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[Maegil]

IN unrelated news, if you had to be a scientist who examined and researched anomalous artifacts, what kind of tools and rooms would you want in your facility?

The facility itself would be a solar sail space station hanging (not orbiting, so it'd automatically plunge into the star in case of catastrophic structural damage) near a far away star (waaaay out there, where a supernova won't be be seen in the next few million years). Whatever other equipment, it'd be staffed only by robots, and all the experiments would be handled by quantum entanglement communicators preferably from another solar system altogether.

[Ozarck]

Star? Why not supermassive black hole?

[Parisbre56]

@Ozrack: Whoops. Yeah. Got them backwards. Should probably not write physics after just waking up.

Sometimes I feel like doing something like this. Negatron sounds cooler than positron anyway.

[Maegil]

Star? Why not supermassive black hole?

Because black holes don't produce solar winds to hold the lab's solar sail aloft. The idea is for it not to be in orbit, so it can either be easily rigged to plunge in case of accident.

[Dutrius]

In regards to the lightning stuff:

Air is a terrible conductor. For air to permit electricity to travel through it, you need to ionise it. Ionised air is a pretty good conductor. When you start passing electricity through ionised air, it heats up a lot, and it ionises further, becoming plasma. Plasma is an excellent conductor.


You see that lightning? the light comes from the very hot plasma the electricity is passing through.

[Maegil]

In regards to the lightning stuff:

Air is a terrible conductor. For air to permit electricity to travel through it, you need to ionise it. Ionised air is a pretty good conductor. When you start passing electricity through ionised air, it heats up a lot, and it ionises further, becoming plasma. Plasma is an excellent conductor.


You see that lightning? the light comes from the very hot plasma the electricity is passing through.

Guys, a little question: since when does Paranoia Einsteinian Roulette happen in a hard sci-fi world?

In any case, the effect could be achieved in an atmosphere by two weak convergent lasers, each beside an electrode. The lasers would ionize the air, creating a preferential route for the electron stream.

[Parisbre56]

you are mostly right. But it is electricity going from the ground to the clouds, usually (or cloud to cloud, but never mind that). After all, the negatiev charge in the ground means extra electrons, and the positive charge in the sky means ions looking for love, and since it's easier for electrons to uproot from family, friends, and everything they hold dear on earth, to go galavanting about the atmosphere than it is for sky ions to become grounded, grow some sense and maybe a family, then that's what happens. electrons go up, air expands rapidly, and a nice explodey sound is made.

Wait, I just reread that, and I understood what you are saying. And I'm pretty sure I got everything right except for getting positive and negative mixed up. It's electrons that go from the clouds to the ground. The easiest way to remember that is to imagine the step leader lightning branching off and going down towards the ground as they seek to form a connection of ionized air. I'll search around in the internet to see if I'm right, but I'm pretty sure it's the clouds that are full of electrons, at least near their bottom part.

Edit: Yeah, turns out that the basic form of lightning is electrons from the cloud towards the ground. This explains some stuff: http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/lightning1.htm
There's also other interesting things like Sprites or positive lightning or lightning that forms in sandstorms and volcano eruptions.

[Ozarck]

okies ^^

[Radio Controlled]

Well it used to use automanips, however we can easily modify the design NOT to do that anymore. Though it would require having a physical rod or pole extending the length of the "blade".

There we have it. It does use them, but can be made to function without.

EDIT: can someone doublecheck whether it's me or pw that's got the position of team blue wrong?

[Parisbre56]

I still think it shouldn't use automanips, since it doesn't work like an automanipulator usually works. I can see it being Origin tech, but not an automanipulator. But I don't care enough to argue.

[syvarris]

Spoiler: @Lenglon (click to show/hide)

Okay, I'll admit that my previous statement wasn't worded well.  I said "lightning" because that word evokes an image of a lot of electricity arcing though the air, at least for me.  Simply saying "electricity" makes me imagine cords, wires, and power lines.  Yes, the difference between these two images is the medium they are moving through, while the difference between the two words is one of scope.

Let me reclarify what I mean: The tesla saber (to my memory) has a hilt, and no electronics outside of it.  It projects a variable-length cylindrical field in front of it,and this field has a 'cap' so electricity cannot escape (unless the field is broken by a conductive solid, as shown when Feyri killed herself in the Samsonite Abyss).

I was trying to say that I don't see how you could put the magnets inside the hilt in such a fashion that the created such a field.  _{(I also think that you would require excessively strong magnets, but that's not what I'm trying to argue here--in fact, I would be very surprised if ER tech didn't allow for super-magnets.)}

Here's some ASCII art:

Code: [Select]

>vvvvvvvvvvvvvv<
>lightning here<
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<Each arrow indicates a magnetic field pushing/forcing/containing the lightning, preventing it from escaping.  My problem here is the left field, and the right one.  How can they both exist, if all the projecters are on one side?  Wouldn't the magnetic force which generates the far effect overpower the close effect?  _{(I also wonder about how the top and bottom ones can be created, but they don't seem to be mutually contradictory, so eh.)}

Now, looking at this, I see the flaw in my logic.  You could easily just replace the left or right field with something non-conductive, and then you don't have contradictory fields.  I was thinking in terms of Blue, which does have exactly this problem.  See below (your image, by the by):



I'll admit that it took me a really long time to understand this image; there's seven colors in the pic, and six in the key.  "Diffuse" refers to the border around the plasma, which is a diffused red shield, rather than the plasma diffusing.  The brown 'prisms' are both solid _{(therefore occupying the same space as the plasma :p )} and redirecting the shields.  Somehow.

See, my point is that the plasma is impossible to contain without those shields and magic prisms.  You can't have a magnetic 'pull' on the far side without having a projector on the far side.

But, hey, we have quantum entanglement communicators, which are impossible IRL.  I'm still gonna guess the answer is "Tesla Saber uses automanips, because they're cheaper than mundane methods", like most everything else that uses automanips, but we can't know until PW is asked.

I admit, this is still really poorly worded.  My intent was to imply that in ER we would have mundane methods to do something like this.  Hence, automanips are cheaper than mundane methods, rather than the only possible option.  I admit that I think it's entirely possible tesla sabers don't use origin tech--hence, "we can't know until PW is asked"--I just think it's unlikely, because most advanced ER tech is created by origin tech.  Artificial gravity?  Possible IRL, using spinning.  In ER?  Nope, automanips.

If you want to continue arguing though, I'm game.

Spoiler: @Unholy Pariah (click to show/hide)

Ahh, I get what you mean.  Welp, several serious, decent arguments ran through my mind, but since I gave Lenglon length, I'll give you brevity._{^{Okay, no, I can't leave it at that.  You're being semantic; Yes, for all we know, FTL communication might be possible in the distant future, but we just have an extremely basic understanding of physics.  So what?  How does this advance any argument?  You can't be refuting my point that tesla sabers might be mundanely possible in ER, because if anything you're supporting it.  The most likely motivation I can see (assuming you're a rational human being.  heh.) is that you're trying to troll me, which is just stupid, because I love this.  Which... I guess that means you're trying to be nice to me.  So... thanks.  That's sweet of you.}}
It is completely impossible for you to teleport into my house within the next week, only to slap me in the face with a live trout.

@Paris
Partially, I said that because Saint's trying to make himself look good, and partially because Saint and I really do believe ARESTEVE has low initiative and creativity.  The Mindfuck gun was his design, right?  I remember asking about modifying the design to change the range, and PW said that we could, but the effect only existed with certain arrangements of matter; we would have to find an alternate arrangement purely by trial and error.  What's that imply ARESTEVE spends his time doing?  Yes, he's more creative than, say, Alvin, but he doesn't seem to have the creativity of a normal human.

Initiative... well, I suppose you could easily chalk that up to ARESTEVE being subservient to admins, and therefore never doing anything important without direction.  Still, he's never seemed to have much initiative to me.

Also, Plasma Projectors use automanips that work weirdly.  They can maintain effects independent of their relative locations. 

[Lenglon]

@syv: nah WoG says I'm wrong. So I'm wrong. You were right. Darn.

[syvarris]

Once again, the truth gets in the way of a good argument.

[syvarris]

Once again, the truth gets in the way of a good argument.

[Radio Controlled]

But not in the way of a nice doublepost