From: Troy Gustavel [troy_nevermore@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 1:30 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - A Story Seed - Prophet's Staff The problem I have always had with mono whips is that, sure they are very strong and VERY sharp, but the wielder is still having to exert the force necessary to cut something. And I don't think it's that easy to sever the bonds holding 2 steel molecules together. It has just never seemed believable to me that monowire can cut through anything easily. Anyone have a better scientific background and want to comment on this? --- Andrew Sturman wrote: > Hi All > > I was doing some thinking on the Sierra Nueuva war, > and > thought of this as a way to radically change the > balance of power and put the natives back on the > offensive: > > First a bit of background on my take on that cyberpunk > favourite, the monomolecular filament whip, and how to > handle it in BP. (Real scientists (TM) feel free to > correct me) In my version of the world of BP, Carbon > nanotubes or buckytubes, discovered in the 1990's > showed great promise as a very strong material, but > this promise didn't come true as the longest single > tubes could be made was a few millimeters, and while > single tubes (with point defects) had tensile > strengths ten times steel (22 Gpa vs 1.4 for steel and > 3.9 for aramid) ropes of them while longer, had > strengths similar to mundane carbon fibre (3.5 Gpa). > Thus research focused on their other interesting > properties e.g. electronic behavior of concentric and > twisted tubes,, asbestos-like thermal properties, etc. > The fact that a pure, defect-free nanotube could have > a > strength in the 100-200 Gpa range remains a > theoretical > footnote in the world of 2199. > > Fast-forward to the Sierra Nueuva war. In 2199 with > the recent adoption of SASER-equipped fighter subs > and hardsuits, the combined Gendiver and GEO forces > are slowly gaining undersea superiority. (they already > have undisputed air superiority) Native undersea > villages are being cleared and their inhabitants moved > to Gendiver 'resettlement camps'. Baktu's warpods are > in trouble and debating a change to kamakaze tactics, > when > Prophet returns from one of his mysterious trips with > an unusual artifact. > > It appears to be a thin rod-shaped xenosilicate > crystal, 2m in length, translucent-white and hollow. > The internal pipe cavity is star-shaped. It's > purpose is as mysterious as it's origin, until Prophet > demonstrates, by blowing smoke thorough the pipe, and > flaking off a fingernail sized chip of xenosilicate > from either end of the tube. Between the 2 crystal > flakes is a shimmering near-invisible thread that > catches the light like a diamond - a carbon buckytube > that has self-assembled from the soot deposits on the > xenosil internal edges. The nanotube is flawless and > 2m long, but with experimentation, if all 5 internal > edges are coated, a 10m filament can be made. Baktu > calls it 'Star-thread'. > > Within days, Baktu's warpods are using this new > weapon, > with a 10m strand strung between 2 orca's harnesses > neatly slicing a Gendiver heavy attack sub like > salami. > > Needless to say, both GEO and the Incorporates want to > find out what this secret weapon is and where it comes > from. > > Comments? > > Andrew > > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk > or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > ===== Troy Gustavel 5825 Bolender Rd. Akron, OH 44319 (330)882 5468 Troy_Nevermore@Yahoo.com "Once upon a midnight dreary..." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Andrew Sturman [andrew_b_sturman@yahoo.co.uk] Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 7:40 AM To: bplist Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - A Story Seed - Prophet's Staff Hi All I was doing some thinking on the Sierra Nueuva war, and thought of this as a way to radically change the balance of power and put the natives back on the offensive: First a bit of background on my take on that cyberpunk favourite, the monomolecular filament whip, and how to handle it in BP. (Real scientists (TM) feel free to correct me) In my version of the world of BP, Carbon nanotubes or buckytubes, discovered in the 1990's showed great promise as a very strong material, but this promise didn't come true as the longest single tubes could be made was a few millimeters, and while single tubes (with point defects) had tensile strengths ten times steel (22 Gpa vs 1.4 for steel and 3.9 for aramid) ropes of them while longer, had strengths similar to mundane carbon fibre (3.5 Gpa). Thus research focused on their other interesting properties e.g. electronic behavior of concentric and twisted tubes,, asbestos-like thermal properties, etc. The fact that a pure, defect-free nanotube could have a strength in the 100-200 Gpa range remains a theoretical footnote in the world of 2199. Fast-forward to the Sierra Nueuva war. In 2199 with the recent adoption of SASER-equipped fighter subs and hardsuits, the combined Gendiver and GEO forces are slowly gaining undersea superiority. (they already have undisputed air superiority) Native undersea villages are being cleared and their inhabitants moved to Gendiver 'resettlement camps'. Baktu's warpods are in trouble and debating a change to kamakaze tactics, when Prophet returns from one of his mysterious trips with an unusual artifact. It appears to be a thin rod-shaped xenosilicate crystal, 2m in length, translucent-white and hollow. The internal pipe cavity is star-shaped. It's purpose is as mysterious as it's origin, until Prophet demonstrates, by blowing smoke thorough the pipe, and flaking off a fingernail sized chip of xenosilicate from either end of the tube. Between the 2 crystal flakes is a shimmering near-invisible thread that catches the light like a diamond - a carbon buckytube that has self-assembled from the soot deposits on the xenosil internal edges. The nanotube is flawless and 2m long, but with experimentation, if all 5 internal edges are coated, a 10m filament can be made. Baktu calls it 'Star-thread'. Within days, Baktu's warpods are using this new weapon, with a 10m strand strung between 2 orca's harnesses neatly slicing a Gendiver heavy attack sub like salami. Needless to say, both GEO and the Incorporates want to find out what this secret weapon is and where it comes from. Comments? Andrew ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Paul Lesack [lesack@interchange.ubc.ca] Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 1:49 PM To: Blue Planet List Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Blue Planet for Canadians Canadians on this list (or even others with access to a good library) might want to check out last Saturday's (Aug 11th's) edition of the Saturday Night magazine in the National Post newspaper. There's a fascinating article about free diving. Divers are attempting to go for 100m, and this is without any genetic enhancement. Apparently, they've discovered that after a certain pressure, human lungs fill with plasma, which may actually remove any depth limit. The interviews with the free divers seem to parallel Native experience. There's also an article on shark attacks (very big in Florida, I hear), a story on boats and I think there may be some other related material. I was planning to check at work today, but someone has already pinched the Library's copy. Paul *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Paul Lesack [lesack@interchange.ubc.ca] Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 2:56 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - A Story Seed - Prophet's Staff Andrew Sturman wrote: > It appears to be a thin rod-shaped xenosilicate > crystal, 2m in length, translucent-white and hollow. If they had that much pure xenosilicate, they would have enough money to hire a huge mercenary contingent, buy nuclear weapons or do anything else they wanted. > Prophet > demonstrates, by blowing smoke thorough the pipe, and > flaking off a fingernail sized chip of xenosilicate > from either end of the tube. Does anyone else have a picture of a dolphin that looks like a steamship with a big stack sticking out of his head? That nothwithstanding, I thing it would be exceedingly dangerous for cetaceans to be handling 1 cm^2 flakes. The potential for accident is very high, especially if your manual dexterity is very low. If one of the cetaceans is lost during combat, or one of the ends loses its anchor, you have 10m of monomolecular filament floating underwater. Conversely, if the orcas swim too far apart, the filament may be likely to snap, creating two similar, if smaller, problems. If both orcas are killed, retrieving the filament underwater could pose some challenges, especially if GEO and GenDiver both realize what it is. It could still be fun, though risky fun. Paul *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 4:31 PM To: Blue Planet List (E-mail) Subject: [FWD] Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Blue Planet for Canadians -----Original Message----- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 16:13:19 -0500 From: Ron Johnson To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Blue Planet for Canadians On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 11:49:08AM -0700, Paul Lesack wrote: > There's a fascinating article about free diving. Divers are attempting > to go for 100m, and this is without any genetic enhancement. The article is available at: http://www.saturdaynight.ca/Articles/topstory1.asp Cheers, Ron (who only made 1:30 on his first try...) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.