interesting conceapt from doctor who...

[zapy97]

I was recently watching a doctor who episode where the Daleks steal the earth and 26 other planets throughout time and space, and use them to create a power house that in their case was used as a great big transmitter, so i was thinking would it be possible to actualy do that if you found the right planets in the correct amount, if so what would you use it for? this is a vastly sci-fi thing so it may not be possible

[phoenix_ca]

As a general rule, I suggest cramming everything you see on Doctor Who under "probably not plausible, but hilarious".

[RedDwarfIV]

Well, firstly you need to have some means of moving a planet.

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WASTING THAT POWER ON MOVING PLANETS ABOUT? SPEND IT ON SOMETHING MORE USEFUL!

[zapy97]

Well, firstly you need to have some means of moving a planet.

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WASTING THAT POWER ON MOVING PLANETS ABOUT? SPEND IT ON SOMETHING MORE USEFUL!

well... firstly it would be to create even more power due to the energy created, or sci-fi created, it is like the rift thing from doctor who, Besides i said super duper futuristic

[Seret]

Having not seen this particular episode I wonder if there's some detail you're leaving out? How exactly does stealing 26 planets generate energy?

[hawkinator]

Gravitational harmonics and applied phlebotinum. Iirc, that is.

[andrewas]

Doctor who varies between very soft sci-fi and fantasy. In that particular episode having those 26 planets in the right arrangement was used to amplify a weapon based on non-existent particles, which would then spread into all parallel universes because of the medusa cascade thing, resulting in destruction of all matter in every universe.

Which wins the prize for most phyrric victory of all time, sine the universe thus conquered would consist of the crucible and 26 planets which would quickly freeze due to lacking a star.

Anyway, none of this has any basis in real physics.

[Twreed87]

Yeah, I absolutely love Doctor Who, but I don't look to it for any sort of real science. The show is much more fantasy dressed up as sci-fi than actual sci-fi.

[mythbusters844]

Holy mother of batman's necroposting siblings! You realize this thread is two years old, right? Also, Doctor Who is supposed to be sci-fi. Does a guy traveling around space and time in a bigger-on-the-inside box sound realistic?

[John FX]

Obviously the fact that the OP posted two years ago means nothing to some people (who may have just come back from dealing with the cybermen in the future)

What better way to use up time until the update is released?

So, 26 planets arranged to be a big transmitter?

I guess it might work similar (but opposite) to the very large radio telescope (IIRC) where each planet had a huge transmitter on it which acted in phase with all the others to focus some form of power output at a point which then acted as the transmitter proper (think death star from Star Wars). You could just use 26 dead planets for that though.

If I were to write such a device into a story I would place a singularity at the focus point because they are cool and are like a magic plot device that lets you do anything.

How this would then affect every possible dimension is not something I can imagine though. Maybe with a singularity, they can do anything.

[Seret]

That's odd, it was on the front page when I replied. Maybe someone replied and deleted their post?

[Rickenbacker]

Quite apart from the problem of how you'd extract any energy from the system, if you have enough power to move 26 planets from their normal places to a completely different part of the galaxy, why not just use the amazing power source you obviously already have to power your transmitter?

I love Doctor Who, but I try not to apply real-world physics (or real-world anything) to it.

[Dominatus]

Interesting point, though... If that so-called medusa cascade were to unleash a type of particle or energy to destroy all matter in all parallel universes, then in accordance with one of the multiverse theories wouldn't there be another "bubble" universe with different laws of physics that render said particles useless? Would there be an unintentional creation effect, sparking new universes into existence as the old ones perish, these new universes being built off of the particle?

And what about the law of thermodynamics? Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Matter can be annihilated by antimatter, but that resulting energy released is immense. So, would this act as a secondary "Big Bang", annihilating all matter in the universe and converting it into energy, an expanding cloud of energy that begins cooling over countless billions of years, until hydrogen (or an equivalent) eventually begins to show up... And as the energy cools, more hydrogen starts showing up, clumping together as per gravitational attraction. And eventually begins fusing. This results in a new set of first-generation stars, creation of heavier elements, star deaths and births of subsequent generations. Until eventually terrestrial objects begin to form, and around one star, the building blocks of life are set in motion, leading to the rise of one of the oldest, smartest species in the universe... They call their world Gallifrey, themselves the Time Lords...

Wow, maybe I could write one of their season finales sometime.