A Writing Challenge.

[Chrystal]

*bites tongue on a snarky reply*

Okay. The bits that stick up? They would look, to the people on the ground, like huge impassible mountain ranges.

But that assumes gravity pulls towards the centre of the sphere. You are thinking inside the box again, Peace.

Open the box and fly free, my friend. Fly free!

Anyway, looking at your diagram, the points of the polygon are where most of the planetary mass is located. Thus, even if gravity worked the same way in this world as it does in the (un)real one, there would be a greater gravitational pull towards the edges that at the middle, thus creating the correct gravity field for people to walk right up to the edge and fall off!

[PeacethatPowerbrings]

I was just responding to the claim that physics would allow such a shape to be feasible for a planet. I'm all for throwing the rules out the window.

I won't bother explaining why it still couldn't work, even if you were right that the matter were concentrated in the points.

[Chrystal]

*chuckles* Oh, I am fully aware that it wouldn't work. I realised that as I was typing it, but I figured, what the heck.... I'll post it anyway and see what happens.

[ChaoticSky]

completely random question.

ive always wondered if it was possible to 'drown' a star... if you dunked one into a big ass 'nebula' of water.... would it snuff out the suns fusion, or would the hydrogen provide fuel... making the star even more powerful?

[Chrystal]

The star isn't a fire, it's a thermonuclear detonation. Same as exploding an H-bomb under water.

So the answer is, no, you can't drown it. The water would boil off from the heat, split into hydrogen and oxygen, which would then go towards fuelling the thermonuclear fusion reaction.

[PeacethatPowerbrings]

Chrystal is correct. Though, if you added enough water, you'd begin to approach the threshold for collapsing the star into a black hole.

[Ironwolf85]

I admit I usually have my worlds, and ideas grounded in reality... though I go all over the place from there...

[EmptyEternity]

I like to stick to our universe's physics simply because its a lot harder to build your own basic laws of existence from scratch. Therefor, I'd much rather have a standard ball of rock and then work up from there.

[Skystomp]

That's ok Chrystal, it can be platonic love and I can still love you for your mind.

As for the Dyson Sphere problem, I have the solution for you in regards to the day/night problem. Simple really. We make light photons follow a simple rule. They're bright for X amount of time and dim for X amount of time. Example, for this dyson sphere world, photons are bright for 12hrs and then dim for 12hrs. Simplely imagine what something like that would do for time keepers, technology and other things I can't even begin to imagine. We can make it different for each world to.

[Chrystal]

Chrystal is correct. Though, if you added enough water, you'd begin to approach the threshold for collapsing the star into a black hole.

Easier to dump a massive amount of iron into it - a "Causality weapon" (invented by Charles Stross) where you take a lump of the star's core from way in the future where it has almost completed the main cycle, and dump it into the star at present day (Or simply speed up time around the star's core. Makes it instantly go supernova! It's called an Iron Bomb. Once the supernova has played out the remaining matter will collapse back into a black hole.

Actually, no. It's not easier, but it's much prettier!

I admit I usually have my worlds, and ideas grounded in reality... though I go all over the place from there...

The problem with grounding something is that there is no electricity, no spark. Any charge is instantly sent to earth and dissipated.

Be wild, be free! Take a risk. Strip all your metaphorical clothes off and run naked into the ocean, screaming "I want to be a lemon!" Screw reality. Let's screw with reality.

That's ok Chrystal, it can be platonic love and I can still love you for your mind.

As for the Dyson Sphere problem, I have the solution for you in regards to the day/night problem. Simple really. We make light photons follow a simple rule. They're bright for X amount of time and dim for X amount of time. Example, for this dyson sphere world, photons are bright for 12hrs and then dim for 12hrs. Simplely imagine what something like that would do for time keepers, technology and other things I can't even begin to imagine. We can make it different for each world to.

*giggles* If you'd seen where it's been or what it's got in it, sweetie, you wouldn't be saying that!

I still don't see why we can't just switch the sun on and off at random. Why does there have to be a rational explanation for everything? There isn't one in for everything in the real universe. Let's just say "It does this." Never mind photons and time intervals and cats locked in boxes... *looks shifty for a moment* Uh, did I say that aloud? oh well... anyway, I want MAGIC in the universe. You guys can have your physics but I will defy it. In fact, how about this...? A polyhedron on the outside where most laws of physics apply, and a turbo-charged no-loss-of-suction vacuum cleaner sphere inside, where they do not. And a few very thin areas where creatures (as in things that have been created) can cross from one to the other to their surprise and our amusement!

Would that be a suitable compromise to keep everyone happy?

[Insight]

That seems reasonable. Why don't we simply say that all laws of physics apply on the outside world, but certain creatures can edit them? "Wizards" if you will. The inside of the polygon may very well simply be the realm of the Gods. although we'll have to establish exactly how the area will work. Maybe something Cartesian/The Matrix where all things are as you really, truly think they are?

I dunno. I'm not in love with that idea either. But are we all for the bigger picture?

[Chrystal]

...The inside of the polygon ...

Please excuse my pedantry, but I wish to avoid confusion. A polygon is a multi-sided two-dimensional shape. A polyhedron is a multi-sided three-dimensional solid. A square is (technically) a type of polygon, a cube is (technically) a type of polyhedron.

[Skystomp]

I'm not worried Chrystal makes your mind that much more fun ;)

True on all you said, we can simply just alter the rules for that world. Sorta like The Well of Souls does, each section having it's own rules, quirks and critters. I personally like the idea of a world inside a polyhedron, with a lightbuld star inside it, it gives us land area to fool around with, mass areas to seperate from each other if we so choose and a X whatever on the outside. Like a another polyhedron world.

[PeacethatPowerbrings]

I'm all for the hollow polyhedron world.

[EmptyEternity]

I'm all for the hollow polyhedron world.

I'm game too, and if anyone asks how it can work, we just use assertion 12.

It's magic.

[PeacethatPowerbrings]

Nah, its not magic, its physics, at least the physics for that world. The laws of physics that our confused little people will one day have to work out, which no doubt will take a geinus far smarter than Einstein, given that Einstein had nice, neat, rational, space and time to work with.

[Chrystal]

It's a combination of physics and magic. I hope I'm not going to contradict myself here, but lets face it, we are making the rules. Right? So we can make the laws of physics do whatever we want. Right? So therefore there is no contradiction nor conflict between magic and physics.

In fact, the one can be part of the other. Everyone knows chemistryalchemy is one part cookery and two parts magic, so basically physics is two parts maths and one part magic!

[Ironwolf85]

yep...
often when I see magic in books, it's kind of discribed as bending the rules of reality to suit your needs.

[Chrystal]

And then, of course, you have the "advanced technology seen by primitives" kind of magic!

*sings* It's a kind of magic!

<--- Queen fan!

[Insight]

Indeed.

It could be some very strange magic.

<----- ELO fan

[Chrystal]

As long as I can be a Black Magic Woman.

<--- Early Fleetwood Mac fan

[Insight]

So...should we just start?

[EmptyEternity]

So...should we just start?

I don't know, should we?

[Ironwolf85]

whatever you lot decide, let me know