All Questions
Tagged with science-based not biology
7,865 questions
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What computer and display technologies are most reliable and maintainable in a rugged space future?
It’s the distant future; humanity is scattered among the stars, far-flung, sparsely populated. It’s frontier living. Individuals and communities are often cut off from major industrial centers; access ...
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2
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163
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What would happen if a bunch of liquid helium was dropped onto a city
Suppose we have a weapon that converts all the air in an area into liquid helium. Evil empire number 1234 wants to use this weapon to destroy the environment that any goody two shoes rebels might live ...
- 1,543
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6
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How to produce steel in space?
My steel producing company wants to move into space for reasons. They are commonly known for producing steel from iron ore with all the necessary steps in between. The main question is how they would ...
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3
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Would manufacturing steel in space be more energy efficient?
A company want to move the production processes of their company into space. More specifically, it is a company that mainly refines iron ore into workable steel. Recently, they have been wondering if ...
- 1,491
3
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3
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657
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Review request for the Empire’s transportation stack?
Intro
Setting
A century or two into the future, humans encounter and ultimately end up joining the Galactic Empire. Humanity, which abandoned the concept of the warp drive with the negative results ...
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12
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6
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View from a ship with an Alcubierre Drive
What would a person on a ship with an Alcubierre Drive see as the drive starts running and once it is running? Once the drive is fully powered, the ship would be going faster than light.
I have found ...
- 3,476
8
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3
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845
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Minimum size of a hot spring or other water feature to cause lake effect snow?
The lake effect occurs when cold air passes over a relatively warmer body of water, saturating it with moisture that immediately precipitates en masse, creating a large amount of snow downwind.
This ...
- 1,092
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1
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Could it be possible to predict the effects of a universe with universal constants different to ours?
I am attempting to construct a relatively hard-sci-fi world involving a universe that 'evolved' with different universal constants to ours
The more I thought about it, the more I realize it is unable ...
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8
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3k
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What geographical changes does Canada need to have a far larger carrying capacity?
Despite being larger than the USA, Canada has substantially fewer people. As a matter of fact, California has more people than Canada does. This is because Canada has much less arable land than the ...
- 5,390
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10
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Reality check: energy source for power armour
TLDR:
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) with polonium($\ce{^{210}Po}$) instead of plutonium($\ce{^{238}Pu}$) cooled by liquid lithium is a superior power source for any power armour. More ...
- 1,374
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2
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188
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What are the pros and cons of this 3 gender/sex & pseudosexual reproduction system? [closed]
So I was revisiting this world I partially built a few years ago called Purpalis. In it I gave an Earthesque world some interesting modifications like the sky and water being purple, clouds being ...
- 1,671
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17
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Is is plausible that we could have neuronal maps of human brains without mind uploading being possible?
I am currently trying to find a reason that mind-uploading could be impossible in a sci-fi setting with fairly mature nanotechnology/scanning techniques - to the extent that it would in principle be ...
- 221
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1
answer
264
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How can I extend the "Mediterranean" climate over a vast area?
I checked out this map I found on Reddit which purports to show how climates would be like in an alternate version of Earth which spun backwards. I noticed that many of those maps show inner areas of ...
- 21
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1
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Terrestrial planet with rings has occasional meteor showers that cover much of the habitable space, what would the native species do to survive them?
One of the most important planets in my story's world is Australis, a habitable terrestrial planet with rings and a single moon. The rings contain a valuable metal ore which is mined to be used as a ...
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1
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In a post collapse world, how long can cars and other vehicles kept usable?(Not considering fuel) [duplicate]
All the other threads are talking only about fuel and not talking about shelf life of spare parts, I already did enough research on fuels (bio diesel, gasifier, ethanol, human waste , refining old ...
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Building a planetary system: realistic orbits, with regard to dynamical evolution
I'm attempting to nail down concrete details of a planetary system I've been working on. Working from the top down, I think it's necessary to determine orbital characteristics of the planets first.
...
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What would be the delta in recoil between a firearm and a magnetic gun?
Assumptions
For the purposes of the question, in my world technology has progressed far enough that the power supply problem and the rail/cannon durability issue are solved - all of that is handwaved.
...
- 4,864
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5
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Planet with minimal atmosphere and solid surface
I know it's not possible to have liquid exposed to vacuum without freezing or vaporizing.
Talking about a planet, with similar gravity to that of Earth, with no land emerging from an all-encompassing ...
- 199
3
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2
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515
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In an eclipsing binary orbited by an Earth like planet, would the drops in brightness be noticeable?
An eclipsing binary is a binary star system that periodically eclipses one another. There is a drop in total brightness when the primary eclipses the secondary and a smaller drop when the secondary ...
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12
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3k
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Why do high-orbit space stations fall once destroyed?
The Empire in this world has plenty of space stations - they make up a good 2% of the total livable space of the Empire, and there’s at minimum one per colonized planet but usually many more. Most are ...
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130
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Is a plasma force shield feasible? [duplicate]
I am somewhat obsessed with the plasma shields the Gungans use to protect their troops in Star Wars Episode I. They are effective against the laser cannon blasts of the Trade Federation troops but ...
- 603
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6
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361
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Is it possible to produce cheap saccharide oil solely from fossil fuels? I’m meaning cheaper than currently based agriculture carbohydrates prices
Simple question : in my country with the rise of conservatism is rising the calls to have food containing as most as sugar possible with lowest nutrients/vitamins as possible in order to decrease ...
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4
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Would 1/4 inch coating of tungsten burn off while re-entering atmosphere at 36,000ft/second?
Imagine a projectile made from lunar regolith cement, 35ft long and 1ft in diameter. It is coated with 1/4inch of tungsten. Would it survive re entry into the atmosphere at 36,000ft/second, and enter ...
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10
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Locally warping space so Earth turns "inside out" and engulfs the moon
Something unknowable and eldritch pops up where the Moon used to be. Its presence causes space to bend, twist, contract and expand without outright breaking apart in a way that, for an observer on ...
user105535
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2
answers
223
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How long would world governments be able to cover up alien spacecraft during the cold war? [closed]
The time is December 1962, just a few months after the Cuban Missile Crisis put mankind on the edge of the Great Filter. America and the Soviet Union notice something strange from their telescopes and ...
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2
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180
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How would 10x better batteries change urban transportation? [closed]
Recent (as in the past 30 years) improvements in battery technology seem to have enabled three main transportation technologies to become economically viable:
Electric cars
Electric scooters
Electric ...
- 3,476
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1
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133
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How far would a 2790 psi shockwave launch somebody [closed]
In my magic system people possess control over one concept such as fire, flesh, water, lightning, ice, etc. A major antagonist in the story possesses the ability to control sound to devastating effect....
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2
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169
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Could sound be used to levitate or destroy objects in combat
I am working on a near future world where mages are really just people with a very good understanding of math and science, which they use to achieve feats that seem impossible to most of the ...
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5
answers
945
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Speed and mass of a rock needed to obliterate a tank
Suppose we have a weapon with the capability to pick up a rock with a variable amount of mass and then accelerate it at a chosen speed. The users of the weapon encounter a weapon in the form of a tank....
- 1,543
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how would I calculate the greenhouse effect based on the atmospheric composition [duplicate]
So say I have a planet that has an atmosphere of 1 atm, and is 78% N2, 20.16% CO2 0.84% O2 and 1% Ar, and it orbits a star that is about 40% as bright as the sun, the planet orbits at a distance of 0....
4
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1
answer
125
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How would tides work on a habitable moon orbiting a gas giant?
Lets say, there is a habitable Earth-like moon orbiting around a gas giant, which orbits around an F-type star. The gas giant is slightly smaller than Jupiter, and the moon is slightly smaller than ...
4
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7
answers
310
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What key biological differences would make an anatomically near-human alien species significantly more likely to engage in space colonisation?
In my latest setting, there is a sapient alien species, the members of which are very human-like anatomically, being roughly as human as the elves, dwarfs, or orcs of classic high fantasy.
Unlike ...
- 2,242
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1
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186
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What would happen if the atmosphere disappeared for a fraction of a second? [closed]
What would be the effects if the entirety of Earth's atmosphere disappeared for a fraction of a second - barely enough time to be noticeable, and then reappeared? It would be gone for only a very ...
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4
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212
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What are the best possible space weapons? [closed]
I am again asking about space weapons. This time, I am asking about the best weapons of these three categories: Missiles, Lasers, and Kinetics. I am fitting these on a heavy starcruiser capable of ...
1
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2
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318
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How might non-terrestrial environments promote health better than Earth-like conditions? [closed]
Is Earth Normal as good as it gets for Normal Earthlings? Most of the literature on non-Earth-like environments focuses on health hazards, not benefits, which makes sense. But there are some counter-...
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Would radar/sonar/other spy technology be able to penetrate space station walls?
Cue the song from Avatar: the Last Airbender, because my world's habitable deep space station is absolutely riddled with Secret Tunnels. The following constraints apply:
The design of said station is ...
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3
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7
answers
474
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How best to transport Uttarkuru Firestones in bulk
Uttarkuru Firestones are magical rocks that occur only on the continent of Uttarkuru, that look and weigh much like irregular pebbles of polished haematite.
Image from https://www.purnellagencies.com....
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510
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I’m trying to make my planets atmosphere 46% inert Argon gas, but how would my creatures breath it? And what would their blood be like? [closed]
Argon is my favorite thing, I wish I could kiss it. So I am using it in my planets atmosphere. Here is a list of what is in its atmosphere:
Argon ($\mathrm{Ar}$) - 46%
Nitrogen ($\mathrm{N}_2$) - 42....
26
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10
answers
4k
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Growing food by firelight
The question of what the citizens of fantasy underground kingdoms eat is usually handwaved to: "they trade for their food", or "they eat mushrooms". I would like my undergrounders ...
- 9,222
5
votes
1
answer
177
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Would a worldship's warp drive affect the weather?
Background
A while ago I asked about worldships because I'm implementing them in my world and now I have come up to the point where I need to know how to move them around. The obvious issue is that ...
- 6,982
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Tilt of the rotation axis around the barycenter in a binary planet
In the previous question I was told that in order for the double planet system not to have eclipses every day, their rotation axis tilt around the barycenter of mass must not be 90 degrees.
Both ...
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Need help to solve the problem with the number of armed forces
Good day! I asked this question on Reddit, but unfortunately I couldn't find the answer I needed there.
So, I'm going to write a book in the space opera genre, and since I'm very weak in things ...
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3
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150
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How much faster can time flow than on earth? [closed]
Simple question : outside any galaxy supercluster, given an acceleration of 0 (not moving to anything nor orbiting anything) along with a hypothetical gravity of 0, how much faster would time flow ...
- 519
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3
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What should I change in this Kaiju to allow it to play basketball
There's a Kaiju lets name him Jerry. Jerry loves basketball with him always watching NBA games on massive screens however due to his anatomy as a Kaiju he is unable to play the sport. Jerry gets some ...
- 1,543
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Is this solar system mechanically possible?
Say, hypothetically, you have two terrestrial planets (b,c), one gas dwarf(d), and one gas giant(e) all orbit the habitable zone in some manner.
b, c, and d all have an orbital resonance, which cause ...
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If a 'fire temple' was built in a gigantic city, with many huge perpetual flames inside, how could they keep smoke from bothering non-worshippers?
This temple I'm imagining is in a massive and fairly densely packed city. Technically all manner of magic is available and I could answer "they use a spell to get rid of the smoke" but I'm ...
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270
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Viability of wells in a desert world; would it realistically work?
So I have this concept of this corporation capitalizing on the near lack of water available, save for oases here and there, on the surface by renting out (for quite high prices might I add) electric ...
- 1,671
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5
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272
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An Earth with only heart-shaped clouds
So I have another Earth-like planet that can only form heart-shaped clouds like this:
It is a result of natural forces.
What would the planet need to achieve this?
- 3,357
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2
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101
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Could this arragement of photoreceptors in the eye work and evolve?
I was reading about how cones and rods work and simplifying a lot how they work I noticed that there are 2 differences:
The first difference is the granularity of connections:
Multiple (hundreds to ...
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6
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Could a Gamma Ray Burst knock a Space Mirror out of orbit?
Does the radiation from a GRB have enough energy to move something as big but as light as a solar mirror off of its orbital path and destabilize it?
If it helps these mirrors are meant for ...
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