Redox Magic 1: Stone-age France
Because my setting is incredibly varied, I've been advised against attempting to ask this in a single question, and have broken this up into a series. Each context will be roughly analogous to a setting in my world(s).
Imagine that you live in France during the stone age. One day, you and five friends have the ability to magically induce redox reactions at-will.
Each person can use this ability to effect a total mass of 3 tons, per day. They can control the speed of the reaction, the scale of the reaction and remove the need for any activation energy.
The goal of you and your friends is to exert economic dominance over neighboring tribes using the least amount of this power.
You and your friends are in complete agreement about this goal and the means of achieving it. Nobody will be founding new religions around you or your powers. You have no foreknowledge of history. There are no particularly important figures for you to assassinate. Your environment and tools are otherwise typical of the time and place. The power can be used on yourselves, inanimate objects, and non-human animals.
How would you do this?
magic chemistry fire
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
|
show 1 more comment
Because my setting is incredibly varied, I've been advised against attempting to ask this in a single question, and have broken this up into a series. Each context will be roughly analogous to a setting in my world(s).
Imagine that you live in France during the stone age. One day, you and five friends have the ability to magically induce redox reactions at-will.
Each person can use this ability to effect a total mass of 3 tons, per day. They can control the speed of the reaction, the scale of the reaction and remove the need for any activation energy.
The goal of you and your friends is to exert economic dominance over neighboring tribes using the least amount of this power.
You and your friends are in complete agreement about this goal and the means of achieving it. Nobody will be founding new religions around you or your powers. You have no foreknowledge of history. There are no particularly important figures for you to assassinate. Your environment and tools are otherwise typical of the time and place. The power can be used on yourselves, inanimate objects, and non-human animals.
How would you do this?
magic chemistry fire
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
13
You should consider adding an explanation or at least link to 'what is redox'. Everytime someone needs to do active research (e.g. using search engines) to merely understand your question you force them to decide if it's even worth the time of trying to find out what you mean. And as with everything they will have no idea if they found the right 'redox', etc... TL;DR link or explain everything thats is not one of the most common 1000 english words....
– dot_Sp0T
Nov 12 '18 at 6:19
4
France constituted only in the early medieval times. Do you mean living in the area that is currently under France government but during the stone age? If so would you mind editing your question?
– Ister
Nov 12 '18 at 10:55
1
Do I understand correctly, that the lack of need for activation energy means the reaction can be induced in either direction at the decision of the person using the power?
– Pahlavan
Nov 12 '18 at 11:57
2
I think to have the power of 'redox' you have to in the least have the knowledge of chemistry otherwise how do you know what you are even doing. Also by having knowledge of chemistry you pretty much obliterate the stone age.
– anon
Nov 12 '18 at 12:18
1
I just want to emphasize how bold this is. Of course, your world, your magic, your rules. But your magic violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is one of the deepest idea of physics. To put it in perspective, supposing that you can go faster than the speed of light is far easier to imagine. Hence any attempt to answer "scientifically" to this question is doomed.
– Alexis
Nov 12 '18 at 19:01
|
show 1 more comment
Because my setting is incredibly varied, I've been advised against attempting to ask this in a single question, and have broken this up into a series. Each context will be roughly analogous to a setting in my world(s).
Imagine that you live in France during the stone age. One day, you and five friends have the ability to magically induce redox reactions at-will.
Each person can use this ability to effect a total mass of 3 tons, per day. They can control the speed of the reaction, the scale of the reaction and remove the need for any activation energy.
The goal of you and your friends is to exert economic dominance over neighboring tribes using the least amount of this power.
You and your friends are in complete agreement about this goal and the means of achieving it. Nobody will be founding new religions around you or your powers. You have no foreknowledge of history. There are no particularly important figures for you to assassinate. Your environment and tools are otherwise typical of the time and place. The power can be used on yourselves, inanimate objects, and non-human animals.
How would you do this?
magic chemistry fire
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
Because my setting is incredibly varied, I've been advised against attempting to ask this in a single question, and have broken this up into a series. Each context will be roughly analogous to a setting in my world(s).
Imagine that you live in France during the stone age. One day, you and five friends have the ability to magically induce redox reactions at-will.
Each person can use this ability to effect a total mass of 3 tons, per day. They can control the speed of the reaction, the scale of the reaction and remove the need for any activation energy.
The goal of you and your friends is to exert economic dominance over neighboring tribes using the least amount of this power.
You and your friends are in complete agreement about this goal and the means of achieving it. Nobody will be founding new religions around you or your powers. You have no foreknowledge of history. There are no particularly important figures for you to assassinate. Your environment and tools are otherwise typical of the time and place. The power can be used on yourselves, inanimate objects, and non-human animals.
How would you do this?
magic chemistry fire
magic chemistry fire
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
edited Nov 12 '18 at 15:07
Chris Cirefice
10714
10714
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
asked Nov 12 '18 at 3:26
user49466user49466
1,629219
1,629219
13
You should consider adding an explanation or at least link to 'what is redox'. Everytime someone needs to do active research (e.g. using search engines) to merely understand your question you force them to decide if it's even worth the time of trying to find out what you mean. And as with everything they will have no idea if they found the right 'redox', etc... TL;DR link or explain everything thats is not one of the most common 1000 english words....
– dot_Sp0T
Nov 12 '18 at 6:19
4
France constituted only in the early medieval times. Do you mean living in the area that is currently under France government but during the stone age? If so would you mind editing your question?
– Ister
Nov 12 '18 at 10:55
1
Do I understand correctly, that the lack of need for activation energy means the reaction can be induced in either direction at the decision of the person using the power?
– Pahlavan
Nov 12 '18 at 11:57
2
I think to have the power of 'redox' you have to in the least have the knowledge of chemistry otherwise how do you know what you are even doing. Also by having knowledge of chemistry you pretty much obliterate the stone age.
– anon
Nov 12 '18 at 12:18
1
I just want to emphasize how bold this is. Of course, your world, your magic, your rules. But your magic violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is one of the deepest idea of physics. To put it in perspective, supposing that you can go faster than the speed of light is far easier to imagine. Hence any attempt to answer "scientifically" to this question is doomed.
– Alexis
Nov 12 '18 at 19:01
|
show 1 more comment
13
You should consider adding an explanation or at least link to 'what is redox'. Everytime someone needs to do active research (e.g. using search engines) to merely understand your question you force them to decide if it's even worth the time of trying to find out what you mean. And as with everything they will have no idea if they found the right 'redox', etc... TL;DR link or explain everything thats is not one of the most common 1000 english words....
– dot_Sp0T
Nov 12 '18 at 6:19
4
France constituted only in the early medieval times. Do you mean living in the area that is currently under France government but during the stone age? If so would you mind editing your question?
– Ister
Nov 12 '18 at 10:55
1
Do I understand correctly, that the lack of need for activation energy means the reaction can be induced in either direction at the decision of the person using the power?
– Pahlavan
Nov 12 '18 at 11:57
2
I think to have the power of 'redox' you have to in the least have the knowledge of chemistry otherwise how do you know what you are even doing. Also by having knowledge of chemistry you pretty much obliterate the stone age.
– anon
Nov 12 '18 at 12:18
1
I just want to emphasize how bold this is. Of course, your world, your magic, your rules. But your magic violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is one of the deepest idea of physics. To put it in perspective, supposing that you can go faster than the speed of light is far easier to imagine. Hence any attempt to answer "scientifically" to this question is doomed.
– Alexis
Nov 12 '18 at 19:01
13
13
You should consider adding an explanation or at least link to 'what is redox'. Everytime someone needs to do active research (e.g. using search engines) to merely understand your question you force them to decide if it's even worth the time of trying to find out what you mean. And as with everything they will have no idea if they found the right 'redox', etc... TL;DR link or explain everything thats is not one of the most common 1000 english words....
– dot_Sp0T
Nov 12 '18 at 6:19
You should consider adding an explanation or at least link to 'what is redox'. Everytime someone needs to do active research (e.g. using search engines) to merely understand your question you force them to decide if it's even worth the time of trying to find out what you mean. And as with everything they will have no idea if they found the right 'redox', etc... TL;DR link or explain everything thats is not one of the most common 1000 english words....
– dot_Sp0T
Nov 12 '18 at 6:19
4
4
France constituted only in the early medieval times. Do you mean living in the area that is currently under France government but during the stone age? If so would you mind editing your question?
– Ister
Nov 12 '18 at 10:55
France constituted only in the early medieval times. Do you mean living in the area that is currently under France government but during the stone age? If so would you mind editing your question?
– Ister
Nov 12 '18 at 10:55
1
1
Do I understand correctly, that the lack of need for activation energy means the reaction can be induced in either direction at the decision of the person using the power?
– Pahlavan
Nov 12 '18 at 11:57
Do I understand correctly, that the lack of need for activation energy means the reaction can be induced in either direction at the decision of the person using the power?
– Pahlavan
Nov 12 '18 at 11:57
2
2
I think to have the power of 'redox' you have to in the least have the knowledge of chemistry otherwise how do you know what you are even doing. Also by having knowledge of chemistry you pretty much obliterate the stone age.
– anon
Nov 12 '18 at 12:18
I think to have the power of 'redox' you have to in the least have the knowledge of chemistry otherwise how do you know what you are even doing. Also by having knowledge of chemistry you pretty much obliterate the stone age.
– anon
Nov 12 '18 at 12:18
1
1
I just want to emphasize how bold this is. Of course, your world, your magic, your rules. But your magic violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is one of the deepest idea of physics. To put it in perspective, supposing that you can go faster than the speed of light is far easier to imagine. Hence any attempt to answer "scientifically" to this question is doomed.
– Alexis
Nov 12 '18 at 19:01
I just want to emphasize how bold this is. Of course, your world, your magic, your rules. But your magic violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is one of the deepest idea of physics. To put it in perspective, supposing that you can go faster than the speed of light is far easier to imagine. Hence any attempt to answer "scientifically" to this question is doomed.
– Alexis
Nov 12 '18 at 19:01
|
show 1 more comment
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Photosynthesis counts as a redox reaction. Since you have said that all activation energy is negated, sunlight's natural limit on the growth rate of plants can be removed, meaning that your characters can speed up the growth rate of crops and keep them growing in all seasons of the year. However, gas and liquid transfer rates (through the stomata and the roots, respectively) do impose a natural limit on how quickly the plants can undergo their redox reactions, so they can't instantly grow to maturity, but they will most definitely form a faster and more stable source of food, which would allow your characters to form a powerful agricultural economy for the times.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
add a comment |
Stone age means all the tribes around you still use stone tools.
With your redox ability you can reduce metal oxides to native metals. One among the others: take those yellow looking stones which your descendant will call limonite and turn them to iron.
Now you can produce and sell metallic objects: swords, axes, arrows, knives, spades... just be sure to sell to every tribe, so that they maintain a sort of balance of power (you don't want a single strong side to emerge and see you as a threat to their ruling and therefore attempt to get rid of your power).
Whenever someone tries to trick you or to overthrow the balance you created, you can "magically" oxidize their metal back, just to make clear who is in charge.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
);
);
, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "579"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f129961%2fredox-magic-1-stone-age-france%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Photosynthesis counts as a redox reaction. Since you have said that all activation energy is negated, sunlight's natural limit on the growth rate of plants can be removed, meaning that your characters can speed up the growth rate of crops and keep them growing in all seasons of the year. However, gas and liquid transfer rates (through the stomata and the roots, respectively) do impose a natural limit on how quickly the plants can undergo their redox reactions, so they can't instantly grow to maturity, but they will most definitely form a faster and more stable source of food, which would allow your characters to form a powerful agricultural economy for the times.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
add a comment |
Photosynthesis counts as a redox reaction. Since you have said that all activation energy is negated, sunlight's natural limit on the growth rate of plants can be removed, meaning that your characters can speed up the growth rate of crops and keep them growing in all seasons of the year. However, gas and liquid transfer rates (through the stomata and the roots, respectively) do impose a natural limit on how quickly the plants can undergo their redox reactions, so they can't instantly grow to maturity, but they will most definitely form a faster and more stable source of food, which would allow your characters to form a powerful agricultural economy for the times.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
add a comment |
Photosynthesis counts as a redox reaction. Since you have said that all activation energy is negated, sunlight's natural limit on the growth rate of plants can be removed, meaning that your characters can speed up the growth rate of crops and keep them growing in all seasons of the year. However, gas and liquid transfer rates (through the stomata and the roots, respectively) do impose a natural limit on how quickly the plants can undergo their redox reactions, so they can't instantly grow to maturity, but they will most definitely form a faster and more stable source of food, which would allow your characters to form a powerful agricultural economy for the times.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
Photosynthesis counts as a redox reaction. Since you have said that all activation energy is negated, sunlight's natural limit on the growth rate of plants can be removed, meaning that your characters can speed up the growth rate of crops and keep them growing in all seasons of the year. However, gas and liquid transfer rates (through the stomata and the roots, respectively) do impose a natural limit on how quickly the plants can undergo their redox reactions, so they can't instantly grow to maturity, but they will most definitely form a faster and more stable source of food, which would allow your characters to form a powerful agricultural economy for the times.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
answered Nov 12 '18 at 12:59
BewildererBewilderer
1,007111
1,007111
add a comment |
add a comment |
Stone age means all the tribes around you still use stone tools.
With your redox ability you can reduce metal oxides to native metals. One among the others: take those yellow looking stones which your descendant will call limonite and turn them to iron.
Now you can produce and sell metallic objects: swords, axes, arrows, knives, spades... just be sure to sell to every tribe, so that they maintain a sort of balance of power (you don't want a single strong side to emerge and see you as a threat to their ruling and therefore attempt to get rid of your power).
Whenever someone tries to trick you or to overthrow the balance you created, you can "magically" oxidize their metal back, just to make clear who is in charge.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
add a comment |
Stone age means all the tribes around you still use stone tools.
With your redox ability you can reduce metal oxides to native metals. One among the others: take those yellow looking stones which your descendant will call limonite and turn them to iron.
Now you can produce and sell metallic objects: swords, axes, arrows, knives, spades... just be sure to sell to every tribe, so that they maintain a sort of balance of power (you don't want a single strong side to emerge and see you as a threat to their ruling and therefore attempt to get rid of your power).
Whenever someone tries to trick you or to overthrow the balance you created, you can "magically" oxidize their metal back, just to make clear who is in charge.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
add a comment |
Stone age means all the tribes around you still use stone tools.
With your redox ability you can reduce metal oxides to native metals. One among the others: take those yellow looking stones which your descendant will call limonite and turn them to iron.
Now you can produce and sell metallic objects: swords, axes, arrows, knives, spades... just be sure to sell to every tribe, so that they maintain a sort of balance of power (you don't want a single strong side to emerge and see you as a threat to their ruling and therefore attempt to get rid of your power).
Whenever someone tries to trick you or to overthrow the balance you created, you can "magically" oxidize their metal back, just to make clear who is in charge.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
Stone age means all the tribes around you still use stone tools.
With your redox ability you can reduce metal oxides to native metals. One among the others: take those yellow looking stones which your descendant will call limonite and turn them to iron.
Now you can produce and sell metallic objects: swords, axes, arrows, knives, spades... just be sure to sell to every tribe, so that they maintain a sort of balance of power (you don't want a single strong side to emerge and see you as a threat to their ruling and therefore attempt to get rid of your power).
Whenever someone tries to trick you or to overthrow the balance you created, you can "magically" oxidize their metal back, just to make clear who is in charge.
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
answered Nov 12 '18 at 6:23
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
78.9k26188386
78.9k26188386
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Worldbuilding Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f129961%2fredox-magic-1-stone-age-france%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
13
You should consider adding an explanation or at least link to 'what is redox'. Everytime someone needs to do active research (e.g. using search engines) to merely understand your question you force them to decide if it's even worth the time of trying to find out what you mean. And as with everything they will have no idea if they found the right 'redox', etc... TL;DR link or explain everything thats is not one of the most common 1000 english words....
– dot_Sp0T
Nov 12 '18 at 6:19
4
France constituted only in the early medieval times. Do you mean living in the area that is currently under France government but during the stone age? If so would you mind editing your question?
– Ister
Nov 12 '18 at 10:55
1
Do I understand correctly, that the lack of need for activation energy means the reaction can be induced in either direction at the decision of the person using the power?
– Pahlavan
Nov 12 '18 at 11:57
2
I think to have the power of 'redox' you have to in the least have the knowledge of chemistry otherwise how do you know what you are even doing. Also by having knowledge of chemistry you pretty much obliterate the stone age.
– anon
Nov 12 '18 at 12:18
1
I just want to emphasize how bold this is. Of course, your world, your magic, your rules. But your magic violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is one of the deepest idea of physics. To put it in perspective, supposing that you can go faster than the speed of light is far easier to imagine. Hence any attempt to answer "scientifically" to this question is doomed.
– Alexis
Nov 12 '18 at 19:01