Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to WILL ONE? I JUST MADE THAT UP!

Whoa there!
Robert — (archived)

I was just spinning along on high concept. There's nothing implausible about what you describe, I think. Hot vibrating atoms emit light at characteristic frequencies, so I just reasoned by analogy that you could configure molecules like buckeyballs to deliberately get that effect. You sort of "tune" the shape to get specific frequencies, perhaps using the interior hollow as something like a microwave resonating cavity. (I'm making it up as I go!)

I know that buckeyballs can potentially be configured through an enormous range of shapes by putting together the simple components in different ways. The fact that most are hollow is what made me think of using them as atomic lasers. There are some molecular structures, like chlorophyll if I remember right, that have an energetic atom at the center that moves through various energy levels. So I just kind of put it together into a fuzzy synthesis. Synthesis is fun and sometimes gets you there, but I know that somebody with actual knowledge is likely to come along and slap me around for my hubris. [Cue RL...]

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