Need a scientist?

[telford]

Howdy Chrons.

I don't write tech. I write character and conflict. However, my MS is military SF so...

You can't have a decent space battle without energy beam weapons. Right.

My ebw is called a Pulsar. Yes, I know, it can be misinterpreted, so the question is since, lazer, phaser, grazer etc have been used to death, any ideas.

It should be noted that the ebw can fire a continuous focused beam that can penetrate shields and armor at close range. It can also fire pulses of energy (globules of energy if you will) that drain shield power and prepare for the big stuff; you know torpedoes, missiles etc.

Any thought or comments welcomed.

[J-WO]

How about Pulsescythe? Or just scythe for short.

[J-WO]

Or on a similar tip, Fusionlance.

[alchemist]

Plasma lance?
Pulsar definitely doesn't work because it suggests something pulsed, rather than intermittent.

[alchemist]

Whoops. I meant to say "rather than continuous."

[telford]

J-WO and Alchemist, thanks for that. Food for thought. Cheers.

[Rider of scaled wing]

So... we can ask any kind of scientific question here, and perhaps get an informed reply? (sorry, just back from a long absence.)

[goldhawk]

Originally Posted by Rider of scaled wing

So... we can ask any kind of scientific question here, and perhaps get an informed reply? (sorry, just back from a long absence.)

You're far more likely to get an opinionated reply. But go ahead, ask away.

[Arkose]

Originally Posted by Rider of scaled wing

So... we can ask any kind of scientific question here, and perhaps get an informed reply? (sorry, just back from a long absence.)

That is the general idea.

I am finishing my degree for Environmental Science (Water specialization). If I don't know the answer I can point you in the general direction if you have water ecosystem/quality questions.

[Rider of scaled wing]

Right, ok. *Ahem*

My question concerns Mining and metallurgy, which is an important factor in any Medieval fantasy story i suppose.

Anyway, I know bronze, that durable alloy, is created from a blend of Copper and Tin. what i don't know is how much of one or the other is needed to create a proper, sturdy alloy, and not just be a slightly tinted version of one or the other metal.

Secondly, The region this story is taking place in is very cold, sub arctic region, kind of like scandanavia. And i know that tin, at least relatively pure tin, is known to have a kind of rather alarming corrosion at low temperatures known as Tin pest. However, I can't find many specifics about this phenomenon. So would a cold region Tin mine be totally unrealistic, or is there some kind of mechanism that would keep the ore from destroying itself in that type of environment?

[Arkose]

I don't know much about the erosion of pure metals but if its true that Tin erodes quickly in cold temperatures than exposing Tin to air that is colder than what is in the ground (at a certain depth all soil temperatures are the same) will cause it to erode quickly. I have no idea though about it just making a guess.

Now something I do know more about it Acid Mine Draining but I have never heard of a case in a sub-arctic regions. If your land had some defrost and melting though than the exposed rock/tin could develop Acid Mine Drainage, which would have huge impacts on the surrounding environment.

[Elizabeth Bent]

Sorry I've been away from this thread for so long, I haven't been getting notifications of posts in my email and I don't often have time to surf this site and see who's posted what. It seems like there are enough folks with expert knowledge (or at least, interesting opinions) that may have answers to questions that this thread still has some value, for which I'm grateful.

Now, to remember to set the notification thing... (still getting used to this site)

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by Rider of scaled wing

Right, ok. *Ahem*

My question concerns Mining and metallurgy, which is an important factor in any Medieval fantasy story i suppose.

Anyway, I know bronze, that durable alloy, is created from a blend of Copper and Tin. what i don't know is how much of one or the other is needed to create a proper, sturdy alloy, and not just be a slightly tinted version of one or the other metal.

Secondly, The region this story is taking place in is very cold, sub arctic region, kind of like scandanavia. And i know that tin, at least relatively pure tin, is known to have a kind of rather alarming corrosion at low temperatures known as Tin pest. However, I can't find many specifics about this phenomenon. So would a cold region Tin mine be totally unrealistic, or is there some kind of mechanism that would keep the ore from destroying itself in that type of environment?

Tin might have corrosion problems at low temperatures, but tin oxide (cassiterite, the principal tin ore) could be considered as corrosion already; extraction of the metal involves high temperatures and charcoal, anyway, so your tingots would start hot; you just don't need them to get too seriously frozen before alloying them with the copper. Keep them indoors (heats the house too), or go straight or have your copper ready and waiting.

There are several different bronzes; the tin one we're talking about is about 10 - 15% tin, the rest copper. But there are zinc bronzes, arsenic bronzes, silver bronzes… just about anything alloyed with copper, they didn't have sophisticated analytic techniques.

Would there be enough forest for charcoal in the cold conditions, or would they be exporting the ore? Since copper and tin rarely occur in the same region, there's going to have to be trade with one or the other of the metals, either smelted or as ore.

[Rider of scaled wing]

It's a pretty heavily forested area, but backed by mountains (on the other side of which is a highland tundra), so there'd be plenty of wood for making charcoal. especially since the people in this story mostly live in wood houses.

Also, isn't Zinc and copper actually brass?

[chrispenycate]

If the zinc is the dominant impurity, yes. But the word "bronze" is very loose; the people who were making it would chuck in a bit of this, bit of that; as long as the basis was copper, it got classed as bronze. Then there are all the modern ones like phosphor bronze, magnesium bronze, which I don't think contain any tin at all.

But you'd want hardwood charcoal for the smelting, not the conifers that are most likely to grow in those conditions. Oh, there are deciduous trees that could survive, but they'd be replaced pretty slowly, probably leading to mobile charcoal burning camps in the summer, and mass transport of prepared charcoal on sledges come first snow. Or you could have them own a coal mine and produce coke as a reducing agent.