Questions tagged [water]
For questions that have to do with the liquid form of H2O.
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1answer
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How would much smaller heat capacity of water affect the life on Earth?
Water, as is, with its physical and chemical properties, is the base of any living being on Earth.
Water has a rather high specific heat capacity of 4.184 J/gC, which in itself has a great effect on ...
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votes
3answers
100 views
Type of feet for large creature in shallow freshwater
A quadruped creature, similar in size to a small cow has found its niche in shallow freshwaters in a tropical climate.
What type of feet would be suitable for this environment?
I speculate that the ...
5
votes
5answers
987 views
Fight a biblical flood apart from building barriers [closed]
In a medieval setting, which methods of fighting a rising sea level exist apart from building barriers? The idea is that a civilization has to fight the flood just long enough to finish their ark.
...
3
votes
1answer
94 views
Earth like planet, more surface area under water?
Planet: earth like, half the radius of earth, gravity is .7g.
Assuming this is possible and humans live on this planet, would it be possible to have 90% of the planets surface area be under water? ...
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votes
7answers
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Would this system work to purify water?
This is part of my generation ship worldbuilding. I mentioned my water purification system in a different question, but I never directly asked about it. Here, I will directly ask about it. I think it ...
0
votes
0answers
48 views
What atmospheric changes could make water purple? [duplicate]
I'm writing a story based on another planet and would like for the water to be purple instead of blue, but I don't know if an atmosphere that would allow that would be safe for humans to breathe in.
6
votes
1answer
116 views
Ecological implications of osmotic portals
Suppose some magical civilization on Earth-like planet can create portals. Any given portal entrances are spherical surfaces of the same radius. Any particle enters one sphere and exits another in the ...
17
votes
5answers
4k views
Getting fresh water in the middle of hypersaline lake in the Bronze Age
An ancient kingdom covers a several rivers in a desert basin all converging on a central, hypersaline, lake. Because of its central location, and the importance of the salt, the lake has important ...
3
votes
3answers
239 views
Is a confluence of more than two rivers plausible?
Two rivers converging into one is obviously extremely common, most often when one is clearly dominant over the other (whereby the lesser one is the 'tributary' of the greater) but also sometimes where ...
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16answers
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How to supply water to a coastal desert town with no rain and no freshwater aquifers?
Think Tatooine in climate, but with oceans. Here are a few restrictions due to setting:
There is modern technology, but not too much electricity ie no super high amperage machines.
Population is ...
1
vote
5answers
347 views
Does a character being allergic to water (specifically the $H_2O$ molecule) make rational sense?
I'm writing a drama book and it's meant to be taken 100% seriously, and the main character was born with an allergy to $H_2O$. She does not have Aquagenic Urticaria, as that only affects the skin. She ...
18
votes
3answers
2k views
Closest Proximity of Oceans to Freshwater Springs
I am trying to wrap my head around the geography of a settlement in my world.
The settlement is situated along the coast, along a river roughly 500m wide with temperate mixed forests surrounding it, ...
4
votes
1answer
140 views
What construction and physics implications would there be for life in an underwater “high rise building?” [closed]
I'm working on a project in which part of the story takes place on a planet that is mostly ocean. There is a small continent with some manufacturing and refinery structures, but the rest of the planet'...
8
votes
7answers
2k views
How much water is needed to create a Katana capable of cutting flesh, bones and wood?
I've created a character for my world that has the ability to manipulate water with her magic. She applied this ability by using it with a katana hilt. I will try to explain how she uses this ability ...
19
votes
3answers
4k views
Does water in vacuum form a solid shell or freeze solid?
I'm working on a sci-fi setting which includes an aquatic space-faring species.
When a human space vessel is ruptured and depressurizes, the gas can escape rapidly and we immediately suffer from the ...
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votes
4answers
187 views
How significantly would the course of rivers change over 10,000 years?
This one is rather straightforward. A character falls into a magically-induced coma for about 10,000 years and then wakes up to find the world around him different in quite a few ways. There's not a ...
48
votes
13answers
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Pressure inside an infinite ocean?
Handwaving the origin of one such place, imagine a universe where every part of space is filled fully and evenly with liquid water (at, say 1 degree Celsius). What would be the experience of a solid ...
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votes
8answers
4k views
How could a planet have most of its water in the atmosphere?
I am creating a speculative evolution project for school (and partially for leisure) and I need a planet for my organisms to live on. I have a rough idea of what it may be like but I'm no expert in ...
9
votes
3answers
328 views
Is 'Black' Whitewash Possible?
Question: Is it technically possible to make a 'Black' Whitewash?
True Whitewash is a plaster-like substance that has been used to coat stone and wooden walls for cosmetic and waterproofing purposes ...
2
votes
5answers
280 views
Creating the perfect post-apocalyptic suburban town, part I: water source
I'm writing a story set in the immediate (and eventually distant) aftermath of the human race globally being given access to a runic magic system in the modern day. This... eventually goes very, very ...
11
votes
10answers
6k views
Is there enough fresh water in the world to eradicate the drinking water crisis?
Lets assume, by the means of some advanced scientific discovery, scientists find a way to teleport simple matter to any part of the world and use this process to teleport fresh water and/or small ...
6
votes
2answers
182 views
Electrical, Internet and phone connections on an isolated part of a world?
In the world I am creating, a chunk of the USA, specifically in Northern Oregon, is teleported to another world. The teleported section has all infrastructure intact, including power generation in the ...
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votes
4answers
219 views
What would happen if the boiling point of a section of ocean was lowered to 5C?
Suppose, that in a particular area of the ocean on an earth-like planet, all water molecules are transmuted into an exotic variety of $H_2O$ that is identical to normal water in every way except with ...
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5answers
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What could trigger powerful quakes on icy world?
Imagine a planet orbiting a star some billions of lightyears away from us, the planet is 4 times the mass of Earth and is covered with ice 100km thick on average. It is believed that liquid ocean ...
10
votes
2answers
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Infrastructure damage from sudden thickening of water
Deep in a laboratory far under the megacity of Exampleville, a scientist is experimenting on a new compound found in an alternate, magical universe. He accidentally knocks over a vial of Handwavium, ...
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votes
4answers
295 views
Water planet turns into desert world without being rendered uninhabitable
A habitable (human could survive in its atmosphere without suits) desert planet which used to have large oceans is quite common in ScFi. I was thinking about the processes which could have been ...
6
votes
5answers
323 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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votes
5answers
4k views
How to get rid of human waste without using bodies of water
A particularly religious people living in a land filled with rivers need to get rid of their excreta. They have disfavoured sewers and dumping waste on water because they venerate oceans and rivers, ...
4
votes
4answers
826 views
Could a terrestrial planet have water for a core?
There’s a planet called eaglypt whose surface is 100% barren desert. However, there is a twist: the planet’s core consists of liquid water, and there are a few places where this water seeps through ...
6
votes
2answers
131 views
Maximum realistic salinity level with thriving aquatic environment?
I'm trying to create a planet which environment is not immediately lethal to humans, (reasonable oxygen level) however after closer inspection turns out not to be specially Earth-like.
One issues is ...
4
votes
2answers
129 views
What water generating technology would be required to create a planetary scale flood?
Aqadatio is a planet which is completely flooded. This flood was generated by its own government to get out of debt (long story). The inhabitants of this planet are technologically advanced, more so ...
7
votes
4answers
683 views
How common is it for a river to enter a valley from a flatter plain?
before I get into my question I wanted to thank everyone for their input in my first thread about the general principles of river drawing. I have taken your comments under consideration and began ...
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4answers
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I'm going to have to redraw most of my rivers - what do I need to know to make them true to life?
I'm new here but I've been a worldbuilder for the last decade or so. I'm pretty late to the 'mapping out your country' party and I've only been at it for about 8 months, but I'm starting to see some ...
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vote
1answer
141 views
Genetic altering to make human lungs strong enough to process water [duplicate]
I am aware that human lungs can't process water due to other reasons, but I am working on a setting that has genetically altered humans of various degrees and one of them can breathe water and air. I ...
68
votes
24answers
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What is the utilitarian purpose of artificial waterfalls?
In sci-fi and fantasy artwork, I often see a city built on top of or incorporating waterfalls:
James Gurney's Dinotopia (above) is an egregious example with "waterfall towers". When the city is ...
1
vote
3answers
222 views
How do I build an ancient moisture vaporator?
Let us suppose a world that exists under a harsh red sun. The entire planet, which may once have been fertile, is, in its current state, covered with desert. The civilization living there, which may ...
0
votes
3answers
196 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 ...
2
votes
0answers
93 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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9answers
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Building my Flat Earth, how to make my Ice walls last for eternity [closed]
In a world where
Earth does NOT have gravity (Gravity does not exist).
Our oceans are created by Ice walls.
Ice walls? How can they exist so long?
In the Flat Earth model, the Ice walls are situated ...
7
votes
1answer
649 views
Massive tides and resources
Assuming a situation similar to this, where the moon causes slower but massive tides that slowly encircle the globe. Would the poles be constantly underwater or not underwater (like A or B below)?:
...
14
votes
9answers
3k views
Can a house cut off from the world still have water for a short time?
Related to this question a bit, the house I'm talking about was swallowed into another dimension along with parts of its garden. The house itself stays completely intact, but the piping is cut off, ...
3
votes
7answers
2k views
Is it hypothetically possible to create a giant levee that is a non-physical forcefield or electronic membrane?
What examples are there in science fiction of molecular shields that can cancel out or "eat" certain molecules--and are they plausible? Is it hypothetically possible to create a giant levee that is a ...
3
votes
2answers
262 views
World in drought - How long does it take for a forest to die without water?
In my world a powerful earthquake produces an opening in the tectonic plates and changes the geography of an entire continent. Most of the great rivers deviate from their courses or disappear, leaving ...
5
votes
1answer
115 views
Winterizing a Municipal Water System
I'm the last person in a large city. Everyone else has left and I don't know when they will be back, if ever. I'm planning on staying in the city as long as I can.
I want to avoid, or minimize, a ...
3
votes
4answers
655 views
What purposes could a technological ruin with a half-mile sphere full of water have served? [closed]
There is a soft sci-fi RPG called Numenera, set on the Earth a billion years in the future, where multiple technologically-advanced civilizations have risen and fallen, and a new human civilization is ...
15
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9answers
6k views
Would it be possible to make a water mill without metal?
I'm making a human society that has a lack of metal ore and no knowledge of metalworking at all. However, industry must still continue, metal or not, so I'm thinking about a water mill made out of ...
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9answers
7k views
Sailing without wind, but with strong currents
Context
On my world, there is a lot of water: sea, oceans, ... There are also firm land and islands, so it's interesting to travel on the water. The problem is that there is NO wind at all, and lots ...
6
votes
3answers
493 views
Can you have reduced visibility (due to fog) but an atmosphere that is still breathable?
Is it possible to have an atmosphere that is essentially fog, but still be breathable by humans?
I'm basically looking to have an environment where visibility is very low (for suspense reasons) even ...
2
votes
3answers
408 views
Element Handling Justification: Water manipulation
I am roleplaying in a lore where elemental justification is really poor. However, loving a good and strong background, I would like to explain why my character is / would be able to manipulate ...
5
votes
3answers
142 views
A Worldwide Wave
What would have to happen for a giant tidal wave to wash its way around an entire planet? The planet can be like earth, with the same size, mass, and everything else. However the wave must start ...
