humans but it can still hurt them.
Assuming ...
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Would a human with electric powers be able to use them to strengthen their muscles?
I heard that electrical stimulation can lead to a similar effect to working out, so I was wondering if someone who can create and finely control electricity would be able to increase their physical ...
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Can a button cell battery power car cigarette lighter (in the shape of a ring)?
Is it possible to make a fake golden ring which can light a candle on the push of a button and power it with button cell battery (either coin cell or watch button size)?
I have a fraud guy trying to ...
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What will be the best battery solution for keeping electrical power a tradable commodity in an industrialized star system?
On Earth, electricity became a tradable commodity thanks to Chile in the 1980s, it has since become a staple of international economic markets. One would assume the same outcome to happen on the ...
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Can a habitable world function like a Tesla Coil?
I am trying to come up with a fun planet with "advanced" but primitive tech. We all know Tesla missed some critical physics when envisioning his global transmission network for power. But ...
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How to make air more electrically conductive without making it unbreathable?
I need people to get zapped more often in my world.
Zapping others with electricity must be a more viable option than it is in our world.
Shooting cables at people to zap them? Nah....I prefer the ...
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How to create a proper electric enhancement for melee weapons?
It is not uncommon for some fantasy and RPG's with a modern setting to boost their melee weapons with electricity. However some people think that such modifications won't really improve the killing ...
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How much salt juice does my bioelectric pulsed field magnet need?
I'm making an organism which generates its own magnetic field - specifically, a magnetic field which pulses on and off repeatedly. Said organism uses said magnetic field to communicate with other such ...
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What material do I use to make a biological electromagnet?
This is rather simple: I want a biological electromagnet capable of producing a weak magnetic pulse when electrified.
I recognize what an electromagnet is: a coil, spiral, or helix of conductive ...
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What is the earliest that a time-traveling electric vehicle of current era could be recharged?
Taking modern gas engines into the past is hard because the fuel isn’t refined enough and damages the engines. But electricity has been the same since time began, limited by human capacity to produce ...
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How does the stun fangs from a vampire works?
I am looking for a biological mechanism to explain how a vampire's fangs could incapacitate a person using electricity much similar to the effect of a stun gun, they can also stun their own kind with ...
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Thunderstruck and tesla beetles: Are they feasible?
I my game project, "The Von Neumann Project," you play as an android attempting to colonize a hostile alien world, and turn it into into a thriving factory planet. One of the many odd and ...
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How would one go about making a subdermal Faraday cage?
Exactly what it says on the tin: how would one go about making a subdermal (i.e. under the skin) Faraday cage?
Specifically, are there any physical or biological principles that could be applied to do ...
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Are there any physical or biological principles that could be applied to electrically ground the human body?
Exactly what it says on the tin: are there any physical or biological principles that could be applied to electrically ground the human body?
This could take the form of genetic alteration, surgery, ...
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Dealing with Arc Flash For Viji
I asked two questions (see here and here involving lightning for a species I created, called Viji. Viji are a race of metal-armored humanoids, and they live on mountains, so it seems obvious lightning ...
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What is the most effective way for a human to generate electricity using just their body?
A human with the ability to control electricity with their mind (electrokinesis I think?) would need electricity to manipulate I'm assuming. So if they were caught off guard without any available ...
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What are some biological electrical insulators that can be used as natural electricity-proof gloves?
I want to make a species that can grab and handle live electrical wires bare-handedly and be A-OK.
What are some natural biological electrical insulators that can
cover their hands thoroughly,
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Can we fulfill the world electricity production by nuclear power? [closed]
Nuclear energy is a form of energy released from the nucleus, the core of atoms, made up of protons and neutrons. In today's world has 450 commercial nuclear power reactors operable in 30 countries.
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How can a ghostly being who can't be remembered for longer than 60 seconds secure access to electricity?
I have a character in my story (set in 1998) who has been magically altered in three major ways:
1: She cannot be remembered for longer than 60 seconds without continuous exposure to her by one of the ...
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Viji Battery Defense
Viji are odd humanoids, clad in naturally occurring metal armor, that live on mountains. However, while their metal armor should protect them, Lightning striking full plate — what’s the damage to the ...
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How can my eco-hippies build a taser to down a polar bear?
I have some radical environmentalists as some of my characters. They don't want to kill any living thing, but they live in an area where the polar bear population is anomalously high, and attacks are ...
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What would the structure of a biological thermocouple be?
For reference: a thermocouple is a device that converts heat to electricity.
What would an organic, naturally-evolved one that's part of a biological organism look like in terms of structure?
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