Novel Definition and 94 Threads

I'm a fantasy writer and I am twisting and almost bending science in my story. I see no harm in it, and if you agree, I would like to ask for help. I'm writing a fantasy novel where the protagonist must battle an army of strange creatures. I say strange because these creatures are made of...

Just stumbled over this one: https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Marie-Curie-A-Quest-For-Light I know I'm one out of around only ~7 people who can stomach the amount of ads on these sites. It helps to set it to "low quality" and "show all pages" though. Anyway, the thing *can* be bought the old...

I am writing a (hard!) Sci-Fi novel and am considering capturing some of my research in references. I would welcome any suggestions as to online resources that pull together across all science (+ physics) disciplines the sort of subject materials I would likely need. Idea is to focus somehow...

I like this idea. Very creative, but in retrospect it sounds obvious. Just create a path of ionized atoms.

Continue reading...

Summary:: Sci-Fi author looking for science advisor Hi everyone :) I have just completed the first draft of a novel and am looking for someone to review the science and confirm I'm not wildly off base, misunderstanding, or otherwise talking out of my ass before I begin the edits for the...

Summary:: Ideas for a novel I want to begin writing. Brainstorming ideas and need help with a certain concept. Any help is appreciated! Hello to you all, this is my first post, and I Google searched this astrophysics forum because I thought it might be a good place to begin asking for advice...

I love Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs character, and after Netflix serialized Altered Carbon in 2018, I went back and read all three novels again: Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies. Netflix has now released season two of Altered Carbon, which seems so nominally based on Broken Angels...

Hello all, In schools I had been dealt with novels (just quotes from them) on any language classes. I had discussed a lot about its plot, the characters, background, and even moral stories. But I haven't ever been taught about how to write my own. In grade 12 of high school, instead I learned...

In an ebook I read recently, the author has a future society construct a shell around Ceres consisting of transparent orbital panels that are joined together into a solid sphere. They are made from a smart material of some kind, referred to as "Smart Diamond" that allows in sunlight but blocks...

I've been studying the 1D schrodinger equation, and getting a feel for solutions in the harmonic oscillator, or potentials of inverse radius (atomic/hydrogen), and many versions of stair-step/ square potentials (square wells.) But, I've noticed that there are very few exact 1D potentials in the...

Hello I'm in the process of writing a novel and there is one specific event that I need help nailing down. The story is very much fantasy / science fiction, so reality is no barrier, however I want to stay as true as possible to laws of physics. Skipping background details, imagine a mini...

Hi! I have a question about space suits on Mars. I've done a google search and find conflicting information. In my YA novel the protagonist makes a quick stop on Mars (just for a couple of minutes). I wonder if it's possible for a human to visit Mars surface for a couple of minutes with just...

Super frustrated English major here trying to do calculus! Please help! I'm in way over my head... So, I'm writing this manuscript that involves humans with genetically inherited teleporting abilities. Near the end of the book, my protagonist wants to fling the antagonist close enough to a...

Just saw this article from a highly respected research team, and thought some might enjoy seeing how the state of the art continues to develop rapidly: 12-photon entanglement and scalable scattershot boson sampling with optimal entangled-photon pairs from parametric down-conversion Han-Sen...

http://www.upworthy.com/a-dutch-boy-genius-said-he-could-get-the-ocean-to-clean-itself-turns-out-he-s-right This young Dutch inventor is set to solve a major ecological problem cleaning the great garbage patch in the ocean between Hawaii and California in a cost effective and possibly...

I am in the midst of penning a novel and need help with a physical analogy. I've scoured google for an answer and, perhaps because I have a headache right now, my eyeballs are swimming. So, I figured I should come here and ask. An object (in this case, a person's career) is on a trajectory...

I have been writing this science fiction novel in the form of a blog so that I can get feedback. It's based on the direction that technology is progressing on a whole, but in a "distant" future when we basically Ray Kurzweil got his way, but it didn't turn out exactly how he predicted. Chapter...

I'm writing a serialized Steampunk-fantasy story in which the cities float high in the planet's atmosphere using a combination of Magic and technology (sci-fi-ish steampunk technology) Though I want to bring it as close to real science as I can. From some google searches it seems that a vacuum...

My adviser and I have some disagreements about what my thesis should look like. I am a proponent of a single specific theme that encompasses the entire work. He believes in tying many different projects together with a much broader theme. I have been involved in a variety of projects (In order...

Dear PF Members! This is my first post. I've been reading these boards for some time now and the community as well as the pool of information is great and very inspiring. I realize this post may have seem better posted in fantasy section, however, I hope the discussion taking place focuses on...

This is something that got me thinking for a while. Especially after learning the basic of physics and chemistry. Basically, pretty much every movies, novel, etc that feature an advanced race of aliens(or any alien in general), they gives them some sort of technology or their organic...

Hi all, I thought this might be the best place to ask rather than just go charging in with inane questions and getting shot down. In short, I'm writing a novel which is based heavily on Quantum Physics and am looking for advice on aspects of this subject as they relate to events in the story...

I'm working on a science fiction novel, so feel free to ignore reality if you bother to answer this. In my book (rough draft) I was using laser beams to transfer data. Essentially imagine a relay of nodes between the Earth and Mars. Each node contains at least one (and probably more) laser beam...

We all know our favorite detective Sherlock Holmes is a fiction character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But do we consider the novels "A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, etc." a sci-fi novel due to the detective's deductions or does it belong to another genre?

I know magnetic launch tracks on the side of mountains has been proposed before but what if... you vacuum the inside of the launch track on the side of the mountain and extend the tube up from about 5K meters to 30K meters? The tube on the side of the mountain would be made of a strong metal...

Hello friends, I was about to write a plot for my novel when something struck me.I have seen people who read a sci fi novel for hours together but end up discarding the book halfway between the story as they found it so boring after a particular point.What do you really expect from a sci fi...

Novel idea on the origin of life based on a system self organizing to dissipate energy as efficiently as possible: http://www.businessinsider.com/physicist-has-a-groundbreaking-idea-about-why-life-exists-2016-1?amp

The following article just appeared in the British Medical Journal: Vinkers CH, Tijdink JK, Otte WM. Use of positive and negative words in scientific PubMed abstracts between 1974 and 2014: retrospective analysis. BMJ 2015;351:h6467...

Hi! I've written a novel in which my main character travels through time (into the future) 18 years. While the concept of time travel is necessary to the plot, the details are not. Meaning, the book isn't sci-fi, but contains elements that wouldn't normally exist in a contemporary novel, so...

What if we built an electromagnetic track around the circumference of the moon? We could then accelerate a spacecraft to a very high speed. In theory it would only be limited by the strength of the materials holding the craft to the track and the centripetal acceleration that the craft/people...

This question and answer are posed in Kim Stanley Robinson's novel "2312". My question is, is this all made up? Or might it be accurate?

Hello! I had a username on here from a few years ago (the site looked different then), but I can't remember the email or password, so I humbly return to the community as a noob. I am working on a short science fiction novel, and I could use a little informed insight. The planet on which the...

Hi, I am new to the forums and thought of asking this question convenient right here. So, I was wondering that we have many novels explaining Astronomy and Particle physics for non physicists or physics enthusiasts. For example books on Biographies of say Einstein go a little deep into his...

Hey! So I've been reading a ton of papers on magnetic hyperthermia research (implanting nanoparticles into cancerous tissue and heating up the implanted area with an AC magnetic field to melt away the tumor cells). And now it's to the point where I would like to actually do something of my own...

I've just finished reading Stephen Baxter's Proxima - a gritty telling on the first interstellar voyage and colonization of P. Centauri. I like to think that, while Baxter pens audacious and fanciful stories about exploration, he is not one to simply fabricate physics like some Jules Vernian...

The holidays are upon us. With the holiday's comes time off work and school for many. What books are you reading during your spare time? Do you Have any Favorite holiday reads? Perhaps some guilty favorites? Currently I am working on four novels: 1. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene 2. Anna...

I always wanted to create a toolbox of critical analysis tools for young people to analyze, debate, and anticipate the near term future given our human nature and our history, especially since the scientific revolution. This is what my novel is intended to do, but writing a first (crap) edition...

This question is relative to a fiction novel that I am writing. There would be about three or four paragraphs. It concerns Nano-Bots. I wish to present the concept in a more intelligent manner...or is it okay as it is, and will not post, if it is unworthy of your expertise. May I post these for...

In the story I am currently working on, a weapon commonly used on ships is a sort of coilgun. I want to create a ratings system for these coilguns and want to know the range of ampule-turns that would be used in large coilguns (barrel diameters range from six inches to two feet).

Here's a story I've been working on for the past week. It's more of an experiment really. This novel does (or will eventually) interact with a myriad of fields, including computer science, nanotechnology, molecular biology, and quantum mechanics. I'd really love to see some input from...

If you've read "The Stand", you'll remember the part where all the scientists in the underground facility die when the virus is released. I was always confused by this because the virus took weeks to kill everyone else, but the scientists seemed to have died on the spot while going about their...

Any reason why the balloon could not be substituted for a turbine to make a practicle flying device . One that could have comercial use. http://www.presentsformen.co.uk/science-museum-balloon-copter-prod9413/?gclid=cpdtrkvg074cfcpmtaodrnoa5g

I'm a few weeks behind in this news but it seems that an astoundingly simple way of producing pluripotent stem cells has been discovered. The method is being called stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency and involves a transient exposure to low pH...

Hi all, Thank you for the pleasure of being part of this forum. I'm sorry if this is in the wrong area, please feel free to move this post if it is. I'm in the process of creating a science fiction novel and I need some help please. Very simply, Earth has over time destroyed itself and...

Imagine there is a reaction performed and it contains a product that is easily separable via an acid base extraction. This product is only formed in 50% yield. The other 50% formed unwanted products that are to be separated and done away with. If all that is known is the structure of these...

Suppose there was a ring of some material (steel? future carbon nano tubes?) around the sun. The ring would have a diameter of 2*10^9th meters. If a solar sail were placed attached to the ring with the reflector at a 45 degree angle) then the solar sails velocity would only be limited by the...

Firstly, it's darn hard work, and any notion I had about overtaking Crawford's, Lights Out, have been dealt a painful blow. He became a multimillionaire in the time it takes the photons leaving your monitor to pass the end of your nose. Well, so it's said. I talked at length to Richard...

Need verification of "physics phrase" for novel Dear scientists, I am currently working on a novel, and for that I need a phrase to be verified for accuracy and validity, as I do not want to come up with something that is complete nonsense. In plain English, I want to say that you cannot...

Hello Everyone! My brother and I are a writing a book, and I'd love it if you guys would provide some feedback. You love it, you hate it, what have you. Honestly I've been developing this for so long I can't realistically appraise it. If you like what you see, feel free to like us on...