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[Amallar]

Based on all this, I propose that adamantine can be honed to an edge thickness of less than one quadrillionth of a meter (I'm not very good with logarithms, so someone else can work it out more precisely).  This is well below the radius of a single proton.

How much would that be relative to electrons? Something smaller? Something much smaller? Would a blade of that size even be useful? Wouldn't it just go through all the empty space between the target's atoms? Too many questions?

an electron does not really have an effective point particle size under ordinary conditions. Electron orbitals are treated as fuzzy quantum uncertainty clouds where if you were to perform a point measurement, you have varying degrees of probability of detecting a point particle electron entity.

(Really, due to the wave/particle duality of the electron, it really does exist as a fuzzy cloud and not as a particle UNTIL you look for it to collapse the wave function.)

The size of the fuzzy cloud an electron bound to an atom manifests as is considerably larger than an atomic nucleus, because the clouds are highly energetic, have very strong pauli exclusion with their full integer spin, and very strong EM repulsion.

The vast majority of the volume of the atom is comprised of the electron clouds surrounding it.

That the edge of the weapon is thinner than an electron orbital is.... interesting.  It means that adamantine is not baryonic matter, or at least, is not atomic in nature.

Hmm.... So adamantine is, or is at least similar to, dark matter? If slade and adamantine are essentially polar counterparts, then perhaps both of them are synonymous to protons/electrons on a non-baryonic scale. That is, both of them could actually be counterparts in a larger quantum structure, much as protons and electrons are to atoms. Non-baryonic matter is not atomic in nature, as you stated; so it stands to reason that any instances of polar non-baryonic matter would be a basis for non-baryonic "molecules" (or whatever structure could be formed from N-B polar components.

[wierd]

Nonbaryonic matter is matter that isn't made of baryons. (Protons, neutrons, et al.)

Things like electrons, neutrinos, muons, that kind of thing.

Nonatomic baryonic matter is stuff like bose-einstein condensates, neutron star core material, etc.

[miauw62]

I found the answer!

[wierd]

Any technology, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic.

[dbay]

The bolt still needs control fins to avoid tumble.  It needs to spin around its long axis to do this as well.

etc.

Hmm, good point. Couldn't the shaft be fluted cleverly to mimic this, to a certain extent?

[Blizzlord]

I found the answer!

Your link needs fixin'.

More to the topic, perhaps the subatomic edge splits the atoms in the body, freezing the victim solid or; if hitting a heavy metal, creates a microscopic atomic bomb that "...tears it apart!"

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

Edit: Changing the title to something more apropriate to the disscusion.

[dbay]

Also slightly off-topic, but I'd always imagined that the reason adamantine is extracted as strands to be this: when a dwarf dies, his beard crawls back underground for eternity, and fossilizes in the blue stuff we all know and love. And, as everyone knows, dwarves always die in droves, these blue spires become pretty monumental. Every adamantine spire underground is a fortress from an age long past

[Oliolli]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

I think the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything was found in one of the books. The question was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" or somesuch. (Yes, I know the answer is 54)

[Blizzlord]

Also slightly off-topic, but I'd always imagined that the reason adamantine is extracted as strands to be this: when a dwarf dies, his beard crawls back underground for eternity, and fossilizes in the blue stuff we all know and love. And, as everyone knows, dwarves always die in droves, these blue spires become pretty monumental. Every adamantine spire underground is a fortress from an age long past

The origins of adamantite, as written on the wiki:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Back in the mists of time, the Gods decided to create the World. To do so they had to find a way to heat it in the cold voids of space. Demonkind had already forged their own world out of the vile substance Slade, a stone anathema to all creation and only able to be worked through the vile rituals they had created, for slade was truly "dead" stone, with no life in it at all.
Deciding both to imprison their greatest enemies and to create a home for their creations, the Gods poured into the skies of the Demons' world "living" stone (known to mortals as semi-molten rock - rock burning hot with the fresh life of Creation). The Gods knew that if it were not constantly heated, this living rock would cool, and yet the Demons, fools that they were, constantly attacked the living rock, not realizing that their attacks simply heated the rock again and again, keeping it alive. Unfortunately, as the Gods began to pour more and more of the rock onto their creation, they found it quickly lost its life when removed too far from the Demons. It would only remelt once it touched the living rock, creating vast seas of magma that heated the tunnels above. Worse, the living rock itself had been disturbed by this process, creating gaping holes through which the Demons escaped, killing and maiming the first creations of the Gods, warping those they could find into the terrible Forgotten Beasts, leaving the Titans safe on the surface.
Knowing this state of affairs could not last if their weaker creations, the first mortals, were to survive, the Gods created a new substance, imbued with their power: Adamantine. The beautiful aqua-colored ore was poured into the holes, sealing the entrances that the living rock could no longer seal, preventing the Demons from escaping, for its power totally repelled Demonkind.
Unfortunately, as time passed and the first mortals began to carve their civilization from both the surface and the underworld, they discovered the vast shafts of this amazing substance and began to mine it, instantly realizing its divine potency. In doing so, they removed the great barriers the gods had placed in order to keep the Demons sealed. The Demons rose up, slaughtering thousands and escaping into the World, often rising to lead mortal civilizations, such as that of the Goblins. Upon these sites they raised towers carved from the vile Slade that only they could work. Brave adventurers and champions of the Gods forged special swords made from the divine Adamantine and ventured into these dark places to seal the Demons within hell once more. Leaving their swords buried in these places, those who survived swore to defend them for all eternity, binding themselves with oaths of such might that they surpassed death itself. They remain, even today, as zombies and skeletons, driven by their undying thought "none must take the sword!" and nothing more. These undead are totally obsessed with their duty to defend the ancient demonic structures from all interlopers and have been the death of many an unwary explorer.
In retrospect, all this could probably have been avoided if the Gods had bothered to make their all-powerful metal capable of withstanding the swing of a copper pick.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

I think the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything was found in one of the books. The question was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" or somesuch. (Yes, I know the answer is 54)

Base 13. Also, I do remember reading that, but it is stated that the universe would be warped beyond recognition if both existed at once. And that it might already have happenend.

[Masta Crouton]

Also slightly off-topic, but I'd always imagined that the reason adamantine is extracted as strands to be this: when a dwarf dies, his beard crawls back underground for eternity, and fossilizes in the blue stuff we all know and love. And, as everyone knows, dwarves always die in droves, these blue spires become pretty monumental. Every adamantine spire underground is a fortress from an age long past

i like this so much.

[nightwhips]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

I think the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything was found in one of the books. The question was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" or somesuch. (Yes, I know the answer is 54)

Huh. I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

[Blizzlord]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

I think the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything was found in one of the books. The question was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" or somesuch. (Yes, I know the answer is 54)

Huh. I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

It is near the end of the third book, but I can't control check right now since I no not know where I put the book (and it is the swedish version... ).

[nightwhips]

I can see that our arguments have lead to the disscusion of the forces in a nucleus (among other things). This is something not even the greatest minds of our generation understand fully understand. This inevitabely means someone will start preaching over something beyond their ability to comprehend.

The laws of quantum physics are unbelivablely complex. Teleportation! Duplication! Quantum entanglement! For Armoks sake I'm still in elementary school!

TRANSMOGRIFY!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

I think the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything was found in one of the books. The question was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" or somesuch. (Yes, I know the answer is 54)

Huh. I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

It is near the end of the third book, but I can't control check right now since I no not know where I put the book (and it is the swedish version... ).

You SURE this wasn't something they added, just for the Swedes?

EDIT: I KNEW IT. The Vogons screwed up EVERYTHING.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life.2C_the_Universe.2C_and_Everything_.2842.29

But back on topic, all of this reminds of the frictionless ship for HHGTG, for some reason....

[SmileyMan]

Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the question to the answer which is 42!

I think the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything was found in one of the books. The question was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" or somesuch. (Yes, I know the answer is 54)

Yes, but that was using decoding the matrix in Arthur's brain, which was genetically comprimised by the Golgafrincham invasion.  The experiment was ruined tens of thousands of years before Arthur was born.

Back to adamantine and slade, is it possible that they have different inertial and gravitation mass (within themselves, not just with each other)? That would certainly explain a lot of adamantine's properties - it would be light to lift, but require more force to heft.

I really like the idea of slade and adamantine being formed from a pair of quantum locked particles that become separated and crystallise out somehow.

[khearn]

Actually I'm not sure.  Today we make arrows out of carbon fibers and whatnot, making them lighter and thinner, to achieve better flight.  The thing is that an adamantine arrow is not a nerf dart.  While similar weight, your arrow will be non-porous, very thin, and very fast.  Any wind is negligible, and a proper adamantine arrow wouldn't have an arrowhead, it would just have a point (with perhaps a groove to encourage bleeding).  It would more resemble a needle than an actual arrow.  That considered, it would slice through the air amazingly well.

The issue then, is energy.  We know that a bow will contain a certain amount of energy when fired.  If it's firing a wooden rod, then it will fire the rod.  If it's firing a metal rod that's 2x the weight of wood, then it will take 2x the energy to achieve momentum and thus fly like half as fast.  By contrast, if you make a carbon fiber arrow, then it might be 1/2 the weight, requiring 1/2 the energy to move and flying 2x as fast.  Of course in practice it's not so clean cut, but the idea is solid.  A given force upon a lighter object will propel the object further and faster.

In effect, an adamantine arrow would act more like the crossbow from Half-Life 2, it'll penetrate just about anything because it will fly at ridiculous speeds.  It would need a needle point and a VERY slow taper to penetrate, because it would have rather poor "punch" but an amazing edge.  If any of its penetrative power were converted into blunt contact, it would drain its energy pretty fast, but as long as it's achieving clean punctures then not much would be able to stop it.

"The flying ☼Adamantine Bolt☼ strikes the goblin in the head, shattering the skull and ripping the brain, passing clear through the other side!"

Of course in DF, projectiles are blunt damage, so none of this matters in gameplay.

Your adamantine needle is still made of a material that weighs 200g/m³, so it will weigh almost nothing, and wind drag will still stop it very quickly. The faster something moves, the more drag it has pushing back against it. So a very light projectile just doesn't go very far, regardless of what it's made of. Nor will it hit very hard. That's why they use depleted uranium instead of aluminum in anti-tank rounds.

And you can't make a projectile from a bow (or crossbow) go any faster than you can make the bowstring move, no matter how light the projectile is. So halving the weight won't really double the speed. It's asymptotic, where the limit is the speed of the string with no projectile.

A needle-like arrow wouldn't be that great for doing damage. Oh, a headshot might be effective, but the main killing method of a projectile, whether an arrow or a bullet, is blood loss. That's why large caliber hollow point bullets are far more effective than small caliber solid rounds. Sure, James Bond could get by with a purse gun like a Beretta 418 with a 6.35mm round. He always hit exactly where he wanted to. But mere mortals are better off with a 10mm that will open a nice big wound channel and make the target bleed out, even from a hit in a non-vital area. A high speed knitting needle would just make a little puncture that would seal itself right up if it didn't puncture anything critical. Even a headshot wouldn't be a sure thing with a needle. There are lots of documented cases of people surviving having rod-like objects punch through their brains, such as Phineas Gage. If your arrow is going to drive the skull through the brain, it's going to have to transmit significant momentum into the skull, and a cork knitting needle (no matter how rigid) wouldn't have enough momentum.

Even a very slow taper requires splitting the skull apart, which requires applying force, which an adamantine projectile just won't be able to do.