Re: Wire Obstacles

Ummm...someone correct me if I'm wrong here (I can't believe I just
invited
the abuse!)  but I believe that the strong nuclear force only holds the
nucleus of individual atoms together.  The attraction between nucleus
and
electrons is pretty much simple electromagnetic, and the bonds holding
atom
to atom within the molecule is some kind of electron interaction - but
not
the strong nuclear force. While these bonds may be significantly tough,
they are several orders of magnitude weaker that the strong force.

So what does this mean?  I dunno, but there may be some virtue to the
thought of cooking the monowire electrically or just through plain heat.
How much heat could a monowire be subjected to before the absorbed
energy
became too strong for the bonds to hold the the monowire breaks down? 
Is
there a large number of suitable mono-molecules that could be deployed,
or
only a few? If it is only a few, or you know what molecular composition
the
opponent uses, tune a laser to the proper wavelength to excite the
electrons in the bonds, then sweep the suspect area with it - Again, if
you
excite a suffecient number of the electrons, you could effectively boil
off
the bonds and then march through the gap - It wouldn't have to be a
particularly strong laser, either.

I also tend to believe that monowire is a fairly cheesy Sci-Fi idea that
makes for an interesting thought experiment, but impractical in
execution.
Poor pplot device IMHO.  (but if feel that way about the majority of the
'way-out-super-nanites from hell' as well - and if that doesn't make me
flame-bait on this list, I don't know what will!)

NVDoyle@aol.com on 05/10/98 03:02:27 PM

Please respond to FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk

To:   FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
cc:    (bcc: Jared E Noble/AAI/ARCO)
Subject:  Re: Wire Obstacles

In a message dated 98-05-10 19:28:19 EDT, Beth writes:
<< G'day,
     Just a dumb question. You may have covered this already as I
haven't
been
 following very closely. But what kind of molecules are we talking
about?
 What kind of molecular bonds? If they're only joined by the kind of
 molecular bonds I know about wouldn't appropriate electric/magnetic
fields
 break it up (by exciting the electrons in the bonds enough so that they
 jump out of that orbital thereby breaking the bond - if they're not in
a
 lattice of some kind I would have thought this was a strong
possibility)?
 Sorry if this really dumb, >>
Not a dumb question at all, Beth.  In fact, I don't think that anybody
knows
what kind of molecule would be used for that - maybe something in the
'island
of stability' predicted a few numbers out in the periodic table.  Most
sci-fi
writers use the ubiquitous 'force field' to grant the necessary
strength.
As
far as I can tell, it's not really feasible - but I could be wrong.  I
hope
not.  Nasty stuff.
     Since it's a single, loooooooong molecule, atomic bonds would hold
the
nuclei together, right?  Would the strong nuclear force, the one that
holds
stuff together on that level, be resistent to the forces exerted by it's
environment?  My chemistry/physics is lacking in this department, so
somebody
more knowledgeable than me should take over here.
Noah V. Doyle