Veniom and You
This essay came about during an argument on the breakage board about how adding veniom could possibly lighten armor. Enjoy...
Physics dept. calling Elanthia, come in Elanthia
With all this talk of veniom, gravity, weigh, strength, and what-not, I couldn't resist tossing in a bit of reality to the discussion.
As always, none of what I am about to say necessarily applies to Elanthia, where magic exists and often supersedes physics.
That said:
Let's pretend our friend (we'll call him 'GP', for the sake of argument) has a beautiful set of plate armor, that weighs 50 pounds. This isn't unusual for a set of steel plate, but since GP is an elf he has trouble lugging all that weight around, and wants to do something about it. To that end, he contracts the services of a 'Lightening' merchant.
There are two ways this merchant can lighten the set of armor: he can remove some material, or he can add a 'magical' material known as veniom.
In the first instance, the merchant pounds the armor out a bit, trims the excess steel off the side, and presents GP with a weakened-but-lighter set of plate. Everyone's happy, except for GP two months later when an orc's broadsword goes through it like tinfoil.
GP, needing a new set of armor, goes and buys another 50 pound set of plate. It's still too heavy, of course, so he goes back to the merchant and demands it be lightened, this time using veniom. Enter physics.
Normal steel has a specific gravity of 7.84 at 20 degrees celcius. This means that 50 pounds (or 22.67 kg) of steel have a volume 2,893cc, or almost three liters. For those of you used to American weights, this is about .7 gallons, or 1/3rd of a 2 gallon milk jug. Wow, steel is heavy!
The question the merchant must address, then, is how do I make this 22.67kg hunk of iron weigh less, by adding material?
We're going to speculate a bit here, and pretend that veniom is a *very* magical material, and literally has no weight or mass. That's right; veniom is essentially vacuum in solid form. Neat, huh?
We're assuming, of course, that veniom floats because it's lighter than air, not because it has magical anti-gravitic properties. If you buy into that theory (which is certainly plausible) then you might as well stop reading now.
Anyway, GP tells the merchant that he wants to lighten the plate by half, from 22.67kg to 11.33kg (25lbs.).
Problem: Regardless of how much veniom the merchant adds, the plate's mass will never decrease. Mass is a measure of how much matter exists in a given volume, and only by removing matter can mass be reduced.
Weight is another matter (no pun intended). Weight CAN be reduced by adding matter, because the added matter can increase the object's bouyancy, like a hot-air balloon. Veniom is even more efficient than hot air or hydrogen, since even those gasses do have weight, which our hypothetical veniom does not.
Air weighs nothing. Air masses, however, 29 grams per liter at standard temperature and pressure (about 270 times less than steel). What our merchant needs to do, is figure out how many liters of veniom he must add to the plate to offset 11.33kg of weight.
11.33kg/29g/l = 390 liters. Our original set of plate, if you'll recall, was 2.89 liters. Hm.
The most efficient way to accomplish this would be to encase our set of plate in a sphere of veniom 90cm across. It would then weigh half what the original set of plate did.
The next day, GP comes to collect his work, pays out a gagillion silvers, and is presented with a set of plate encased in a lucite bubble half as tall as he is. An argument ensuses.
Eventually, they decide on a solution:
[Hearthstone, Front Porch]
Airy and open, the porch is enclosed by smooth, freshly painted white modwir
up to a height of about four feet. As you ponder the sky-blue color of the
ceiling and a lacework of deep green ivy that crisscrosses the open space
between posts, the hubbub of the world beyond quickly fades away. Rocking
chairs of various sizes are an inviting sight, and an elegant marble arch
provides a tantalizing view of the splendors inside the old manor. You also
see a doorman.
Obvious paths: none.
>GP just arrived.
GP exclaims, "Hey, check out my new armor! I got it lightened!"
>look
[Hearthstone, Front Porch]
Airy and open, the porch is enclosed by smooth, freshly painted white modwir
up to a height of about four feet. As you ponder the sky-blue color of the
ceiling and a lacework of deep green ivy that crisscrosses the open space
between posts, the hubbub of the world beyond quickly fades away. Rocking
chairs of various sizes are an inviting sight, and an elegant marble arch
provides a tantalizing view of the splendors inside the old manor. You also
see a doorman and a large floating veniom sphere. Also here: GP
Obvious paths: none.
>look sphere
Nearly a meter across, this pale golden sphere appears to be pulling at its tethers, as though it sought to escape their clutches and fly off into orbit. A set of slender silver chains encircle it, reaching down several spans to where they apparently connect to specialized hooks on GP's plate armor.
>GP exclaims, "It's just as strong as before, too!"
>You say, "Simply... amazing."
-Mnar's player
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