I've been asked why I haven't continued with the script evolution project. Well, I have, but I just haven't been writing posts about it.
Until I can figure out the "diagram problem" I can't find a good way to post the iterations, and without that the posts would be meaningless.
I'll post all of the ones I've made as soon as I get the images working, though. Sorry.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
A Musical Challenge
This post deviates quite a bit from my usual ones. Rather than researching a topic, this time I'm asking you to do the work. ; )
As some of you probably know, the Urbana Pops Orchestra just announced that they're holding a composition contest. Anyone in the East-Central Illinois area can write and orchestrate a piece for them, based on the theme "Space: A Musical Frontier." The winning over-18 entry and the winning 18-and-under entry will be performed at the concert next summer.
I've been working hard on my composition, and as such have been thinking a lot more about musical theory lately. This is an idea I had a while back, and I realized that this blog would be a good format for it.
So here's my mini-composition challenge.
Come up with a short melody based on the following chords, preferably in 4/4 time, with one bar per chord. Then I'll fit them all together and post the results.
C F G C C F G G7 Am F G C
These chords aren't very interesting, but I figured a simple example would be best to start off. I-IV-V-I and variations thereof are used for all sorts of different pieces, same with replacing an I with a vi.
If you come up with a melody from these, for whatever instrument, post it in the comments below. It'll be interesting to see what everyone comes up with!
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| Bach's Two-Part Invention #1, the first few bars. |
As some of you probably know, the Urbana Pops Orchestra just announced that they're holding a composition contest. Anyone in the East-Central Illinois area can write and orchestrate a piece for them, based on the theme "Space: A Musical Frontier." The winning over-18 entry and the winning 18-and-under entry will be performed at the concert next summer.
I've been working hard on my composition, and as such have been thinking a lot more about musical theory lately. This is an idea I had a while back, and I realized that this blog would be a good format for it.
So here's my mini-composition challenge.
Come up with a short melody based on the following chords, preferably in 4/4 time, with one bar per chord. Then I'll fit them all together and post the results.
These chords aren't very interesting, but I figured a simple example would be best to start off. I-IV-V-I and variations thereof are used for all sorts of different pieces, same with replacing an I with a vi.
If you come up with a melody from these, for whatever instrument, post it in the comments below. It'll be interesting to see what everyone comes up with!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
On the Non-Existance of Diagrams
Sorry, everyone, I know my images haven't been showing up in posts recently. I think I've found the problem, it seems to be a certain type of PNG file that Blogger chokes on, and I'm going to try re-exporting everything with different settings. If that doesn't work I'll *shudder* save the images as JPEGs, which I know will show up.
On the Existence of Dragons, Part II
Yet again I have more information on this, and I don't want to turn the original post into one big wall of text. So here's the third post in the "series," enjoy.
Here was my original idea for how a dragon's respiratory system could work:
[Diagram]
Rather than having one pair of lungs exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen in the blood, the dragon has two. Blood first passes through the second pair of lungs, which contain the triethylaluminum or similar, to release the carbon dioxide. Then oxygen is picked up in the first pair of lungs, as usual.
We're assuming that this blood contains a special type of hemoglobin that is unusually effective in picking up oxygen, or that the dragon continues to hold oxygen-rich air in its lungs before exhaling until all the oxygen is gone. Otherwise there might be problems.
Then, when the dragon breathes out, the CO2 and triethylaluminum come into contact with the air, and ignite. As long as the dragon doesn't breathe in until the fire's gone, it isn't at risk of burning itself.
One other problem that comes up is how the dragon can keep the two pairs of lungs separate, when they're both connected to its trachea (windpipe).
Well, humans have this problem as well, in a way. Both the lungs and the stomach are connected to the back of the throat, but are kept separate by a flap called the epiglottis. We can assume that this would work for the dragons as well, although setting yourself on fire from the inside is rather more unpleasant than coughing if something goes wrong.
Now, could we extend this to other things as well? Apparently, many folktales involve dragons that breathe out ice or poison instead of fire.
Poison is easy, many different types of animals already can create poisons and toxins.
Ice is a bit more interesting, though.
There are several types of chemical reactions that are extremely endothermic--they take energy out of their surroundings when they react, so everything nearby becomes colder. This is how cold-packs work. The best one I found is 85 grams magnesium chloride hexahydrate, MgCl2(H2O)6 (commonly used to de-ice roads) and 100 grams ice. According to one source, this reaction can bring the solution to -94 degrees Celsius (-137.2 degrees Fahrenheit)!
So rather than the modified respiratory system, this frost-breathing dragon might have a structure in its mouth in which the magnesium chloride is created, and then it could trigger the reaction by chewing on a piece of ice or snow. Hopefully it could avoid frostbite in its mouth while breathing out. But at least keeping cool wouldn't be a problem.
Here was my original idea for how a dragon's respiratory system could work:
[Diagram]
Rather than having one pair of lungs exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen in the blood, the dragon has two. Blood first passes through the second pair of lungs, which contain the triethylaluminum or similar, to release the carbon dioxide. Then oxygen is picked up in the first pair of lungs, as usual.
We're assuming that this blood contains a special type of hemoglobin that is unusually effective in picking up oxygen, or that the dragon continues to hold oxygen-rich air in its lungs before exhaling until all the oxygen is gone. Otherwise there might be problems.
Then, when the dragon breathes out, the CO2 and triethylaluminum come into contact with the air, and ignite. As long as the dragon doesn't breathe in until the fire's gone, it isn't at risk of burning itself.
One other problem that comes up is how the dragon can keep the two pairs of lungs separate, when they're both connected to its trachea (windpipe).
Well, humans have this problem as well, in a way. Both the lungs and the stomach are connected to the back of the throat, but are kept separate by a flap called the epiglottis. We can assume that this would work for the dragons as well, although setting yourself on fire from the inside is rather more unpleasant than coughing if something goes wrong.
Now, could we extend this to other things as well? Apparently, many folktales involve dragons that breathe out ice or poison instead of fire.
Poison is easy, many different types of animals already can create poisons and toxins.
Ice is a bit more interesting, though.
There are several types of chemical reactions that are extremely endothermic--they take energy out of their surroundings when they react, so everything nearby becomes colder. This is how cold-packs work. The best one I found is 85 grams magnesium chloride hexahydrate, MgCl2(H2O)6 (commonly used to de-ice roads) and 100 grams ice. According to one source, this reaction can bring the solution to -94 degrees Celsius (-137.2 degrees Fahrenheit)!
So rather than the modified respiratory system, this frost-breathing dragon might have a structure in its mouth in which the magnesium chloride is created, and then it could trigger the reaction by chewing on a piece of ice or snow. Hopefully it could avoid frostbite in its mouth while breathing out. But at least keeping cool wouldn't be a problem.
Monday, November 5, 2012
On the Existence of Dragons, Part 1.5
Just a bit more explanation, since I don't like making big changes to previous posts...
The Square-Cube Law is based on the fact that a cubic function (based on x3) will always overtake a quadratic (based on x2) function. No matter what. Even if you compare 0.01x3 and 999x2, the cubic will always "win". And they'll keep getting further and further apart the higher you go. There's no way to make them stay close together for very long.
The Square-Cube Law, then, brings this from algebra to geometry. It says that, as you scale something up, its volume increases by a cube, and its surface area by a square.
This is relevant in all sorts of different fields. For example, let's say you are designing a ship. If you take, say, a small sailboat and scale it up to the right size, it won't work at all. It might not even float, and it certainly won't be able to sail. The mass of the boat increased by the cube of the scaling factor, but the size of the sails only increased by the square.
And, as the previous post stated, this is why an elephant looks nothing like a scaled-up mouse. Strength is based on the cross-section of the muscle, which increases by a square. But mass and weight are based on the volume, which increases by a cube. As an animal is scaled up, its muscles need to be larger and larger compared to its size.
Another biological problem with this that I didn't mention is overheating. Small animals have a lot of surface area compared to volume, so they can lose heat easily through their skin. But large animals have a harder and harder time doing this. (Especially if they breathe fire.) Our dragon would at the very least have to be able to sweat to remove heat, bringing in yet another non-reptilian characteristic. But I suppose it's more likely than fire breathing at any rate.
The Square-Cube Law is based on the fact that a cubic function (based on x3) will always overtake a quadratic (based on x2) function. No matter what. Even if you compare 0.01x3 and 999x2, the cubic will always "win". And they'll keep getting further and further apart the higher you go. There's no way to make them stay close together for very long.
The Square-Cube Law, then, brings this from algebra to geometry. It says that, as you scale something up, its volume increases by a cube, and its surface area by a square.
 |
| I just took this from Google Images for now, I'll make a better version of it later. Sorry. |
And, as the previous post stated, this is why an elephant looks nothing like a scaled-up mouse. Strength is based on the cross-section of the muscle, which increases by a square. But mass and weight are based on the volume, which increases by a cube. As an animal is scaled up, its muscles need to be larger and larger compared to its size.
Another biological problem with this that I didn't mention is overheating. Small animals have a lot of surface area compared to volume, so they can lose heat easily through their skin. But large animals have a harder and harder time doing this. (Especially if they breathe fire.) Our dragon would at the very least have to be able to sweat to remove heat, bringing in yet another non-reptilian characteristic. But I suppose it's more likely than fire breathing at any rate.
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