On Creating Imaginary Worlds: Science Fiction

[chrispenycate]

Neon is the bright red gas discharge. There are actually some orange lines in there (intensified in some neon indicator lights), a yellow, and even some odd low intensity greens and violets, but the first impression is the red of a helium/neon laser (surprise), very red indeed.

The body of the moon would be smaller than ours, as it is higher density, but since the atmosphere was fluorescing rather than the surface reflecting, it could look quite a bit bigger; one and a half times at least, possibly three. It's somewhat dependent on temperature, magnetic fields (would a metallic moon have one?), and me doing some rather complicated calculations I'm too lazy for.

Big, anyway, and spectacular. (what was the Arthur C Clarke short story where they jetted a cloud of sodium vapour – oh, never mind, I've Googled it. 'Watch this space', fom 'the other side of the sky.)

 

[Primitius]

the complexities of race -

So whats the deal with atypical skin tones and their general viability in an earth like world? In what sort of world would a race be able to develop a skin tone other than black, white and all the shades inbetween? Say a light shade of blue, green, or red?
I would like a certain race to have tinted blue skin, but I can't for the life of me figure out how that might arise in a scientific earth-like world. I'm thinking its probably not atall possible

 

[J-WO]

Horseshoe crabs ave blue blood, on account of it being full of copper instead of iron (I think)- but whether a humanoid with copper based blood would have blue based skin, I'm not sure. We don't have red skin afterall. Maybe if their dermal layers were thinner...

Or maybe I should leave this to someone who knows what they are talking about!

 

[chrispenycate]

Skin pigmentation has very little to do with blood colour; look at reptiles or amphibians. A wider selection of hues than are found on poison frogs, for example, would be difficult to imagine. There are even examples where skin changes coloration to match surroundings.

There are practical reasons for various skin tones (extra transparency for synthesis of vitamin D, higher in infra-red radiation and so forth) but these are relatively small influences compared with the high survival factors such as reproduction.

So, go ahead; if blue skin in a male is a reason to choose him for a mate, blue he will go, at least until cosmetics are developed. Our near cousins the great apes have managed decorative rumps and faces, and these will not fade fast if ever they join us in the paradise of sapience.

 

[HareBrain]

Our near cousins the great apes have managed decorative rumps and faces.

I think you should have put "faces" before "rumps", as I, er, mis-read it.

Gave me quite a shock, I can tell you.

 

[chrispenycate]

Look, I don't care what you ornament to attract females of your species, or mark your territory, right?

This was (in particular) about mandrills – and that wasn't intended to be taken any way
apart from the obvious, either.

 

[Ursa major]

I think you should have put "faces" before "rumps", as I, er, mis-read it.

Gave me quite a shock, I can tell you.

I second the motion.

 

[J-WO]

join us in the paradise of sapience.

.
That's my local pub, that is.

 

[AstroDude]

Hmm... I think I've been 'sent' in there before. (borrowing the British meaning of 'sent'.)

 

[AstroDude]

By the way - does anyone know why Mars' dirt is so burnt orange? (Everyone calls it red, but it really isn't, is it? Let's be honest.)

 

[J-WO]

There's a special British meaning to sent? Hmm... yet again, the rest of my nation has left me out of the loop. Typical.

As for Mars, its dirt is burnt orange because of its high iron content. Probably.

 

[ktabic]

As for Mars, its dirt is burnt orange because of its high iron content. Probably.

Yes, it's from the various oxides of (mainly) iron (mainly in the form of fine hermatite particles). But it's not particularly red (or orange) and in most places the red layer is just a few millimetres deep.

 

[AstroDude]

There's a special British meaning to sent? Hmm... yet again, the rest of my nation has left me out of the loop. Typical.

As for Mars, its dirt is burnt orange because of its high iron content. Probably.

Well, now I've stepped in it. Maybe that's not the right spelling but, here's the word in context: "We don't morally sent you, or anything."

So Mars is essentially rust colored.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

So Mars is essentially rust colored.

Um, yes. It isn't called the Red Planet for nothing, and is considered to have a high amount of iron on the surface, and who knows how much of it actually is iron? It could totally be iron for all we know.



Which brings a thought or two to mind......but I won't say them here.

 

[J-WO]

Yes, it's from the various oxides of (mainly) iron (mainly in the form of fine hermatite particles). But it's not particularly red (or orange) and in most places the red layer is just a few millimetres deep.

Wow. I actually guessed right. Do I win a prize?

 

[ktabic]

Yes, you win a Best Science Guesswork of the Day Certificate . Sadly, budget cuts mean you have to design and print it yourself.

 

[J-WO]

Righty-o. Now where did I put my crayons?

 

[Ursa major]

There was a relatively recent thread on the Chrons - I looked for it a few days back, but couldn't find it - which showed the patterns caused on the surface of Mars by storms and/or dust devils. The patterns could be seen because only the top surface is reddish but below it's grey.


(I mention this because the article linked to in that thread had, I believe, an explanation of why the surface is red.)

 

[J-WO]

Imagine the great artwork we could achieve with a Mars mission, a giant vacuum cleaner and a little vision!

 

[Ursa major]

But it would be impermanent, unless we sealed the surface in some way, protecting it from the attentions of the Martian weather.









(I'll have another look for that thread.)