Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous.

Join our community today!

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
The Moon, Pandora, from the film "Avatar"
Topic Started: Dec 20 2009, 02:13 PM (8,068 Views)
Yorick
Member Avatar
Adult
 *  *  *  *  *  *
I took someone's suggestion and created another topic to speculate on the moon's inhabitants' evolution.

So...speculate!
"I believe, that whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger"

-The Dark Knight (2008)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Replies:
Holben
Member Avatar
Rumbo a la Victoria

Seeing as it floats, an awful lot of sustainable enrgy must be in there. They could have turbines like waterwheels, where the stuff turns the wheel rounds and round, creating electricity through a magnetic generator.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


No, they could not. People have been trying to make magnetic motors for a very long time, and they just don't work. Magnets don't contain energy.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Holben
Member Avatar
Rumbo a la Victoria

Well, yeah, but the fact they float could be harnessed, perhaps? But they could do that with heium baloons...
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Perpetual motion and free energy, don't work. Physics is a cruel and very predictable mistress.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
T.Neo
Member Avatar
Translunar injection: TLI
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
The unobtainium doesn't produce a "lifting" force when it levitates; it just "sits" there (if my knoledge of levitating diamagnetic objects is correct).

Quote:
 
Chemical weapons are generally not that useful, though the Italians did find them handy in Ethiopia in general they are very hard to use.


That's one of the handy aspects of an "AntiPandora" chemical; it's harmless to humans, but extremely harmful to pandoran life, due to their different biochemistry.

Quote:
 
Also it's clear the people don't want to destroy Pandora. If they did they would have landed guns blazing. They make every effort to get the Na'vi to move rather than just go in guns blazing.


Yeah... until Quaritch orders them to attack, which is essentially "guns blazing". So if they wanted to "fight" the ecosystem, they could at least do it more effectively.

Quote:
 
Even if they are being entirely selfish it would be silly to abandon the Na'vi who could be cheap labour


Cheap labour which could also live in the native atmosphere and eat native foodstuffs. But the Na'vi are extremely strong-willed; you'll need some sort of means of getting them to comply and be passive.

Quote:
 
the forest which could contain useful resources for Biotechnology and the possibility of tourism.


Biotech is certainly a possibility (as earth in the 2150s is a barren wasteland), but I doubt about tourism, as Avatar's space travel still seems too costly to ferry large amounts of passengers to pandora. Perhaps a rich customer flying along once in a blue moon ala Dennis Tito or Mark Shuttleworth, but that's hardly a tourism industry.

Quote:
 
Oh and I read they don't use HE rounds to prevent collateral damage.


Well, you can limit the collateral damage of an HE round by reducing fragmentation of the shell.

Either way, it isn't the lack of HE that I find perplexing, but rather the uneeded use of AP.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Holben
Member Avatar
Rumbo a la Victoria

Yeah! Why use AP on flesh? Waste of factory time.

If it 'sits', how does it get there? On Earth, it will be resisting enough gravity to pull it DOWN.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
T.Neo
Member Avatar
Translunar injection: TLI
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Quote:
 
If it 'sits', how does it get there? On Earth, it will be resisting enough gravity to pull it DOWN.


Beats me. :P

You have wind on Pandora, just like on Earth.

I don't see why wind, thermals etc couldn't lift the rocks up over time.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Holben
Member Avatar
Rumbo a la Victoria

Well, yes, but it would have to be a very long and continuous, and very fast wind. It would destroy anything beneath.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Who said they ever got up. Perhaps they were always there and the rest of the rock as eroded away.

Also the Na'vi don't have to be transported light years. Even if they paid the Na'vi the equivalent of $100,000 a year they would still be saving money
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Empyreon
Member Avatar
Are you plausible?

It should be noted that the floating Hallelujah Mountains have nothing to do with unobtanium. According to the movie and its in-universe books, it has to do with the interacting magnetic fields of both Pandora and the planet it orbits.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

COM Contributions


food for thought
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Oh, I heard they do contain it. They tried to mine the mountains but their was a horrible accident, which ii why they mind on the ground.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Empyreon
Member Avatar
Are you plausible?

Huh. I guess it is. My bad...
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

COM Contributions


food for thought
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Well I read that on TV Tropes so it might not be true.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Empyreon
Member Avatar
Are you plausible?

It said relatively the same thing at the Avatar wikia I go to. So it's some sort of interaction between the respective magnetic fields of the planets and the superconducting nature of the unobtanium in the rocks. It references the Meissner Effect.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

COM Contributions


food for thought
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Canis Lupis
Member Avatar
Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

That's what it is. The magnetic properties of the unobtanium react with the magnetic field of Pandora and Polyphemis to create the floating Halejuah Mountains (who cares about spelling anyway? :D )
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · The Habitable Zone · Next Topic »
Add Reply