Isn't that stuff kinda heavy? Like, anywhere from a ton to several hundred million tons per milliliter?
Batteries for a Ship Power Source?
- Thread starter DangerousThing
- Start date
Isn't that stuff kinda heavy? Like, anywhere from a ton to several hundred million tons per milliliter?
Pure neutrons would be neutonium in most astrophysics and SFnal references... collapsium is presumably only partly 'collapsed'.
Presumable this could be the OTU's Superdense...
Lycanorukke
SOC-13
I doubt it would be Collapsium would be Neutronium (material made of pure neutrons). Apart from the weight, outside the nucleus of an atom (or neutron star core), the a half life of a neutron is 10 minutes or so. And given the density of neutronium (billions of tonnes per cc) I think your small starship would rival the a small sun in energy output as it disintergrated.
Of course if the Nuclear Dampers can stabilise free neutrons, forget using them as hull material. Use them as a power source.
NB:Very Rough numbers (And quite possibly wrong. Caveat emptor)
1 free neutron ~0.7MeV when it decays (1.12×10^−13 joules).
1 milligram of neutronium contains 6.02x 10^20 neutrons (1mole/1000, neutrons are close enough to atomic weight 1 for ease)
Over 10 minutes, half are gone so 3.01x10^20 neutrons released energy
So energy released is ballparking 3.4*10^7 Joules (34 MJ)
Which is about 9.5 Kilowatt hours.
Not bad for half a milligram of neutrons.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
I don't know if Superdense is really in the OTU. It's lacking in T5 and some of the others.
However, collapsium and its relatives were a staple of SF during the 50s and 60s. In one story I remember that the secret behind it was that it was collapsed copper. Mostly the explanation, if they choose to give one, is that they take away much of the space between the molecules.
Superdense is in CT (striker), MT, TNE, T4, T20...
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
The following quote comes from H. Beam Piper's short story, Temple Trouble, one of his Paratime short stories featuring Verkan Vall. Quote is taken from the copy on the Project Gutenberg website, and is presumably copyright free, public domain material.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
The story I was quoting from was probably by a different author. And I was just trying to point out that the theme of "collapsium" was common in SF.
BTW: I really did like the story you quoted.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Piper did a fair number of Paratime stories, and as far as I can tell, did more with the concept of Parallel Universes than any other writer, as well as putting them into a coherent whole. Lord Kalven of the Otherwhen was the culmination of the series, and in my opinion is still one of the best science fiction stories that I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone setting a Traveller adventure on a low-Tech level planet, as an example of what could be done by someone with a good grounding in early technology.
It would be interesting to do something like that in the Traveller Universe, with say a Parallel Universe where Dulsinor was killed in the course of the attempted assassination of Strephon's double, and other major events.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
Yes, I liked that one also. However, my favorite of the series was the one (and I can't remember the name) where his ex-wife was studying a time line that had discovered reliable contact with the spirits of the dead and proved reincarnation.
There was a rather violent academic disagreement that she was rescued from.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
How about using it as a weapon? Any sufficiently advanced power source is indistinguishable from a weapon.
However, before we go blowing up the 3I with all sorts of new weapons (let them use up the ones they have now before we give them more), maybe we should think about the alternate consequences of any change.
I would think that it would be more difficult to stabilize neutronium than just a nuclear damper by several TLs. Not to mention that it would be a rather dense power source and require a lot of bracing. I could picture a conversation like:
Captain: What was that thud back there, Lt. Snot.
Snotty: Well, Captain, the ship moved, but the power source is back on the planet. We're running on emergency now, but that will go off in 3 seconds...
Meanwhile, on the planet below them, the fuel having be abruptly disconnected from the power source keeping it stable, blows up, taking most of the planet with them. This gives the ISS Boobyprize the kick in the *ss it needs to land on the next planet over. All *over* the planet.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
That story is The Last Enemy. You can download it on the Project Gutenberg website, search under H. Beam Piper.
Going back more to the original purpose of the thread, I am debating putting Piper's nuclear-electric batteries into my Traveller Universe, as the power source for ground and air vehicles. I just have a hard time visualizing that small of a fusion plant for power.
DangerousThing
SOC-13
Thank you.
If you have these batteries with the same characteristics as the ones they are replacing, then it's just color.
Sort of like me calling a Trav air/raft a GUF (General Utility Floater).
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