Questions tagged [water]
For questions that have to do with the liquid form of H2O.
11
votes
5answers
2k views
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
1k views
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, ...
6
votes
4answers
170 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
264 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 ...
8
votes
5answers
3k 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
720 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
101 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
119 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
608 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 ...
8
votes
4answers
299 views
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
111 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 ...
67
votes
24answers
16k views
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
177 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
173 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
90 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/...
2
votes
9answers
1k views
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
634 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)?:
...
15
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
202 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
106 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
637 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
votes
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 ...
27
votes
9answers
6k 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
458 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
288 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
131 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 ...
-3
votes
2answers
101 views
What can cause the formation of a water canopy above the Earth's surface?
Here is a link to the water canopy theory.
My question is: how this water could end up there, high above the surface?
I was thinking about two possibilities: a comet spreading ice/water as it ...
6
votes
3answers
163 views
Deep Sea Habitat on a Low Gravity Planet
I read somewhere that the lowest depth for a sustainable underwater habitat is estimated to be three-hundred meters. Any lower and the pressure becomes too great for structures that are currently ...
-3
votes
2answers
264 views
Could a 2-litre milk carton be used to knock someone unconscious? [closed]
More specifically: could a 2-litre milk carton like the one pictured below be used to knock someone unconscious via a single blow to the head, or would the carton burst from the force?
Here is some ...
25
votes
16answers
6k views
How to make sure humans do not know the meteorological phenomenon rainbow?
You've got to love the rainbow, it's an awesome sight. But I don't want humans to have the pleasure of seeing the rainbow.
What change to the earth, atmosphere and so on, is needed so that humans ...
39
votes
30answers
15k views
A way of getting the water to the top of the tall building without electricity?
First, let me explain the situation. Post-apocalypse setting, a group of humans (let's say around a hundred of them) have to find safe places to live at, protected from animals, bandits, and other ...
-1
votes
1answer
106 views
Protect 18th century marines weapons & supplies in water
Sometimes to win a war or battle a nation must conduct amphibious operations and such, that require soldiers to enter water. Experiencing this, "X" nation decided to create a branch of marines/naval ...
-2
votes
1answer
58 views
What would cells with a higher water content do to amphibious humanoid organisms? [closed]
Jellyfish are 95% water, humans 70%, frogs about 80%. What would a cell water content of around 80% mean to a humanoid? It is the size of a human adult with a long tail and some external gills.
...
23
votes
5answers
6k views
How could the rain fall slower?
I was thinking about people who once told me that I must feel the rain earlier than them (I'm tall). So I thought of a world where the rain falls so slowly that the humans of different size living on ...
6
votes
5answers
1k views
Foam-like water
What can cause water to be foam-like, in lumps, but still liquid? Something similar to goo (jelly like but liquid and opaque)?
I have a planet and such kind of water, which is drinkable and the ...
1
vote
3answers
104 views
What would be the effect of a world with much less water? [closed]
Say a world has, instead of about 70% water (earth), only 25% water. This would be in the form of one ocean, and all the rivers and lakes. The land has about five mountain ranges, and the planet is ...
1
vote
1answer
143 views
A world dominated by hamsters [closed]
One day, a few months ago, I read a post, some one guy talking about a hamster world domination.
It was weird but interesting.
The post has not especifications, but still, It is funny and interesting ...
16
votes
7answers
5k views
What could cause the world to be almost completely submerged in water, naturally or man-made?
I'm trying to build a world that is almost completely water, but I couldn't come up with an explanation for WHY the world was like this. The world has the same gravity and atmosphere of Earth. It also ...
0
votes
3answers
184 views
What would happen if water froze at a much lower temperature? [closed]
I've stumbled upon few photographs that capture water in all three phases - solid, liquid and gas (well, vapor). And then I thought to myself, there is probably a good reason why life works with water ...
19
votes
9answers
7k views
All of the freshwater on Earth has suddenly vanished - would humanity survive? [closed]
Consider a scenario where all freshwater on Earth suddenly disappeared...
Would the planet remain habitable?
Definition of water removed:
Everything in this chart under the category 'freshwater', ...
4
votes
2answers
111 views
Is it possible to create a giant, water-powered music box?
On another world, there is giant ravine leading into a cave where a sentient species live (Let's call them Cavers). They have limited access to materials; the only resources they have are rocks, ...
2
votes
3answers
312 views
What would be helpful for survival in areas with temperatures just below the boiling point?
I have a planet where the equator temperatures are near boiling point (90˚C or 194˚F) during the "summer". What qualities would an animal need in order to survive these kinds of temperatures to ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Could water be separated from a mixture by natural condensing/freezing?
Our colony has landed on a planet which is a complete barren desert wasteland, the surface as dead as the moon but also extremely cold, being quite far from the local star. They have settled at the ...
36
votes
15answers
11k views
What methods might an ancient civilization use to desalinate sea water?
Following on from my previous question here concerning the ancient civilization I have called the Androy and their struggle to survive terrible drought conditions on their planet.
After years of ...
1
vote
1answer
114 views
Resources and shelter for water-based fantasy world [closed]
Say there is a fantasy world where land is extremely rare, with only a few islands specling it's surface. The rest of the world, however, is covered in a single ocean. What would a society be like in ...
12
votes
8answers
5k views
Using a quarry as a water reservoir
Our country, which is located in thousands of km2 of plains, needs a way to store water. Dams are not an option due to the fact that there are no mountains. We have retired mining quarries that are ...
2
votes
0answers
111 views
Human dominated by hamsters [closed]
In a world dominated by hamsters, how would people solve the conflict of drinking water shortages?
9
votes
7answers
775 views
O'Neill/McKendree Looping River
Is there a way to design a river system in an O'Neill/McKendree-style cylindrical habitat to passively feed into itself in an endless loop, from one end of the habitat to the other and back again?
...
17
votes
4answers
531 views
Is it possible for a planet to have a liquid ring?
Is it possible for a planet to have a liquid ring rather than a ring made of solid particles?
If it is, how long would it be stable for? If not, is there any other configuration of a liquid that ...
