Positive Angle 2015-02-24

[Sgt. Howard]

"but the protocol says this door needs to be closed"

.. as required by the redundant department of redundancy...

[zachariah]

No as required by antimatter safe rules. When a door is open close it. It won't antimatter anyway, but the rules must be followed.

Also good chance the amount of AM is small and the door will cofferdam the blast.

[oldmanmickey]

Now Sarge we both know from our military time that if the door to the munitions storage bunker is closed the explosion will be contained. The room is designed in such a manner that it will be funneled away from personnel. Says so right in the regulations. Next you should move away from the door squat down, place your head between your knees and kiss your ass good bye.

[Yamara]

Maybe there's a 1950s refrigerator they can hide in, and be blown clear.

Those things can withstand anything.

[DilyV]

Matter. And. Antimatter. Don't. Mix.

when Matter and Anti Matter mix they annihilate each other creating the reactions I spoke of yesterday... In a world of matter, antimatter is BAD.

I think its not atsali that needs the gibbs slap... its Nadette. She's obviously channeling someone else here.

[kingklash]

If the door is open, the containment field may not function properly. It's Big Twinkie bad if that happens.

[Thor]

No as required by antimatter safe rules. When a door is open close it. It won't antimatter anyway, but the rules must be followed.

Following the rules of grammar, if it won't anti-matter that means it will matter, since the negatives cancel.

So, if you are a teenager, and you think these are your last seconds on Earth, what are the odds that the words "Screw it! I'm not going to die without getting to at least 3rd base!" go through your head while you and an attractive young lady are cowering together in a makeshift bunker?

[meisdadoo]

With an antimatter bomb the only thing that could possibly help is closing the door to a time portal that either sends you or the bomb to another when because all of where is about to go bye bye. (or closing the door pauses the detonator)

For some reason I am flashing back to images of Bia and Charon and a really big baddaboom

On another note, I am really glad this is not Friday. I can't wait to see where this goes. . .

[Sgt. Howard]

Now Sarge we both know from our military time that if the door to the munitions storage bunker is closed the explosion will be contained. The room is designed in such a manner that it will be funneled away from personnel. Says so right in the regulations. Next you should move away from the door squat down, place your head between your knees and kiss your ass good bye.

... indeed, THAT is the protocol I remember- after all, the explosion will certainly be familiar with the FTM on the subject and will comply with any and all requirements.

Certain military logics hold that if you get nine pregnant women together, in one month you have a baby... of course, Paul is creating this universe so all SOP will abide by his design. After all, we currently have a female ursamorph with the hots for a sirene, a Jaguar Girl who dropped her lover because of sexual assault series to take up with another rape victim, a sphinx who's banging an indestructible cop, a golem who's been given a terminal lifespan while two other golems try to fit into 'normal' life and a third one marinates herself in tequila... I could go on, but you get the gyst. Mr. Taylor spins a fine yarn, otherwise we wouldn't be reading it or discussing it in such detail- these wild rides are what makes it so enjoyable. I confess, my knowledge of various mythologies is considerably lacking compared to most of you, but I still enjoy the hell out of this stuff.
And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that the door DOES serve as a shield- unlike MY experience with 'unstable concepts', Taylor's creations tend to come out (for the most part) allright.

[oldmanmickey]

I keep flashing back to the first time i caught a hop on a KC-135, i was talking to the crew chief and asked about parachutes. He said they was just enough for the crew not the passengers but not to worry. We was sitting on top of 40000 lbs of JP4, all a parachute would do it make you late for the cookout. i get the same feeling about that door as i did then.

[Naemless]

Um. The output of an antimatter/matter reaction is determined by the quantity of antimatter involved. Two grams of antimatter will give something approximating a 30Mtonne nuke. For all we know the bomb is only two micrograms, or even less. But we don't.

[Dave]

Matter. And. Antimatter. Don't. Mix.

Well... certainly not when they're cold, or so claims Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott

when Matter and Anti Matter mix they annihilate each other creating the reactions I spoke of yesterday... In a world of matter, antimatter is BAD.

Taken to excess, I certainly agree.

In moderation... well, my wife underwent a PET scan about ten years ago (diagnostic procedure for cancer), which involves the generation of antimatter (inside the body!). She lived through it just fine, and the scan showed that the cancer had not spread to her liver (which was excellent news).

I think its not atsali that needs the gibbs slap... its Nadette. She's obviously channeling someone else here.

Atsali certainly isn't the only one being affected by "borrowed" (or "gifted") Ethetian memories, it seems.

With an antimatter bomb the only thing that could possibly help is closing the door to a time portal that either sends you or the bomb to another when because all of where is about to go bye bye. (or closing the door pauses the detonator)

Or activates a teleporter, or a really fast escape rocket, or ... ?

[louisxiv]

From their positions and Nadette’s hand on the door edge blocking Atsali, it looks as if they may be on different sides of the shut door.

And Nadette isn't blushing when talking to Atsali

[Gyrrakavian]

Maybe there's a 1950s refrigerator they can hide in, and be blown clear.

Those things can withstand anything.

Or the just happens to open to a particular human coffee shop and a certain young faun/satyr is about to get an accidental face-full of clevage.

[lake_wrangler]

Question: would an antimatter explosion advance exponentially, rather than geometrically?

To me, geometrically does not make sense. I may very well be wrong, of course, but I can't help but wonder...

[scantrontb]

Y'all are worrying too much... for a society that has the technical know-how to create an energy system that can harness the rotational energy of an entire GALAXY!!!... preventing damage from the wimpy little thing such as the detonation of a bit of anti-matter is child's play comparatively. I'll bet that Nadette is quoting the "letter of the law" over the door's status, without even KNOWING WHY that reg is in place... WHY is because that door is the only thing that can let the explosion ESCAPE from that room, all other surfaces of that room are build from a material that can withstand that amount of energy release, whether inherently, or via built in force-fields or something. BUT the door is a breach in that containment, so a protocol was enacted that that door MUST be closed at all times, except when transiting thru said door... thus minimizing that risk.

Nadette already said that the Senator DOESN'T know how to BUILD Golem's , but she was obviously in a position of authority over their creation/use, so my theory is that the Senator probably doesn't know about the rooms design, she just needed to know that the door must be kept shut at all times, she's probably just been told by the techs when she was told about this place that "oh, yeah! whenever you go in here, or leave here THIS door MUST be closed afterwards..." and like most stereotypical politicians, they go "uh huh... OK, whatever, I'll normally be having minions doing that for me anyway so i don't need to know WHY, but thanks for telling me that bit of trivia..." but in the Senator's fear addled mind that Nadette seems to have locked onto, she remembers that speech, and is just "going with it"... thus, when the bomb DOES go off, it will completely wipe the room, and any other places in between where they're at right now, and that bomb's current location when they ran thru the base to get to that doorway, seeing as how there seems to be a bit of off-screen travel distance not shown... heck, CLOSING that door may BE the trigger for the detonation itself?!

SO... all-in-all, i foresee a "Big Badda Boom"... but NOT the "Earth Shattering Kaboom" they seem to be expecting.

[KnightDelight]

The crucial thing about an antimatter explosion is particle contact. How does one make sure most, if not all of the particles come into contact before the force of the explosion disperses the antimatter? I mean, as soon as a few atoms come together, they would blow the rest away and scatter it. Those antimatter fragments would then come into contact with other matter, creating smaller explosions all over the place. And does the antimatter have to come into contact with just the right kind of matter to cause a good explosion? Naturally, in the bomb you would have the matter and antimatter made up of the same kind of element for maximum effect (I guess), but if the antimatter gets blown all about, what sort of power will be released when the antimatter comes into contact with atoms of matter that are not it's own kind? If an anti-hydrogen atom comes into contact with an atom of, say, silicon, what sort of energy would be released compared to an anti-hydrogen and hydrogen atom mixing?

[oldmanmickey]

Question: would an antimatter explosion advance exponentially, rather than geometrically?

To me, geometrically does not make sense. I may very well be wrong, of course, but I can't help but wonder...

In mathematics, a geometric progression, also known as a geometric sequence, is a sequence of numbers where each term after the first is found by multiplying the previous one by a fixed, non-zero number called the common ratio. For example, the sequence 2, 6, 18, 54, ... is a geometric progression with common ratio 3. Similarly 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25, ... is a geometric sequence with common ratio 1/2. All self sustaining nuclear sequences are geometric based on a common ratio of 2.

[Naemless]

Naturally, in the bomb you would have the matter and antimatter made up of the same kind of element for maximum effect (I guess), but if the antimatter gets blown all about, what sort of power will be released when the antimatter comes into contact with atoms of matter that are not it's own kind? If an anti-hydrogen atom comes into contact with an atom of, say, silicon, what sort of energy would be released compared to an anti-hydrogen and hydrogen atom mixing?

Rather than elements, try atomic particles. Anti-protons, anti-neutrons, anti-electrons (a.k.a. positrons). Anti-hydrogen would be an anti-proton and an anti-electron, with various numbers of anti-neutrons depending on isotope (at a guess). Silicon would have plenty of regular old protons and electrons for the anti-hydrogen to party with.

[oldmanmickey]

The crucial thing about an antimatter explosion is particle contact. How does one make sure most, if not all of the particles come into contact before the force of the explosion disperses the antimatter? I mean, as soon as a few atoms come together, they would blow the rest away and scatter it. Those antimatter fragments would then come into contact with other matter, creating smaller explosions all over the place. And does the antimatter have to come into contact with just the right kind of matter to cause a good explosion? Naturally, in the bomb you would have the matter and antimatter made up of the same kind of element for maximum effect (I guess), but if the antimatter gets blown all about, what sort of power will be released when the antimatter comes into contact with atoms of matter that are not it's own kind? If an anti-hydrogen atom comes into contact with an atom of, say, silicon, what sort of energy would be released compared to an anti-hydrogen and hydrogen atom mixing?

I am having to be real careful here since i have no desire to count penguins in Antarctica or get to know a roommate at fort Leavenworth. The reason that our current nuclear explosions only give a yield of about 10% is the exact reason you mentioned. It has to be the right material, the right amount, etc etc. If any of these factors change then the explosion stops. Thats why yields are expressed in approximate amounts since your not sure exactly when this will happen. During the first test some of the scientists were not sure this would happen at all so they actually had a betting pool how big the boom would be. The high end was the planet itself goes boom.

Now the nice thing about antimatter is that it dont matter how much, what type or any of those factors. As long as its the opposite of each other your going to get total conversion. Now technically you can argue that it would only destroy the number of particles that made it up so if you had anti hydrogen and slammed it into silicon it would only convert part of the atomic structure but the resulting deference would not be noticeable to the untrained eye.