Newest Questions
38,951 questions
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How durable would a human have to be to run at mach 30
I have a character who is supposed to be able to sprint at a maximum speed of mach 30, or 10290 meters per second. I want to know how much heat would be generated by a human running at such a speed ...
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2
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132
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Do I need to add other passive defenses against my character's (human) lightning superpowers?
I want to give one of my characters the ability to shoot lightning from their fingers.
How do his ability work? The process itself consists of ionization through the psychokinetic movement of air ...
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2
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91
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What would I call a human “litter”? [closed]
So I have a humanoid race that gives birth to 7-12 kids at a time. What would I call this? I call it a litter in my head but that’s for non-human animals and it would be very weird for humanoids. If ...
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Review my idea : an endoceres-like tripod scavenger
characteristics
It is a squid-like creature that is 10-50 cm in hight, with a pointed cone made of calcium carbonate facing upward taking up around 90% of its hight. It has 3 legs that it uses to walk ...
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1
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Can there be another American Civil War Due to Immigration? [closed]
This was a great question and answer. I got a lot of insight from the answers supplied by others here.
What sort of violation of American rights would cause a civil war?
I am wondering what would ...
8
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4
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Would a barbed sword be off-balance/practical
So here's my idea: a sword with a sharp triangle of metal coming off the tip (which is flat, by the way). This is a broadsword, so it's two-handed and pretty heavy. I haven't settled on the length, so ...
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3
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The Anu Project, #1: What would the mass of a Gas Giant have to be to support 25+ Moons?
Overview:
The Anu project is a series of questions about a Gas Planet that puts the Giant in Gas Giant, as well as its extensive collection of Moons.
World Summary:
The world in question follows a ...
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Anatomically Correct Kasai Rex [closed]
The Kasai Rex is a large theropod-like cryptid supposedly living in Africa (couldn't find an english wikipedia page for it). I would like to know how such a creature could exist and what reasons it ...
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57
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What would it be like on a habitable planet tidally locked to its moon?
Let's assume there's a habitable planet with a moon similar to ours. Unlike the Earth-Moon system, where only the Moon is tidally locked to Earth, both objects are locked to each other.
What would ...
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7
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Why would chemical weapons never be used in a science-fiction setting?
Chemical warfare isn’t a modern invention. How old it really is depends on what your definition of the term “chemical warfare” is, but archeological evidence of the first use of poisonous gas dates ...
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Miedeval-tech society on a planet orbiting a black hole- how? [duplicate]
Something I'm working on where a space-faring culture sends a ship to observe a planet inhabited by life including humans at a medieval tech level- then I got the idea that instead of a 'traditional' ...
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3
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My crab-like creature underneath a 5 km thick ice: Please review my idea
Please review my creature
This is a member of the phylum xivapoda (14 legged in Latin) in this world and is very crab-like, with the exception that it is up to 10 meters tall measured from base of leg ...
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12
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What can cause (military) rank DEflation instead of rank INflation
We've all heard the jokes about there being more admirals than ships in the fleet and we've all cracked quips about North Korean Flag Officers running around absolutely covered in medals. We've ...
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12
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How to not get blood on you in close-quarters combat?
The pre-industrial humans of my world have noticed that if you intentionally do violence to someone and some of that person's blood gets on your person (including what you're wearing), a fairly ...
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2
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408
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Black holes as explosives
I realize that there have been other posts on this topic, but I'm going to try and go basic. We know that eventually a black hole will release a lot of radiation (aka explode-ish). but my question is ...
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Will water extracted/farmed/distilled from poisonous clouds be (more) potable if 'strong alcohol' was mixed in?
To put this very simply, the clouds are toxic. However, society requires water, and one of the main sources, is cloud-water farming. Another major industry of this society however, is alcohol ...
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1
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101
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How 'high' can a poisonous non-dense gaseous vapour rise?
So my question is going to sound very clunky, so I'm going to do best to break it down.
Basically my setting revolves around a post-apocalyptic sci-fi dystopian society residing at a very high-...
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3
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4
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3k
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How to ensure my giants remain undiscovered in the modern day?
My giants are around 2.7 meters tall, weigh ~240 kg, and have intelligence similar to a capuchin monkey. They are omnivorous mammals and take a digitigrade stance, with a stiff tail to support ...
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64
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Alternative methods of digestion?
For my worldbuilding project, I was trying to figure out another method of digestion other than “have a big balloon full of acid the food falls into”. Could there be other methods of passive digestion ...
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1
answer
133
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What would make solar eclipses a monthly occurrence?
What conditions on another planet might make a solar eclipse a monthly event? My thinking was this planet has a satellite maybe 1.2 - 1.3 times the size of our moon, as seen from its surface (so it ...
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Can I violate thermodynamics with a naked singularity and Unified Field Theory? [closed]
A while ago, I met a big bully named Thermodynamics. I couldn't deal with the concept of false immortality, so I resolved to tape a very loud thing to his back, and send him to sleep with the ...
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3
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How can a human have both a cat-like flexible spine and maintain stability?
I have a group of people living in my fictional world who have some of the traits of cats (ignore how this happened). These traits include a spine with shorter vertebrae and longer intervertebral ...
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467
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Ozondo System question 2: Effects of a high-gravity cold world on early spaceflight?
Link to the previous question: Review my solar system
Now on this question I want to zoom in on Thoria, the third planet from the star and the only habitable one (for carbon-oxygen based lifeforms ...
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Pls help me create abrahamic religion for hard-science fiction novel on partly terraformed Mars [closed]
I need help with creating religion for my novel. I'm not going to describe a lot of details of it to readers, but worry about terrible mistakes. At least me, as author, should know details, to create ...
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1
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Review my solar system
I am working on a sci-fi story, and have created a fictional system for one of my alien species. How realistic is it and if not what modifications can be made to make it realistic?
Star:
Ozondo: K-...
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Would a higher altitude make solar power 'more effective'?
So my setting revolves around a sci-fi society residing at a very high-altitude above cloud cover. They use a lot of solar based power and renewable energy. Ie, solar capable rechargable powerbanks, ...
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10
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How could I conceal a constantly-changing plot of land?
Welcome to CAGVILLE, or CV for short. CV is a 100 square mile portion of forest on the US-Canada border, which both sides use to train their special forces divisions. As one can imagine, it's top ...
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Assuming it begins ice-free, can a planetoid in a very distant orbit remain ice-free over geological timescales?
Suppose we have a relatively small but gravitationally rounded planetoid, orbiting Sol at a sufficiently great distance that we can neither directly observe it nor see its gravitational effects on the ...
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How many joints would a vertebrate evolved from a brittle star have? [closed]
I’m working on a seed world where brittle stars were left behind along with some food sources. Brittle stars already have calcite bones and I counted at least 30 joints per arm. 30 joints feels too ...
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Would giants hold any major strategic advantage in premodern conflict? [closed]
I am speaking of conflict predating the advent of gunpowder and industry, back when mules were the best means of transportation and mounted knights or archers the best soldiers money could buy. You ...
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Can a substance allow only solids through?
Semi-permeable barriers typically restrict solids passing through. Is there a way to do things differently? Is it possible for a barrier to capture liquids and gases, but allow a solid to pass through?...
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How can my superhero avoid burning off his shoes?
My superhero, Fusion Man, has the ability to shoot jets of semi-molten metal from his hands and feet. The metal is generated outside his body and given an impulse by the superpowers. I have chosen to ...
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4
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Space Pollution at the Lagrange Points
Imagine a moderately large M-Type asteroid gets maneuvered into one of the Earth/Moon Lagrange points. The asteroid has a diameter of few kilometers and a mass of a few dozen gigatons. It has been ...
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How completely would an empire having a near-monopoly on precious metals be able to manipulate the galactic economy?
In my series, there's this empire called the Aurean Dominate that controls the entire Planet Aurea and a handful of outlying territories on nearby worlds. On this Planet Aurea is the Monsaltu Range, ...
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Does my airbender need to have a special structure of the components of the muscular and skeletal structure of his body?
In the previous question Does my character need to be resistant to extreme temperatures in order for him to safety use superpowers? I asked if my character needed to be resistant to extreme ...
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Placing artificial moons inside a a gas giant
If a number of artificial moon ( the moon have Star Trek style anti gravity that fades out after 50km above its surface ) was inside the breathable atmosphere of a gas giant , how would life be ...
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15
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How could technological development be significantly accelerated without a major war?
I'm working on an alternate earth where technology is significantly ahead (Eg. technology adjacent to the things we have in our present day, stuff like kevlar, the internet, mobile phones, etc., ...
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could a sound wave or ultrasonic boom be harnessed as a form of flight
I am playing around with the idea that there are beings who have the ability to generate sound waves and sound energy at very high frequencies, wavelengths and with immense energy. They are located on ...
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5
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Would there always be markers (or some kind of clue) on cells that had been genetically engineered? [duplicate]
A mad scientist in my novel is intent on proving this human specimen he captured is not naturally coming by his characteristics, that he is instead somehow lab-altered, genetically engineered. Is that ...
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1
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What Type of Star and How many would I need to sustain 7 planets in a habitable zone [closed]
I would rather have just one star but I'm open to more. I really just want to know what would be most efficient for my fictional solar system which would be created by God/Cosmic entities
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How to convincingly erase a population's memory?
I am a big fan of the "forgotten precursor civilization" trope, and the lesser-used trope of gods or major religious figures worshiped in the present turning out to be forgotten and ...
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How humid does it have to be for flamethrowers to start experiencing problems?
I'm writing a setting where the use of flamethrowers is 'reasonably pervasive' both for warfare and the clearing away of foilage and shrubbery. I'm not sure how much in-universe context I need to ...
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Can we track each Alcubierre drive by the Hawking radiation emitted?
I am writing a story about a dogfight between multiple warp capable spaceships, in one particular scene I like to have the adversary to make an epic announcement/entrance via hawking radiation like ...
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How does a government that has a 'cash-for-kills' bounty system avoid recreating the 'Great Hanoi Rat Massacre'?
To put it in very simple terms, in my sci-fi setting, we have a bounty system in use by Nation A (cash for kills). Basically for every legitimate kill a soldier or police officer makes, they get a ...
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What effects would turning the Nile into blood have on the Mediterranean Sea's environment?
What Happened
This happens on a nice spring day along the Nile during the reign of Ozymandias. At this moment, all the waters in the drainage basin of the Nile become the exact composition of type AB (...
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3
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What worldly conditions would prevent low explosives (gunpowder etc) from being adopted for firearms? [duplicate]
After playing Kenshi, a world with advanced AI androids and old-world space elevators, one of the biggest questions I had was why there were no guns in the game. My first thought would be that the ...
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What are the implications of a time-locked transfiguration magic system for transforming living beings?
I am considering the ramifications of a magic system for a short story where "transfiguration" replaces an object/volume with a similarly shaped one, rather than changing the object itself. ...
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Would a ship using a warp drive for propulsion experience G-Forces while accelerating?
Let's assume Alcubiere warp drives have become the standard propulsion system for cruising long distances in space. These are hard sci-fi warp drives so they can't go FTL speeds but they can still ...
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Could a beak made of quartz produce electrical shocks?
I’m making a Europa-like moon that, instead of photosynthesis, plant-like creatures uses a process I call piezosynthesis to make energy. Long story short, they use small quartz crystals in their cells ...
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How might sapient elephants overcome their poor vision?
This is a part 4 to a series. See 1, 2, 3.
In my Napoleonic-era world, there is a race of sapient elephants resembling Asian elephants but with a more dextrous trunk. They are in conflict with human ...
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