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What, no planet kablooey?

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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by TFLYTSNBN   » Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:19 pm

TFLYTSNBN

I understand this very well. A very large, high velocity projectile can create the temperature and pressure needed to ACCELLERATE the PeP reaction rate. We do not need to get the star to detonate in a millisecond, a minute, an hour or even a day. We do not even need to detonate a large fraction of the fusion fuel. Because of the opacity of steller gas, containment time is measured in years.

Loren Pechtel wrote:
TFLYTSNBN wrote:Now do something, anything, that dumps a lot of energy into a star and creates a shockwave that increases the local density in a relatively large volume. Detonate a million megaton nuke in it. Impact the star with a Bussard ramship doing about .99c. Drop a planet in the star, or awarship the size of a large moon. Fusion reaction rate suddenly soars resulting in more heat, more pressure, and more density which results in even more fusion. You might not get the entire mass of the star to undergo fusion, but just a few percent is suffecient to create a nova level explosion.

Incidentally, this is basically how a fission-fusion bomb functions. A shockwave initiated by a fission reaction propogates through the fusion fuel that has been precompressed by reflected X-rays which results in an amplyfing fusion reaction.


The problem with this approach is that the fusion reaction is far from anything you dump in there. There is one scientist who thinks a sufficient energy dump can create a self-sustaining fusion shockwave but I've heard he's not too credible.

As for the hydrogen bomb--the reason that goes fast is that it's made of lithium (which splits into helium-3 and either helium-3 (if Li6) or helium-4 (if Li7), the He3 then reacting with the deuterium. There's also deuterium-deuterium fusion. These reactions go far faster than plain hydrogen fusion. Put starstuff in the bomb and you're not going to get a meaningful fusion yield.
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by cthia   » Sun Sep 30, 2018 2:25 pm

cthia
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What is the most destructive planet killer in the Honorverse?

Ingredients. . .

  • 4 Grayson men
  • 4 Grayson women
  • 4 Masadan men
  • 4 Masadan women

Stuck in an elevator.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . kablOOey


Did I mention it was a short fuse?

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by Kael Posavatz   » Sun Sep 30, 2018 3:00 pm

Kael Posavatz
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cthia wrote:What is the most destructive planet killer in the Honorverse?

Ingredients. . .

  • 4 Grayson men
  • 4 Grayson women
  • 4 Masadan men
  • 4 Masadan women

Stuck in an elevator.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . kablOOey


Did I mention it was a short fuse?




Beowolfians, one each, to serve as catalyst and explosive booster.
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by cthia   » Sun Sep 30, 2018 9:24 pm

cthia
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Kael Posavatz wrote:
cthia wrote:What is the most destructive planet killer in the Honorverse?

Ingredients. . .

  • 4 Grayson men
  • 4 Grayson women
  • 4 Masadan men
  • 4 Masadan women

Stuck in an elevator.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . kablOOey


Did I mention it was a short fuse?




Beowolfians, one each, to serve as catalyst and explosive booster.


Each wife will be standing behind her man telling him to "Do something about this bitch!" She be noble to her cause.

Shenobyl.


And of course the mistake in movement orders made by the Janacek Admiralty to recall the control rods.

In this corner the Protector of Grayson.
In this corner the Chief Elder.

Meltdown all over again.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by cthia   » Thu Oct 27, 2022 4:43 am

cthia
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Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Man's appetite has progressed from eating SDMs to MDMs to NIMs. Can't we all just get along and share some M&Ms?

Have we just created a planet kablooey?

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by tlb   » Thu Oct 27, 2022 9:48 am

tlb
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cthia wrote:Man's appetite has progressed from eating SDMs to MDMs to NIMs. Can't we all just get along and share some M&Ms?

Have we just created a planet kablooey?

As has been discussed before in various places in the forum, the potential for planet killing has always been present in the Honorverse. By author's choice it is an extremely rare event; the name of one event where mass civilian causalities were created is enshrined in the Eridani Edict. So it is not that "Man's appetite" has changed in general, rather it is the minuscule group of evil people have gained access to more powerful devices.
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by cthia   » Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:58 am

cthia
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tlb wrote:
cthia wrote:Man's appetite has progressed from eating SDMs to MDMs to NIMs. Can't we all just get along and share some M&Ms?

Have we just created a planet kablooey?

As has been discussed before in various places in the forum, the potential for planet killing has always been present in the Honorverse. By author's choice it is an extremely rare event; the name of one event where mass civilian causalities were created is enshrined in the Eridani Edict. So it is not that "Man's appetite" has changed in general, rather it is the minuscule group of evil people have gained access to more powerful devices.

I was being facetious. As a kid I wondered if man's ability to destroy things would some day include the ability to destroy our sun. That question has been answered, since there is a "universe" killer.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by tlb   » Mon Dec 05, 2022 9:17 am

tlb
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cthia wrote:Have we just created a planet kablooey?

tlb wrote:As has been discussed before in various places in the forum, the potential for planet killing has always been present in the Honorverse. By author's choice it is an extremely rare event; the name of one event where mass civilian causalities were created is enshrined in the Eridani Edict. So it is not that "Man's appetite" has changed in general, rather it is the minuscule group of evil people have gained access to more powerful devices.

cthia wrote:I was being facetious. As a kid I wondered if man's ability to destroy things would some day include the ability to destroy our sun. That question has been answered, since there is a "universe" killer.

There is NO "universe" killer or are you being facetious again? A determined entity might be able to work their way through each galaxy, planet by planet and star system by star system. However by the time they worked their way from from one end to the other, star systems would have reestablished back where they began. The universe might have a new look, but it would not have ceased to exist.
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by cthia   » Mon Dec 05, 2022 9:36 am

cthia
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Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

tlb wrote:
cthia wrote:Have we just created a planet kablooey?

tlb wrote:As has been discussed before in various places in the forum, the potential for planet killing has always been present in the Honorverse. By author's choice it is an extremely rare event; the name of one event where mass civilian causalities were created is enshrined in the Eridani Edict. So it is not that "Man's appetite" has changed in general, rather it is the minuscule group of evil people have gained access to more powerful devices.

cthia wrote:I was being facetious. As a kid I wondered if man's ability to destroy things would some day include the ability to destroy our sun. That question has been answered, since there is a "universe" killer.

There is NO "universe" killer or are you being facetious again? A determined entity might be able to work their way through each galaxy, planet by planet and star system by star system. However by the time they worked their way from from one end to the other, star systems would have reestablished back where they began. The universe might have a new look, but it would not have ceased to exist.


DC Comics

⦁ In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, the Quantum Eigenstate Device (QED) is a planet-killing or possibly universe-killing weapon.

And, of course, the opening post of this thread introduces several solar system extinguishers.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: What, no planet kablooey?
Post by tlb   » Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:03 am

tlb
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cthia wrote:DC Comics

⦁ In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, the Quantum Eigenstate Device (QED) is a planet-killing or possibly universe-killing weapon.

And, of course, the opening post of this thread introduces several solar system extinguishers.

Destroying the DCU is irrelevant to the Honorverse. Destroying star systems, one by one, does NOT destroy the Universe (either ours or the Honorverse).

The only possibilities for Universe destruction (that I know about) lie in its expansion:

Possibility 1: the expansion reverses due to gravity and the Universe collapses back to a point; possibly to undergo another Big Bang (this is not expected based on current understanding).

Possibility 2: the expansion accelerates as increasing distance weakens gravity ties, and each star system is left alone in the dark. With star formation no longer possible; the Universe dies as each remaining star burns out. A form of entropy death.

PS: I may have overstated the second possibility; because galaxies might still remain, but each galaxy will be alone. Same eventual result, but on a bigger scale.
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