All Questions
Tagged with engineering materials
26 questions
17
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Is it possible to make sand from bones? Would it have the same properties as regular sand?
Context: In a magic city, artificers use various types of sand as components for their magitek contraptions.
I like the idea of having one type of sand made out of the bones of magical creatures and ...
- 4,634
3
votes
3
answers
439
views
Effects of TCO metamaterial on recoil
Triangular Cylindrical Origami (TCO) is a metamaterial that is able to turn a compression wave into a tension wave. This cancels out the force of an impact, but does nothing for the momentum.
...
- 5,053
20
votes
10
answers
4k
views
Would it be possible to make a brass/wind instrument with a jet engine as the source of airflow?
As the title says, basically. Could you have some kind of musical instrument powered by a jet engine?
It could be an organ, or a tuba, or whatever, it doesn't matter.
I'm understanding and open if the ...
- 1,124
6
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How bullet resistant would a person be who is 80 times more durable than a regular human?
The tensile, shear and compressive strength of all their tissues, including bone, skin, muscle, etc., is multiplied by a factor of 80. They are also very buff and so have a large body volume.
How ...
4
votes
4
answers
386
views
How Effectively Could You Use Magical Darkness As A Compact Heatsink?
In this setting materials science is decades ahead, so answers should be limited by technology that isn't too speculative and don't presume anything supernatural beyond what I describe in this ...
- 2,793
3
votes
1
answer
214
views
Cities built of ice and compacted snow on a planet where it never melts?
Picture a planet where it's always winter all year (by that I mean that there are technically no seasons and it's always sub-zero weather) so the colonizers make use of the most abundant materials ...
- 1,319
2
votes
2
answers
239
views
Can we use magnetic fields to make metalic hydrogen for rocket fuel?
Metallic hydrogen is probably the best possible chemical rocket fuel. It would make single-stage-take-off possible. The trouble is the stuff is extremely hard to contain, and requires exotic fuel ...
- 5,185
-3
votes
3
answers
190
views
Mantle drills for harvesting geothermal energy
In the mid-2020s, scientists try to harvest geothermal energy, by using drill equipment that drill deep into the Earth's crust and into the mantle, so that the intense heat can be harvested by pumping ...
- 3,500
12
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Usability of Silver and its alloys as standard building material
In a world where silver is relatively abundant and not valued as luxury product and is pretty cheap (probably even cheaper than iron or steel)
How viable would silver or its alloys be as a replacement ...
- 708
4
votes
2
answers
146
views
Viability of High Specific Strength but Low Density Material
Let's call this fictional metal, "Lightium" or Lg.
Properties of its best alloy in comparison to Titanium-G5 alloy include:
It has twice the Specific Strength than Ti
It has one-tenth ...
- 708
7
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Is speed of a ship limited by its propellers or the engine
For both nuclear and diesel powered ship, an aircraft carrier for example ,
Is it the engine that can’t produce enough power to drive the propellers to get as much as speed you can get within ...
- 708
30
votes
12
answers
7k
views
In a world where wood is scarce, what are the most important things you need wood for?
In most large civilizations on Earth, wood has been a fairly plentiful resource, so we've used it for all sorts of things: Houses, boats, carts, spears, arrows, bows, shields, barrels, firewood, paper ...
- 1,040
1
vote
1
answer
177
views
Hypothetical Material used to construct shell for (this) shell world
Hypothetical materials used to construct (this) shell world
As there are multiple definitions for shell world, this needs some clarification. In this case, a shell world refers to a body with the ...
3
votes
1
answer
155
views
Mechanics and structure for an artificial giant creature?
I originally wanted to create giant land biological life-forms but the square cube law is limiting me to sauropod body sized creatures so another element of my story is artificially enhanced ...
user69935
9
votes
2
answers
613
views
How do I determine the physical size of a quartz crystal of a given shape and vibrational mode needed to approximate a specific resonant frequency?
So, one of my D&D characters has a cut/relief-carved quartz crystal amulet (medallion shaped) that's both an arcane focus (crystal) and a holy symbol (amulet), and I thought it would be a good ...
- 11.3k