Cryokinesis drains heat to absolute zero. Any ideas what this would do to areas of habitat? And my players will be seeing the after effects in areas as the heat returns, so any ideas what this would be like. Anything to make it not seem like a magical effect would help.
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Psi Epsilon Sleight Question
Fri, 2015-06-26 01:26
#1
Psi Epsilon Sleight Question
Fri, 2015-06-26 02:32
#2
Depends on how fast it
Depends on how fast it happens, what happens to the heat in the area, what size of an area it is, and a lot of other questions. Frankly, it boils down to how you want to present it, since as far as a quick google search has told me, you're violating the laws of physics in a big way regardless of how you do it, which is kind of the point of psi-epsilon. For example, if it happens very quickly over a broad area and the heat is simply shunted aside, you basically have a bomb.
I'll leave the particulars to the STEM majors here with some eagerness to see what they have to say, but another thing you'd see is a lot of system failure. Almost everything built to survive space need to cope with waste heat -- for all the "space is cold" tropes, the fact is it's much harder to get rid of heat in a vacuum. Supercooling a space habitat isn't something most engineers would plan for when building, so beyond obvious things like life support/water pipes freezing and exploding (or for that matter, gas lines doing the same thing), a lot of systems are going to be damaged in the area of effect even without a bomblike effect. Electronics will fail, anything with liquids will freeze, a lot of materials will become very brittle or even shatter...bottom line is, it's going to suck.
Fri, 2015-06-26 04:37
#3
Totes Spacemagic.
If the area is cooled to absolute zero, then the result is going to be everything in it exploding into razor-sharp fragments (See the Shredder), as the thermally induced contraction creates stresses the items were never designed to withstand, because nothing is built with that in mind.
It'd be like designing something to be safe when parts spontaneously transform into Key lime Pie.
—
In the past we've had to compensate for weaknesses, finding quick solutions that only benefit a few.
But what if we never need to feel weak or morally conflicted again?
Fri, 2015-06-26 09:51
#4
Note to self:
Note to self: new Psi-Epsilon, a certain radius is afflicted with a sudden transformation into deadly Key Lime Pie.
I imagine that forensic analysis later, as I presume you are creating an aftermath scene?, would show all of the shattered delicates and durable materials, as others mention above, stuff can't handle that plunge in temperature. Then when things [s]cool[/s] heat up all of the gasses and liquids that went hard solid would evaporate and sublimate so lots of mist?
—
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
Fri, 2015-06-26 10:17
#5
The Forensic Anaylsis machine
The Forensic Anaylsis machine should technically fail. What the Psi Epislon is doing is breaking reality as to how Transhumanity (by and large) understands it.
As there would be no known set of circumstances that would produce this type f result.
Fri, 2015-06-26 11:35
#6
also the area is going to be
also the area is going to be separated except in the direction of gravity due to all the contraction being toward the epicenter of the sleight. yes anything that aerosols at normal temperature is going to turn into fog as the solids are going to remain super cold for some time. the other thing is the new thermal gradient. there is now a very very large energy level difference between the affected area and the rest of the habitat, this is going to cause a chain cool down, whether that is enough to flash freeze the rest of the station is unknown but certainly anything with a normal battery or capacitor will be depleted and expect the air to become arctic chill.
Another thought since absolute zero means no energy at all that means the affected area has essentially stopped all motion in relation to the center of the universe, this is going to throw the hab off orbit i bet as the 0 kelvin debris slams into the rest of the hab at millions mph
Fri, 2015-06-26 21:02
#7
thanks for the ideas. A
thanks for the ideas. A small area of key lime pie in the middle of all the destruction might cause more stress than the anything else for my players.
I thought that some metals also act as liquids as the temperature drops to absolute, but couldn't find which ones do. Didn't think about all motion stopping, so will have to play with that idea some as well. Also does anyone know what absolute zero would do to a nuclear fission powersource? Does it just stop or go critical first?
Fri, 2015-06-26 21:14
#8
it would temporarily stop the
it would temporarily stop the fission until the next neutron is released. radioactive decay can only be arrested never ended.
Fri, 2015-06-26 21:51
#9
All motion doesn't stop at
All motion doesn't stop at absolute zero, and in any case, there is no "center of the universe" or prime reference frame for matter to stop moving relative to.
Matter at absolute zero should exhibit some really strange effects, traditional chemistry won't happen, but due to weird quantum mechanical things, quantum chemistry begins to occur. This is stuff like a Bose-Einstein condensate where atoms blur together due to quantum interactions and behave like weird composite atoms.
This would have extremely strange effects at a macro scale. Many things would spontaneously become superconductors (though I have no idea which ones) and could act oddly in a magnetic field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws6AAhTw7RA
Most things would probably turn into supersolids or superfluids (perhaps shattering depending on how quickly the temperature was lowered), and would move without any friction. Most of these effects would probably be short lived after the sleight stopped being continued.
So things should end up in all kinds of weird places, and should be rather scrambled atomically, as the supersolid, superfluid, and general quantum chemistry come to an end.