Ger <No.### [at] ThankYou> wrote:
> You keep referring to the mountain as a volcano but it isn't even though
> Niven describes it as one.
He does describe it as conical, though, which would almost always be a
volcano if it were formed naturally.

> The one thing you could/should compare it to is
> a bullet hole in sheet metal.
Good point. However, it wouldn't be quite like a bullet hole because the
asteroid in question would probably have been a dense cloud of plasma by
the time it hit the ring floor (the characters observe a foamy impact
buffer covering the underside before they land). It would certainly have
looked like a volcano; the glowing remains of the asteroid would have
sprayed forth from the tip of mountain even as it formed. Not that the
locals would have had a chance to observe the cataclysm - the shockwave
(depending on the damping properties of scrith, of course ;) ) would
probably throw the topsoil miles into the air for millions of miles around.
If scrith was like metal, the whole Ring would probably vibrate like a bell
for millennia, shaking everything to oblivion on its surface... although it
wouldn't be - the builders would surely foresee such events and want their
wonder-material to be as powerful a damper as it is strong.

Thinking about it though... bullets deform quite drastically when they
strike metal - perhaps it wouldn't be so different. What we need here is a
high-speed film of a ball-bearing striking a sheet of toffee. Anybody? :)

Bill

Post a reply to this message