Questions tagged [technology]
For questions about the creation, use, and application of all types of technology.
1,603
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How to optimise the use of 10 nuclear fuel pellets in medieval period?
Suppose 10 standard nuclear fuel pellets have been sent back in time to the 14th century A. D. scattered across 10 adjacent towns via a disposable time machine. Would people in the medieval period be ...
3
votes
3answers
66 views
How can I create an accurate version of Chell’s Long Fall Boots from Portal?
The long fall boots are special footwear that extend from your feet to your knees. They enable you to fall an indefinite height in Earth-like gravity without damaging your body when you land. How can ...
4
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3answers
149 views
Ways for advanced civilizations to mask communications on an interstellar / intergalactic scale
Say we have a civilization on the verge of becoming Type II, and are in the process of building a Dyson Sphere. They are aware that in the process, and especially after completion, there will be ...
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3answers
165 views
How to mine a moon made of half uranium and half radium?
Imagine one day the moon suddenly transformed into a colossal elephant's foot and we need to get to the moon to obtain sample... Could it be done using modern day technology to mine the uranium for ...
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1answer
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Can transistors be made in the stone age? (Spoiler: Dr.Stone)
WARNING: This post contains some spoilers for the anime/manga Dr.Stone.
As I'm watching Dr.Stone, I see Senku and the gang trying to make vacuum tubes for their circuits. The vacuum tube is an ...
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1answer
134 views
Just how powerful can Zero-Point Energy be, if it was mastered? [closed]
So, amongst multiple forms of energy production, Zero-Point Energy (or Vacuum Energy) is less often mentioned about.
As of now, it is most commonly theorised to be best used for batteries that never ...
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4answers
135 views
What would make mana-batteries an unsuitable alternative to mages combining their power?
Orgone, also referred to as Mana, is the conduit through which the power of the cosmos flows, focused through a sorcerer's will. Ritual practitioners must draw on this reserve of power in their souls ...
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69 views
Which of these technologies or sciences listed below would be hard for a scientist in Star Wars to do? [closed]
I apologize for the long list but I’m looking for something that still would not be in use by the end of the Sequel Trilogy. I’m trying to pick a technology for my Star Wars story. So basically pick ...
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2answers
126 views
Can a liquid mercury pistol flamethrower exist?
The Cold War just got a whole lot hotter.
Ordinary 20th century flamethrowers are, let's admit it, huge. Covert operations, especially in urban settings, would not stay covert for long, if our custom-...
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10answers
388 views
How to make FTL-technology an narratively interesting suicide-pact-technology?
Building my sci-fi setting deciding what's the in-universe answer to the Fermi-paradoxon, the reason why the universe still seems to be empty of K3 civilisations despite its age, has been quite ...
5
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3answers
171 views
How to travel between “Little Prince” style planets without high technology?
Some advanced human civilization built a large, 6,000 km diameter gravity balloon and filled it with a breathable atmosphere as well as small, rocky bodies with radii of ~200 meters and masses of ~$6 \...
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5answers
423 views
Can flak be practical in an age of laser fighters?
In this article, laser fighter jets would be relagated to sub sonic speeds and fly low to avoid being shot at. That would mean that they would be closer to the ground and thus be more vulnerable to ...
6
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7answers
299 views
How would a Stone age society make use of gunpowder?
Given that the main ingredients for gunpowder(Charcoal, Saltpetre, and Sulphur) exist in varying quantities pretty much everywhere, I've been wondering how it wasn't discovered much sooner than the ...
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3answers
108 views
Night sky when man-made light sources are made obsolete. Would the night sky still be affected by light-pollution?
Im creating a world where for whatever reason all power on Earth is gone. Meaning there is no more man-made light. Which also means no more light pollution. Would the night sky revert to its former ...
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2answers
163 views
Recreating dragon fire
In Anne McCaffrey’s series 'The Dragonriders of Pern', she describes her dragons chewing on rocks containing phosphine — a chemical made of one phosphorus atom and three hydrogen atoms. In gas form, ...
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1answer
71 views
Modification of a standard cannon to project water instead of iron ball?
Cannonballs may be a thing of human warfare past, but it is not difficult to imagine the sense of dread at seeing a 40-pound metal projectile headed toward your ship, unable to tell for a few ...
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9answers
2k views
In a decadent galactic empire with instantaneous communication, how would the most remote planet gain their independence?
In a very large and decadent galactic empire (think of Asimov's foundation empire), a new technology leap allows planet's government bodies to communicate instantaneously across the galaxy. It can be ...
4
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7answers
2k views
Why don't military spaceships use blockchain technology for ship log? [closed]
Straight to the point, cut out the backstory:
If blockchain is so secure and difficult to hack why don't the military spaceship use it for logging important and also non essential events, navigation, ...
3
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4answers
176 views
Why would a technologically advance space-faring civilization still use physical currency?
In this world human civilization has reached the stars and now spans across multiple galaxies. Technological advancements such as neural implants, FTL travel, and FTL internet access are ubiquitous ...
2
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2answers
248 views
How to get attention when being shrunk to size of a flea? [closed]
One evening a group of teenagers got arrested for taunting a queen's guard and was brought to a temporary holding cell, all of a sudden a radioactive mosquito seemingly escaped from a nearby lab bites ...
2
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4answers
159 views
How can entrance through an open doorway only be possible from one side?
In the beginning, the universe existed as one, where humans and their gods lived among each other and existed within the same realm. Due to an ancient war, dubbed " The War in Heaven", circumstances ...
4
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3answers
119 views
How could Intra-mundane travel be made impossible with wormhole technology?
The gods of this world created a Dyson sphere which is 22.5 times the surface space of earth. It is divided up into 9 sections, or "realms", which are self-contained worlds that humans live in. These ...
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4answers
4k views
Hammering under water?
Long before you get to using fire to smelt metals, hammering is a much more fundamental requirement for basic technologies. Hammering lets you
Flake stones to make stone tools
Process food--grinding ...
8
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5answers
1k views
What transportation for snow city?
Set on an icy world where weather forecast is alway blizzard everywhere, I am wondering how do modern day people commute if everywhere are buried under several miles of snow? What kind of ...
4
votes
2answers
407 views
Can tiny astronauts reach space?
Imagine a species one foot tall that has a relatively large brain for its size. The species has human like intelligence and in principle the ability to build anything that we could. It lives on a ...
14
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5answers
4k views
How to create electric light with 1300s technology
I would like to have electric light bulbs. One should be at least as good as a candle.
What we have:
The technology level is generally early 1300s
But we can create copper wire
We have a ...
5
votes
1answer
91 views
What would happen if ocean currents suddenly stopped (or changed)?
I'm thinking about a device (in a story I'm writing) that could control ocean currents, and I'm wondering how it could be weaponized. For example, if an ocean current was suddenly stopped, what might ...
4
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3answers
186 views
How would Roadhog’s Scrapgun work?
this is my first question here. I’ve wondered about this for a while, and the original idea wasn’t on Roadhog’s gun but I thought it similar enough for this question.
https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/...
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6answers
138 views
Building transcontinental railway through many different countries
Let's have fantasy world with XVIII European century technology, also let's have technology of making really big trains and rails for them (big like 2.5 meters track gauge). What I want is railroad ...
18
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21answers
7k views
In a world where Magic steam Engines exist what would keep people from making cars
I am working a wild wild west mixed with contemorary fantasy setting. So imagine knights in shining Armor, riding along side a train as a dragon flies over and breathes fire down.
on they have what ...
5
votes
2answers
192 views
Can plasma be used instead of physical rails in a railgun?
The railgun utilizes two metal rails that, when under a electrical current, utilize the Lorentz force to accelerate a metal projectile to super sonic speeds.
In light of this, Can the rails be ...
4
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4answers
168 views
Earliest viable modern battery
I'm building a world where high-density, low cost batteries are discovered far, far in advance of modern times, leading to a decentralised power grid. It has become convention for homes and buildings ...
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3answers
144 views
How can one infect/shutdown a Virtual Reality game using technology?
For a lack of better words, I’m looking for technical ways for a person to shutdown an entire VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) from afar. And by shutting down ...
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11answers
546 views
How would naval warfare change with the advent of advanced weaponry?
In my setting, rail guns, point defence lasers and supersonic missiles are the weapons of choice. What I'm wondering is, how do these weapons change modern naval warfare. More specifically, ship ...
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2answers
97 views
Is it possible, with modern technology, to hold a small planet in place?
In one of my universes, Humanity found a so-called "world anchor" on the Moon. They removed the anchor and returned to Earth. A few days later, the Moon exploded and a planet about the size of Mars ...
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4answers
210 views
What is a realistic based Situation in which a Dyson Sphere could be created?
I felt inspired, and I wanted to write about the future of our lives.
Setting: If one had to guess, what year would we most likely be able to build a super-structure like a Dyson-Sphere around the ...
2
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4answers
188 views
What is the difference between a pulsed particle weapon and a beam particle weapon?
I'm considering adding a particle based weapon within my setting. It would be used in atmosphere and utilise [electrons] (http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sidearmenergy.php#id--...
5
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6answers
162 views
100% renewable with current technology [closed]
How would a world look like that runs 100% on renewable energy with only current technology?
We are living in a world where everyone came together to build that future that does not rely on fossil ...
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20answers
11k views
How can a person Insulate copper wire in a medieval world?
Time traveler here, stranded in the year of 1019 AD, medieval ages. Location: europe. While I can still access and post on web forums because my temporal transmitter has a 1Ky range, I have a broken ...
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19answers
12k views
Why is super hero technology never used by civilians?
In comic books all kinds of super hero technology comes up. Villains will use shrink rays, heroes will have super suits and an AI in their bat computer, and the government has flying helicarriers and ...
4
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2answers
111 views
Anatomically(?) correct nanobots [closed]
With my limited knowledge of chemistry, molecular physics, and quantum computing, I'm struggling to reconcile sci-fi/fantasy trope depictions of (seemingly) impossibly small nanobots with actual ...
39
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5answers
4k views
Doing chemistry under water?
Aquatic races are usually assumed to be stunted in technological development by the inability to create fire or forge metals.
But what about doing chemistry at all?
The development of chemistry in ...
7
votes
2answers
489 views
How much energy does a bee/micro robot need per second of flight?
In my scifi setting small utility robot swarms are used for many purposes. I'm currently trying to estimate how much energy such a swarm would need to operate. Since biology, robotics and ...
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2answers
76 views
When antimatter meets matter do the two of them cancel eachother out? [closed]
I’ve designed melee weapons akin to lightsabers for my setting that emit a blade made out of antimatter. The handle itself serves as a mini particle accelerator, and it emits a magnetic field to ...
5
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3answers
110 views
How advanced could an underground society get?
To briefly summarize: former slaves to a race of flying dragon-like humanoids (I've made some modifications to them based on feedback, but the gist is more or less the same) have escaped into the ...
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7answers
8k views
At what point in time would humans notice a 21st century satellite observing them?
I was considering a story based on a version of Earth that was being observed from the beginning of civilisation (Around 3000-4000 BC in my understanding "Early civilizations arose first in Lower ...
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5answers
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Would nuclear bombs be effective against clouds of nanites?
Would they be able to even destroy the nanoscopic machines, or would something like an EMP be much more efficient?
The nanites in my setting are programmed to tear apart the human genome of enemy ...
3
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6answers
121 views
Early stages of a police / surveillance state, experiment leading to totaliarian government [closed]
A democratic government starts tightening its grip on the citizens by tiny steps, slowly but surely they advance towards a state that resembles China today.
In their first step, they start a ...
3
votes
2answers
104 views
How much processing power would a real time Edited Reality headset need to render video in real time
Imagine a VR headset with built in camera & AI with object recognition & photo editing software.
The camera records the image.
The AI is trained to pick out 'undesirable' images, objects, ...
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4answers
212 views
Swords Becoming Effective Weapons [duplicate]
What sort of event would make swords the safest bet for a fight? In most post-apocalyptic scenarios, you would never be sure that your opponent didn't have a gun, no matter how rare ammo is. That ...
