Questions tagged [environment]
For questions about an environment or aspects of it such as geographical, atmospheric or climate.
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2answers
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Life in the Northern Hemisphere if Beringia Never Drowned
When one hears the name "Beringia", we most often think the land bridge that formed as a result of a drop in sea levels during the Pleistocene, resulting in a connection between Alaska and Russia. But ...
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1answer
112 views
How would floating islands work? [duplicate]
Soaring among the clouds over an earth-like planet, islands... on which fortresses are built for strategic advantage, on which stations for the dragon air force are built, and which can be relatively ...
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5answers
245 views
Salty or fresh or brackish waters?
So this is a small map of all the continents on the small planet of Parsas Decem. As far as most of the rivers go, I’ve got it figured out. What I’m wondering is, can salt water flowing in from the ...
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3answers
138 views
How can a kid be so much better than trained adults at “Monster fighting” [closed]
The world is populated not with animals but with "monsters". "Monsters" appear randomly in particular places, and can be caught using specialized devices shaped like a ball. There are many different ...
4
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3answers
183 views
How large can a magical cold region be before it dramatically alters global climate?
In the setting I'm working on, I want to have a vast 'sea' of diamond dust that is sustained by some kind of chilling magic effect that's spread across the surface of the land.
Since magic is ...
2
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3answers
92 views
Shooting all flying creatures in fear of spying drones [closed]
Spying technology is getting more sophisticated. Drones as we know them are obsolete. Robots appearing as living creatures are becoming science fact. First, robotic birds, then robotic insects. They ...
11
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2answers
591 views
Life in permanent shadow
I've been experimenting with a fantasy world that is flat, with the sun fixed in place over the centre. The day-night cycle is provided by the sun dimming and then brightening again. Most of the rest ...
6
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5answers
593 views
If Earth's atmosphere were to be enclosed, what effects would what have?
A universe-destroying parasite is set loose, and basically earth is placed under magical quarantine. (Think of it like the world is wrapped in magical cellophane.) My question is, how would earth's ...
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11answers
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At great altitude, what conditions are needed to support a human community?
In my part of this (Earth-like) world, there is a stable community of completely isolated pre-industrial humans, numbering perhaps 1,800.
They live at an altitude of (at least) 25,000 feet (7620 ...
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3answers
184 views
Can trees and plant life grow on rock?
So I’m creating a world where the ground is mainly made of different rocks and stone in most areas - soil is sparse.
Could trees and plant life grow on the stone ground if a water source is nearby? ...
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6answers
217 views
200G to 1G environment
Let's say a human were to live most of his life in a 200 G environment but then suddenly enter a 1 g environment, What would be the effects to his body and will this give him the ability to carry ...
4
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2answers
52 views
Stellar and magnetic parameters for creating polar radiation hazards
I've got a generally earthlike planet, but my goal is to make radiation exposure in the polar regions a much larger hazard than it is on Earth, while not being an issue in other regions. Nothing ...
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2answers
132 views
What would happen to the Earth if it were suddenly transported to a completely empty void? [duplicate]
The entire planet Earth is suddenly teleported (never mind how for now) to a completely empty space. No sun, no moon, no stars or other planets. There's absolutely nothing out there and it appears ...
4
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2answers
136 views
How would plants evolve with longer days?
(First post on StackExchange, hello world!)
The project that I'm currently working on involves a Binary Planet system, both with life, although I'm only focusing on one. This planet has a climate ...
4
votes
2answers
168 views
How much heat would a 1km asteroid release into earth's atmosphere?
I am writing a theory for a game that is in an apocalypse. An asteroid is heading for earth and will crash into the earth regardless in this theory. It is 1km in size but due to the YORP effect it has ...
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4answers
204 views
What is the “fullest” the universe could be in terms of living space? [closed]
Lets take a civilization that has surpassed the type III on the Kardashev scale. It has the following assumptions:
It harnesses the energy of entire Galaxies,
its populace did not transcend. If you ...
6
votes
3answers
118 views
Technology to produce food without land, what will happen with the land next?
Let's say we have the technology to produce all of the human food in factories without the need for land (i.e. Solarfood, Memphis Meats). Right now, there is about 50% of all habitable land use for ...
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12answers
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Why would life energy be poisonous for the environment?
Mana is the life energy of the soul that is bestowed by nature. Everything is born with a certain amount, with humans containing the most. When something dies, it's body naturally decays and supplies ...
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1answer
143 views
Are there chemical elements deadly to mushrooms but not to humans?
Are there any chemical elements dangerous to fungus/mushrooms that wouldn't threaten the human species.
The chemical elements I'm looking for would be in the periodic table of elements.
It doesn't ...
6
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4answers
309 views
Cave/Subterranean Lighting
I have a cave that is ravine like and stretches approximately one kilometer down into the Earth. Let's assume that the cave has a clear, crystalline roof allowing some light in.
Is there any sort of ...
6
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3answers
153 views
How to have people and big bugs at the same time
There's been a few questions about making big bugs before and the consensus in they can't get much bigger than 3ft or so (which in reality is still huge). Catch is, you need quite a bit of extra ...
3
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2answers
140 views
Climate checking my map
So I've decided to come here to see how my map would be effected by climate.
Notes: The planet has a 10° axial tilt, it's a little smaller then earth, and has earth like conditions.
So my questions ...
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vote
1answer
109 views
Could humans wreck the world enough to tilt its axis? [duplicate]
Some Context
My story idea is in the likes of Pacific Rim. If you didn't watch it, it's about a crack in the sea that spawns giant monsters called Kaiju, who really like to chew on buildings.
...
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4answers
155 views
How can a radioactive planet kill most fetuses in utero, but not give everyone cancer?
My setting takes place on a planet that has a very high level of radiation because of reasons unknown to the population. This factor or group of factors are not man-made, but due to some change in ...
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2answers
239 views
What would happen if a woman astronaut didn’t wear/took off her helmet/spacesuit while on the moon/mars? [closed]
In this story, Mars is totally inhabited by women
Would she die from lack of oxygen/suffocation or lack of pressure/boiling fluids?
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3answers
167 views
What amount of heat would be necessary to evaporate the oceans? Can his heat threshold be reached if there were no ozone layer? [closed]
The problem in my fictional future Earth was: almost the entire ozone layer disappeared due to a massive release of CFCs in the atmosphere. I was trying to calculate if this would lead to the oceans ...
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2answers
418 views
When two continents crash against each other, mountains arise, right? [closed]
In the background of my world it happens that two continents crash against each other. Now that I've done some research, do I correctly understand that this would create a mountain range? Or did I get ...
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10answers
416 views
why would performing nature magic be safer in groups of people? [closed]
A Tham field is the background magical radiation field that exists throughout the universe. Nature magic involves accessing this field in order to produce effects in the real world. A user does this ...
0
votes
1answer
152 views
Life in a gas torus around a neutron star
Larry Niven wrote a novel called The Integral Trees, which was followed by a sequel The Smoke Ring. This is Wikipedia's synopsis of the setting:
The story occurs around the fictional neutron star ...
4
votes
2answers
107 views
How can a tree be used to conduct electricity?
A network is classified as two or more connected devices that share information. In this world, the inhabitants use a system of trees that operate similarly to super-computers. These trees collect and ...
3
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6answers
194 views
Can I have a glacier on a tidally-locked shallow-sea planet?
I have a planet that is tidally locked to its sun.
The ocean is shallow (a few hundred meters) and was artificially created in the past by harvesting the system's Oort cloud or outer-system ice ...
4
votes
1answer
145 views
Lake World and Water Salinity
I have an idea for a world where land prevails over water and what waters there are are largely relegated to scattered lakes of varying sizes. Some of these lakes would be mega lakes, the size of the ...
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6answers
461 views
How to prevent large groups of animals from destroying my land? [closed]
I've created a world that is filled with beings and creatures that are very specific that can be easily separated and recognized. In this world there are seven (7) basic types of lifeforms (not ...
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6answers
5k views
A Planet Where The Four Seasons Occur Multiple Times In One Year?
Earthlings,
I live on a world where most places on my planet has four seasons, just like yours does. We also have one sun and one moon, presumably. It's been not even a year since I came of age (20), ...
4
votes
1answer
127 views
Is there a best place to begin Neo medieval world building? [closed]
I'm just barely starting out with trying to get a basic idea of what architecture, infrastructure, and systems would work best as I'm drawing my world. I have a twin characters who are raised in a ...
3
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4answers
588 views
Could a new species wipe out the rest of an established ecosystem?
I'm not asking about an exotic species in the modern world we know all too well the havoc that can be caused by the introduction of an alien species into an existing ecosystem. I want to know if a ...
3
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2answers
193 views
Could the World's Rainshadows Have Spiny Forests?
There is no other way around it--Madagascar is an evolutionary uniquety. 80% of the island's species live nowhere else on Earth. Among this uniqueness is a habitat that seems to come out of science ...
0
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2answers
235 views
A Mountain appearing in the desert
What would happen if a mountain just appeared in a desert?
This would happen by magical means, but what would happen to the surrounding ecosystem if a large mountain just appeared in the middle of a ...
3
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4answers
294 views
How can an empire on a super continent gain control over its neighbors without access to its coastline?
In this setting Pangaea never broke apart into different landmasses. Instead it stayed together as one giant super continent. As a result, most human civilizations developed along the coastline, where ...
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2answers
91 views
how can I make communal societies develop technologically?
In early human history, we started out as a hunter - gatherer society. As time went on, we began developing tribes and fighting each other for territory and resources in order to survive the harsh ...
6
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4answers
255 views
Aside from low gravity, what conditions favor dramatic terrain?
Fantasy and sci-fi works often are set in worlds of dramatic terrain, because, well... it's dramatic. A few examples of the kind of thing I'm talking about:
I understand that Earth has some ...
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1answer
136 views
How a huge verdant area can exist next to barren desert? [duplicate]
Imagine an alternative version of Athas, the world of Dark Sun setting. Everything around the populated areas is a desert filled with cannibals and places that have some natural life is kept like that ...
9
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5answers
162 views
Mechanism for high geographical change but not killing everything
Premise:
Earth has a magical cataclysm that pulls up new mountains, pushes down parts of landmasses, and generally reshapes Europe enough to make it unrecognizable (to the average person looking at a ...
2
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0answers
85 views
Why would somebody want to stop the four elements? [closed]
I'm writing a story about the four elements that are in four people. One controls water, one controls fire, and so on for air and earth. Why would the antagonist want to get rid of the four people/...
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18answers
5k views
How can a nation of amazons avoid being invaded by their neighbors?
There is a large island populated entirely by women. Men are not allowed on the island and are killed or taken prisoner if they attempt to land. These females train to be warriors from the day they ...
3
votes
4answers
217 views
How can I use magic to connect a series of pyramids thousands of miles apart?
This setting takes place in a time equivalent to the ancient world. My kingdom needs an unlimited energy source that doesn't run out and cheap to manufacture. To do this, I have captured a Golden ...
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2answers
167 views
What would be the fastest method of detecting and destroying drone intruders in a geomagnetic storm area using modern technology?
In my world, I have a geomagnetic storm generator that conceals an island from major governing bodies in an Earth-like setting. I learned that exploratory drones would be unable to transmit findings ...
9
votes
1answer
302 views
How, and for how long, could a permanent storm be maintained on Earth by a stationary mega-structure?
Suppose you had a tower-like mega-structure, rooted all the way into near-infinite geo-thermal energy of the Earth's crust, connected to the ocean such that water is not a limiting factor to the super-...
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vote
3answers
144 views
Can you create a mini ocean or sea at a smaller scale in land which can hold marine life (0.55 square km-onward)
To a really small scale factoring that everything will be done to a smaller scale.
If this is possible what would be the ideal size and how can it be accomplished and maintained.
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3answers
195 views
Brine pool ecosystems
(Question in highlighted text)
So, the chances are that you've heard of brine pools, which form when methane erupting from the seabed expose ancient salt deposits - the concentrated salt mixes with ...
