• What if the Earth's rotation was knocked on it's side by a solar flare? A novel idea.
    123 replies, posted
Maybe something to do with magnetic poles causing the whole damn earth to turn somehow? Such as _____ pulls magnetic poles and causes this rotation change. Also, it would still be rotating in it's normal direction, just on its side? Or would it change the rotation as well?
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;16017213]Maybe something to do with magnetic poles causing the whole damn earth to turn somehow? Such as _____ pulls magnetic poles and causes this rotation change. Also, it would still be rotating in it's normal direction, just on its side? Or would it change the rotation as well?[/QUOTE] It'd still have to rotate on its poles, but on its side.
[QUOTE=Arkanj3l;16017133]Yeah, I know. Any thoughts? If the moon went drastically out of orbit somehow, maybe the gravitational forces would sway the Earth into a different facing... An asteroid crashing into the planet would definitely fuck with the orbit, but humanity would still have to be sufficiently alive somehow. An asteroid smashing into the moon, perhaps? You'd end up with a rock shower situation as well ala Cowboy Bebop.[/QUOTE] If I were you, if I couldn't come up with a feasible reason, Id just leave it unexplained.
[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;16017152]And it would take a hell of a lot of energy to change our orbit in such a way, probably so much so that a more likely situation would be the Earth just being destroyed. A Q like alien race dicking around with us for fun would make more sense :v:[/QUOTE] One of NASA's strategies with dealing with an asteroid heading to Earth is a small ship sent to orbit around the asteroid as to change the asteroid's collision path by altering ITS orbit. Perhaps something could do the same to Earth? It would take a helluva lot more time, though... Time to go to Things of Interest and do some number crunching. [editline]11:33PM[/editline] [QUOTE=ryandaniels;16017242]If I were you, if I couldn't come up with a feasible reason, Id just leave it unexplained.[/QUOTE] :v:
Asteroids affect the atmosphere more than they do the planet, the one that wiped out the Dinosaurs killed most of the life on the planet, and did pretty much nothing to the planets orbit. Edit: Asteroids are much smaller than the Earth, the energy required to change the orbit of an asteroid (direction, not rotation) is much less than what would be required to change the Earth's orbit (well, rotation). Direct intervention by Time Lords/Q aliens is more likely.
The northern hemisphere would be in sunlight while the southern hemisphere would be dark.
[QUOTE=Arkanj3l;16017260]One of NASA's strategies with dealing with an asteroid heading to Earth is a small ship sent to orbit around the asteroid as to change the asteroid's collision path by altering ITS orbit. Perhaps something could do the same to Earth? It would take a helluva lot more time, though... Time to go to Things of Interest and do some number crunching. [editline]11:33PM[/editline] :v:[/QUOTE] I'm serious. I'll be honest, it will take some literary skill to avoid the subject without making it seem gimmicky, but it's not like it hasn't been done before. Roadside picnic is sorta like this. It doesn't really go into detail on what happened, it leaves a shroud of mystery for the reader to fill in the blanks
[QUOTE=iradz;16017327]The northern hemisphere would be in sunlight while the southern hemisphere would be dark.[/QUOTE] I think we've established that. [editline]11:41PM[/editline] [QUOTE=ryandaniels;16017329]I'm serious. I'll be honest, it will take some literary skill to avoid the subject without making it seem gimmicky, but it's not like it hasn't been done before. Roadside picnic is sorta like this. It doesn't really go into detail on what happened, it leaves a shroud of mystery for the reader to fill in the blanks[/QUOTE] Yeah, I think it's a good but tough idea, I was only laughing because it's also an incredibly simple yet elegant one. If I focused hard on the socioeconomic aspects, and get a more "social science fiction" (as Asimov would've called it) going on, it'd be great to see the results. [editline]11:42PM[/editline] Also isn't Roadside Picnic the book Stalker was based on was the movie S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was based on?
I'm pretty sure such a powerful solar flare would simply just burn us to crisp. Suppose you could add in a massive technological advancement in your future society involving some radiation shield/artificially strengthened ozone layer to make humanity survive.
I think it'd make for a more interesting setting if the south side of the planet were given the sunlight. Not only would it mean a complete reversal in terms of current world economies but you could also bring in rising sea levels from ice melt on antarctica and even new locales based on the thawing continent. Not to mention the global food shortages caused by the fact that most of the planets land mass is concentrated in the northern hemisphere and the south has very little arable land as it is. My two cents. As for causing the earth's tilt, how about a migrating black hole? I don't know why it might cause the earth's tilt to change, given that it's gravity would more likely just drag the earth closer, but gravity doesn't have the same brain frying quality that high energy electromagnetic radiation does.
Everyone should live in city-domes which regulate the temperature and employ a fake day/night cycle for such a long time that they completely forget the existence of the outside world. The "EMP" destroys all computers, so the only history which is left is that which existed inside the city in paper form at the time of The Event. Of course, nobody can leave the cities because the outside world is either extremely hot or extremely cold, so each city would develop as a separate civilisation. The axial tilt should be a gradual thing, so that the governments have enough time to erect domes. I'd like this.
I'm finding it hard to see how one side of the planet would stay in total darkness. If a solar flare knocked us about like that, I imagine we'd just start rotating through a different axis.
If its the year 2030 maybe a group of scientists want humanity too start colonizing other planets, but the governments never give them enough money and just laugh at them saying that the earth is great and that they don't need more,so the scientists , who already have found a way of traveling too other planets fast enough and only need the money too build the spaceship are fed up and use the immense propulsion force of there invention too shift the earths rotation so that humanities only logical choice is too colonize other planets.
Although the cliche part about a man looking for his wife or whatever, i think this story sounds dam cool. (Not to say the cliche is bad, because i can't think of any better reason either!) Maybe the wall in the middle should have cities built around it, like illegal shanty towns, rife with murder, crime etc etc. After all, the wall is the only thing separating the two halves of the globe. You don't need to explain in huge detail the reason the earth tilted the way it did. I say a couple of pages talking about solar flares, the moon and planetary orbit would sufficed if they were chocked full of scientific crap, because it's only the setting for the story, it's not vitally important imo. [QUOTE=Sh33p;16017533]Everyone should live in city-domes which regulate the temperature and employ a fake day/night cycle for such a long time that they completely forget the existence of the outside world. The "EMP" destroys all computers, so the only history which is left is that which existed inside the city in paper form at the time of The Event. Of course, nobody can leave the cities because the outside world is either extremely hot or extremely cold, so each city would develop as a separate civilisation. The axial tilt should be a gradual thing, so that the governments have enough time to erect domes. I'd like this.[/QUOTE] Also, really liking this dome idea. It adds another element to the story, escaping the dome, then exploring the desolate wastes near the borders and down into the south.
[QUOTE=markg06;16017124]You make it seem like we wouldn't get on with things and just alter clocks and calendars.[/QUOTE] Because we wouldn't
Guys, I think the deeper sense behind this is not what we would die off first, but how our society would react to that... I'm sure there will be only a narrow band where you can actually survive without having extreme conditions.
[QUOTE=Benf199105;16017578]Although the cliche part about a man looking for his wife or whatever, i think this story sounds dam cool. (Not to say the cliche is bad, because i can't think of any better reason either!) Maybe the wall in the middle should have cities built around it, like illegal shanty towns, rife with murder, crime etc etc. After all, the wall is the only thing separating the two halves of the globe. You don't need to explain in huge detail the reason the earth tilted the way it did. I say a couple of pages talking about solar flares, the moon and planetary orbit would sufficed if they were chocked full of scientific crap, because it's only the setting for the story, it's not vitally important imo.[/QUOTE] I was only planning on a short prologue to introduce the setting of the time, so I suppose scientific verity of the cause isn't as crucial as mapping out the consequences in an engaging manner. I've started toying from the Darkside point of view first, because it would be interesting to see how characters on the Darkside would treat the Sunside, perhaps with an almost mythological status. Since those deep in the Darkside are so cut off from communication, they wouldn't know about how terrible and dystopic the Sunside really is, but would still want to venture towards it due to how shit life is on the Darkside plus how badly they would want to see the sun. It'd be a journey for the reader as well, who for a long time would have no idea how the Sunside is like (as they only know as much as the character knows), and the reveal would be sudden and shocking. The thing is it doesn't fit with my original idea of the man and his wife, which conversely would be a survival tale of someone suddenly stuck in the most foreign environment he has ever known -- the dark. It's a tough choice.
[QUOTE=Arkanj3l;16017670]I was only planning on a short prologue to introduce the setting of the time, so I suppose scientific verity of the cause isn't as crucial as mapping out the consequences in an engaging manner. I've started writing the book from the Darkside point of view first, because it would be interesting to see how characters on the darkside would treat the sunside, perhaps with an almost mythological status. Since those deep in the darkside are so cut off from communication, they wouldn't know about how terrible and dystopic the sunside really is, but would still want to venture towards it due to how shit life is on the darkside plus how badly they would want to see the sun.[/QUOTE] Yeh, sounds cool. Thing is, if it is set in 2030, we still have the current generation, i.e. people who know all about how the world was before the shift (unless this is an alternate timeline). You need to find a way to make the darkside characters really un-knowing about the sunside, then they can revear the people from that side as god like and mythical. Maybe you could shift the story on further, in time wise... Technology won't have gone much further than the present if the earth has suddenly royally fucked itself up, so you can keep any of your technological premises intact. Another thing i liked was Sh33p's idea about the dome's for cities. This could be pretty cool in itself alongside the story; each city can be hugely different and diverse, and the political, economic and social aspects of each dome could be completely different the further south the character travels, until you become so entwined in the dark side of the earth that the sunside character is seen as mythical, legendary and almost godlike. If you have ever seen Waterworld; this is kind of the idea i like, along with Fallout 3, all the cities and bastions of human life are different. Watch Waterworld if you haven't seen it, it is somewhat relevant. Some random thoughts there, pick out what you can understand XD EDIT: Maybe a government plot? The southern domes are used as experiments in sociology and psychology (ripping off Fallout here). The character needs to find his (insert relative/friend) and he has been taken into the southern domes to be tested on?
I'd say the best idea is not to talk about what happened at all. Literally, "There was a disaster. It tipped the Earth on its side" would be better than reams of pseudoscience as it allows you to get on with the story and stops the scientific impossibility from rearing its head.
People living on the dark side of the planet doesn't really make sense; without the sun the southern hemisphere would be totally uninhabitable due to lack of food and extremely low temperatures.
Rather than worrying about how the earth's tilt changed, why not tell the story through a series of journals, a la "We" ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29[/url]), so that you can focus on the effects, rather than the causes? Either way, the premise of the novel sounds great, and I'd probably decide to read it. But if you end up butchering the dystopian genre, I will never forgive you. [editline]12:23PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Splurgy;16017865]I'd say the best idea is not to talk about what happened at all. Literally, "There was a disaster. It tipped the Earth on its side" would be better than reams of pseudoscience as it allows you to get on with the story and stops the scientific impossibility from rearing its head.[/QUOTE] I agree; look at novels like The Road, at no point do you actually learn why the world is the way it is, and the mystery itself does more to add onto the story than knowing the cause ever would.
[QUOTE=Shanethe13;16017895]Rather than worrying about how the earth's tilt changed, why not tell the story through a series of journals, a la "We" ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29[/url]), so that you can focus on the effects, rather than the causes? Either way, the premise of the novel sounds great, and I'd probably decide to read it. But if you end up butchering the dystopian genre, I will never forgive you. [editline]12:23PM[/editline] I agree; look at novels like The Road, at no point do you actually learn why the world is the way it is, and the mystery itself does more to add onto the story than knowing the cause ever would.[/QUOTE] Ah yes, The Road, I've been meaning to pick that one up. From what I heard of it I had in mind as well when I was thinking of what living on the Darkside would be like... With regards to dystopia, what pitfalls should I look out for?
[QUOTE=Arkanj3l;16017929]Ah yes, The Road, I've been meaning to pick that one up. From what I heard of it I had in mind as well when I was thinking of what living on the Darkside would be like... With regards to dystopia, what pitfalls should I look out for?[/QUOTE] I always would think that the most we would have to fear from in a post-apocalyptic anarchy would be from nature or from ourselves.
Don't know if it's already been posted, but the North wouldn't be in eternal sunlight and the South in eternal night. Think of the orientation of the Earth to the Sun once this happens. You would have 4-5 months of daylight, 4-5 months of night, and a few months of twilight. This is what happens with Uranus, which already has the orbital conditions that you describe. It has 42 years of day and 42 years of night.
[QUOTE=Arkanj3l;16017929]With regards to dystopia, what pitfalls should I look out for?[/QUOTE] A lot of dystopian novels nowadays are exactly the same thing. They use things like 1984 as a blueprint, and only change a few details of the plot. Everyone has read something that uses concepts such as telescreens, or the thought police, so the initial shock value is gone. A dystopian novel should make you truly dread living in the world it portrays, and to do that, it has to incorporate something that you've never thought of before. In 1984, that was th complete rewriting of history, while in Atlas Shrugged, it was the voluntary destruction of humanity's spirit. If you look at every dystopian novel that is considered great, you'll notice that all of them have a unique idea to call their own. In your novel, you are going to have to go beyond mere oppression or poverty, and think of something that truly instills pure, unadulterated fear into your heart. It can't simply be a fear of dying though, it needs to be something more than that; like a fear of living. Of course, don't take anything I say as set in stone, these are just my personal opinions.
[QUOTE=Shanethe13;16018123]A lot of dystopian novels nowadays are exactly the same thing. They use things like 1984 as a blueprint, and only change a few details of the plot. Everyone has read something that uses concepts such as telescreens, or the thought police, so the initial shock value is gone. A dystopian novel should make you truly dread living in the world it portrays, and to do that, it has to incorporate something that you've never thought of before. In 1984, that was th complete rewriting of history, while in Atlas Shrugged, it was the voluntary destruction of humanity's spirit. If you look at every dystopian novel that is considered great, you'll notice that all of them have a unique idea to call their own. In your novel, you are going to have to go beyond mere oppression or poverty, and think of something that truly instills pure, unadulterated fear into your heart. It can't simply be a fear of dying though, it needs to be something more than that; like a fear of living. Of course, don't take anything I say as set in stone, these are just my personal opinions.[/QUOTE] This is good advice. But to be honest, it will be very difficult to stay away from cliche in a dystopian genre. Think of gangster films, you only get a few truly original pieces, but even the cliche ones are still good. I wouldn't worry too much about dystopian pitfalls, you can still write a good piece, even if some people think it isn't completely original.
If a part of the world would be in total darkness it would die off. Plants die, animals die, people migrate away or die.
[QUOTE=Take_Opal;16016854]Farewell Atlantis [editline]03:08PM[/editline] lol That's all? No, Tides, everything the moon affects, and saying "ONLY Time Zones and Seasons" is like saying "ONLY 12 billion people died!"[/QUOTE] When this happened we already died from swine flu, so stop targeting him, he's right.
I'll have to think about that. If DainBramage is right (which he is), then perhaps something to do with a fear of the dark could put the people in check? Just a thought.
[QUOTE=Benf199105;16018186]This is good advice. But to be honest, it will be very difficult to stay away from cliche in a dystopian genre. Think of gangster films, you only get a few truly original pieces, but even the cliche ones are still good. I wouldn't worry too much about dystopian pitfalls, you can still write a good piece, even if some people think it isn't completely original.[/QUOTE] Of course, there's nothing wrong with reusing ideas. But if you can think of something original to bring to the table, the writing will be much better because of it. Look at a novel like The Chrysalids; it isn't the stereotypical nuclear wasteland that causes the novel to be considered a masterpiece, but the fact that the people within it are destroying any chance of their recovering, accepting their fate as a punishment they deserve. It is one thing for the people to live within a desolate wasteland because they are oppressed, but it a completely new thing for them to be living there at their own free will. [editline]12:55PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Arkanj3l;16018249]I'll have to think about that. If DainBramage is right (which he is), then perhaps something to do with a fear of the dark could put the people in check? Just a thought.[/QUOTE] That works too; maybe all of this change occurs in the first six months of darkness, and it is the switch that causes the even greater panic.
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