I know fog is created by water in the air. But is there something speacial that would make a whole planet covered in fog? And I mean thick fog? Would the planet have to be consumed largely by an ocean?
A fog planet?
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Water fog is nothing more than cloud at ground level. All you need is air saturated with water vapor, and cool enough for some of that vapor to form microscopic liquid droplets. Not a physical problem.
You can also form "fog" from other gases. Saturn's moon Titan seems to form clouds from methane. Venus does it from sulfurous oxides. It's just a matter of physics and chemistry colliding in the right combination of temperatures and pressures.
caw
You can also form "fog" from other gases. Saturn's moon Titan seems to form clouds from methane. Venus does it from sulfurous oxides. It's just a matter of physics and chemistry colliding in the right combination of temperatures and pressures.
caw
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If this is a planet on which the species of higher intelligence evolved, I would think this 'fog' would more likely come from pollution or some other problem caused by the species. If it is a world where the species is just visiting, then it depends on whether you are making it habitable or not...
It's possible, the planet would just need to be highly saturated with water. But without having a high enough concentration that it rains, or so low that it dissipates, which would take some pretty interesting conditions.
Of course, it's your world, so come up with whatever explanation you want. The floating mountains in Avatar don't make sense, but they're there.
Of course, it's your world, so come up with whatever explanation you want. The floating mountains in Avatar don't make sense, but they're there.
Sarpedon
Banned
and you really wouldn't have to have the entire planet be foggy, just the regions that your protagonists are visiting. I've always felt the whole one-climate-per-planet thing was just lazy.
thank you. And you're right, they didn't explaine about the floating mountains, they were just there. Now that they can create floating mountains I'm hope they do a Rayearth movie and Dragon riders of pern movie.
I wonder what a world made almost entirely of H2O would be like? Deep blue skies filled with mountains of clouds, you plunge down and go through a crazy storm of ice and etc, then plunge into an endless ocean, swim deep enough and then what? Water wouldn't solidify...I guess it would evaporate and be compressed. Maybe such a planet would have to be huge to handle the pressure, and it would be mostly unstable...much to ponder.
What exists in the center of gas planets? The heavier elements, I assume?
Say we had roughly 5.9736×1024 KG (weight of the earth) of H2O at our disposal and released it into space in a specific location. It would naturally condense and become a body, right?
What exists in the center of gas planets? The heavier elements, I assume?
Say we had roughly 5.9736×1024 KG (weight of the earth) of H2O at our disposal and released it into space in a specific location. It would naturally condense and become a body, right?
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There would be an ice core in the deeps of the core. If the planet has a 15 000 km radius, then the ice core could be 3 000 km in radius.
I'm surprised that no one's considered a gas giant as a planet composed of almost nothing but fog. I don't know why it's entirely impossible for a rocky planet to have an atmosphere so thick with suspended particles (suspended water droplets being the primary constituents of "fog") that it inhibits the transmission of light (one of the more obvious features of "fog").
Now, such a planet may not be very friendly to unprotected human beings, but I see no reason such a place couldn't have developed its own biology. Visible light is a really narrow portion of the EM spectrum. It's important to us, because our li'l ol' eyeballs are tuned to it. Nothin' wrong with a being that "sees" in the infrared, which is less affected by fog than are shorter wave lengths. Radio waves, which are even longer than infrared, pass through fog as though it doesn't exist. Why not have beings who "see" radio? Interesting possibilities . . .
Now, such a planet may not be very friendly to unprotected human beings, but I see no reason such a place couldn't have developed its own biology. Visible light is a really narrow portion of the EM spectrum. It's important to us, because our li'l ol' eyeballs are tuned to it. Nothin' wrong with a being that "sees" in the infrared, which is less affected by fog than are shorter wave lengths. Radio waves, which are even longer than infrared, pass through fog as though it doesn't exist. Why not have beings who "see" radio? Interesting possibilities . . .
Mmm. That is kind of what I was going for. But I think my planet will only have pockets of fog.
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thanks
The mineral they were made from was a wide temperature range superconductor. (Which is what made the mineral so valuable)
And there was a strong magnetic field in that region which was repelling the superconductor. (Superconductors hover over magnets)
It was explained in the screenplay, but those bits were (thankfully) edited out. The only remnants are when they are talking about how the weird magnetic fluxes around the floating mountains stuffs up the aircraft instruments.
Mac
Very unlikely. Gas giants, or non-transparent gas are a different matter, but proper fog is a liquid suspended in tiny drops in a gas. Which means there's only a small range of conditions where it doesn't completely evaporate or condense out. Planets are big, having a whole planet with exact those conditions would be extremely strange. Kind of like a "Planet of hat people" (check TVtropes if you dare. I'm not so mean as to link there
)Having really big areas generally covered in fog is much more believable though. Maybe you have a whole continent with cool climate, which gets constant warm, wet winds that blow inwards from the sunny ocean. Or possibly the cold ocean with a warm current. Just look at england. Ok, that's hyperbole england doesn't really have fog all the time. Sometimes it rains.
I don't quite see how that's supposed to happen. The core would be the hottest part of the planet at the highest pressure. Which means you couldn't get ice. You might have an ice crust on the outside though.
Consider a planet with a solid core, overlaid with a nice, deep ocean. Couple of miles worth, at least. Beginning conditions: all the water is equally salty, equal in temperature, no currents, no wind, 100% humidity, no clouds, moderate axial tilt (20 degrees or so) and there's a 24hr day.
The very first thing that happens is the tropics heat up and the poles cool down. The hotter tropical air has less relative humidity and rises. The polar air cools down and it immediately begins raining, since the air cannot hold the humidity at cooler temps. Eventally, it snows. The colder air sinks and spreads out to the lower latitudes, diverting spinward as it does. In the tropics, the seas evaporate at a higher rate, concentrating salinity. The water at the poles becomes denser. Ocean currents begin to flow.
The cold currents sweeping out of the poles are not necessarily in synch with the atmospheric cold fronts, so you will have patches where saturated air at a high temp runs over cold surface water. Instant fog. When cold air is in contact with warm water, no fog.
Pretty soon, you have a water world with massively storms, broad ocean currents, and patches of fog.
Fog forms only when warm saturated air is cooled. This occurs either as it rises (forming a cloud), or passes over a cold surface. The problem with an all-water world is that the surface just doesn't differ markedly enough with the air over the entire globe.
The very first thing that happens is the tropics heat up and the poles cool down. The hotter tropical air has less relative humidity and rises. The polar air cools down and it immediately begins raining, since the air cannot hold the humidity at cooler temps. Eventally, it snows. The colder air sinks and spreads out to the lower latitudes, diverting spinward as it does. In the tropics, the seas evaporate at a higher rate, concentrating salinity. The water at the poles becomes denser. Ocean currents begin to flow.
The cold currents sweeping out of the poles are not necessarily in synch with the atmospheric cold fronts, so you will have patches where saturated air at a high temp runs over cold surface water. Instant fog. When cold air is in contact with warm water, no fog.
Pretty soon, you have a water world with massively storms, broad ocean currents, and patches of fog.
Fog forms only when warm saturated air is cooled. This occurs either as it rises (forming a cloud), or passes over a cold surface. The problem with an all-water world is that the surface just doesn't differ markedly enough with the air over the entire globe.
A planet composed of one ball of pure water, the mass of Earth. WARNING, EXTREME OVERSIMPLIFICATIONS
Mass of Earth (via Wikipedia): 5.9736E+27 grams.
1 gram of water=1 cc (definition)
Volume of that mass of water is the same, in cubic centimeters. (simplification: ignoring volume effects caused by phase changes and compression of water under self-gravity)
This volume forms a sphere 1.126E+09 centimeters in radius, or, dividing by 100,000, a ball with a radius of 11256 kilometers.
What's the water pressure at the center? Check out this handy little calculator: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/pman.html Water is 1g/cm2, and the column height is 11256000 meters. We get 1.10E+08 kPa, or 1.10E+05 MPA, or 110 GPa.
Here's where it gets interesting. There are different phases of water. Gas, liquid and ice. There are fifteen kinds of ice (!), most formed under huge pressures. Now, we're going to assume that the core of this ball of water is at least somewhat warm still. Given the phase diagram of water, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/WaterPhaseDiagram.png only runs out to 600k (430C), we'll use that as our internal core temp.
At the center of our hypothetical ball of water, the center is crushed down into Ice X, which forms at 105GPa, or about the first 500km of the core (measured from the center going out) Above that is Ice VII, lasting until 1GPa, a pressure reached by a water column 102km high.
So, you have a ball of mostly ice, with a 100km skin of ocean on top. And, remember, there are massively gross oversimplifications here.
All you real scientist types, please don't yell at me for the gross oversimplifications here. Yes, I know that water density changes at depth, and that Ice VII and Ice X are far denser than 1g/cm2. But this is a wiki+spreadsheet kind of computation.
Mass of Earth (via Wikipedia): 5.9736E+27 grams.
1 gram of water=1 cc (definition)
Volume of that mass of water is the same, in cubic centimeters. (simplification: ignoring volume effects caused by phase changes and compression of water under self-gravity)
This volume forms a sphere 1.126E+09 centimeters in radius, or, dividing by 100,000, a ball with a radius of 11256 kilometers.
What's the water pressure at the center? Check out this handy little calculator: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/pman.html Water is 1g/cm2, and the column height is 11256000 meters. We get 1.10E+08 kPa, or 1.10E+05 MPA, or 110 GPa.
Here's where it gets interesting. There are different phases of water. Gas, liquid and ice. There are fifteen kinds of ice (!), most formed under huge pressures. Now, we're going to assume that the core of this ball of water is at least somewhat warm still. Given the phase diagram of water, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/WaterPhaseDiagram.png only runs out to 600k (430C), we'll use that as our internal core temp.
At the center of our hypothetical ball of water, the center is crushed down into Ice X, which forms at 105GPa, or about the first 500km of the core (measured from the center going out) Above that is Ice VII, lasting until 1GPa, a pressure reached by a water column 102km high.
So, you have a ball of mostly ice, with a 100km skin of ocean on top. And, remember, there are massively gross oversimplifications here.
All you real scientist types, please don't yell at me for the gross oversimplifications here. Yes, I know that water density changes at depth, and that Ice VII and Ice X are far denser than 1g/cm2. But this is a wiki+spreadsheet kind of computation.
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If Frank Herbert can have an entire planet covered in sand and no one stops to say, "hey, how are they breathing? I mean, plants produce oxygen and all, and if that planet is a giant desert how do they have enough air to breath?" you can have a planet wrapped in fog.
Just write the story, and have every character accept it without question and the reader will follow right along.
Just write the story, and have every character accept it without question and the reader will follow right along.
Sarpedon
Banned
There is plantlife on Arrakis. Its just desert adapted plantlife.
Also, the floating mountains on Pandora were caused by a combination of massive deposits of unobtanium and geological instability which allowed for huge hunks of rock to be lifted into the air. Cause...unobtanium is an anti-gravity metal, I think.
Also, a planet covered in fog? Can't they just visit London?
Also, the floating mountains on Pandora were caused by a combination of massive deposits of unobtanium and geological instability which allowed for huge hunks of rock to be lifted into the air. Cause...unobtanium is an anti-gravity metal, I think.
Also, a planet covered in fog? Can't they just visit London?
Actually, it would. All substances respond to temperature/pressure combinations. Various exotic "ices" can be formed from water at ultra-high pressure conditions. But that would only happen so deep within a planetary core that it would be unreachable in any real practical manner. Plus, if you had a planet truly consisting entirely of water, where would any technological materials come from? Metals, silicates, even the organic chemicals from which biology arises, would be foreign to it.
caw
Only if the fog is actually made up of a cloud of insects. *Shudders* I Hate Fresno.
A wholly original concept and very doable. Might I suggest that the occupants of this planet be blind or perhaps they possess abnormally large eyes or exceptional vision to see in the fog.
In a foggy world, sight would be obsolete unless they evolved accordingly.
Love the idea. Run with it.
In a foggy world, sight would be obsolete unless they evolved accordingly.
Love the idea. Run with it.
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