Hovercrafts

Hovercrafts from The Hunger Games

By Kayla Durkin & Mikaela Cruz, Period 7 Goldner

Katniss Everdeen to Peeta Mellark, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:

“One moment the sky was empty and the next it was there. It didn’t make a sound, but they saw it. A net dropped down on the girl and carried her up, fast, so fast like the elevator. They shot some sort of spear through the boy. It was attached to a cable and they hauled him up. But I’m certain he was dead. We heard the girl scream once. The boy’s name, I think. Then it was gone, the hovercraft. Vanished into thin air. And the birds began to sing again, as if nothing had happened.” (82)

Immobilized tributes in a Capitol hovercraft

What is a hovercraft?

A hovercraft is a type of aircraft predominantly used by the Capitol in The Hunger Games trilogy for both combat missions, and for transportation. Capitol hovercrafts are known to materialize nightly in order to broadcast highlights of the Hunger Games, deliver parachutes with gifts from the tributes’ mentors and sponsors and are infamous for their force fields that are able to draw dead tributes’ bodies with astounding stealth.

Does it seem feasible? How could it be used?

With the rapidly advancing technology we have in our society today, hovercrafts are very feasible. In fact, hovercrafts already exist in our world, yet they do not function at the same caliber as the ones described in The Hunger Games. A typical hovercraft today is simply a hybrid vessel that can literally hover as a result of an air-cushioned hull, which can travel over land, water, mud or ice. A plausible purpose of a hovercraft similar to the ones used during the Hunger Games could be a viable weapon for warfare because of its efficiency for large scale attacks, and surveillance capabilities.  

Why did you pick it?

We chose the hovercraft mainly because it appears to be an attainable technological advancement. Majority of the components that are needed to contest a typical Capitol hovercraft have already been achieved today. The U.S. Drone Program uses technology within aircrafts that are exceptionally productive in terms of surveillance, reconnaissance, and with the transportation of bombs and missiles (Cole and Wright, 2010). The complexities that hinder the hovercraft’s feasibility are the wide-range force fields and its invisibility, which both seem too ambitious for our time.

Are hovercrafts too invasive?

Unfortunately, they can be. As a result of their noiselessness, they can appear without warning which can hinder privacy. It is an eerie feeling to know that you are being watched by something, or someone that you can neither hear nor see. If they existed during our lifetime, mainstream paranoia over these sky giants is a likely consequence.

Sources: http://dronewars.net/aboutdrone/

Plasma Swords By Nick Erickson, Ben Vitale, and Max Emond

The Plasma (Energy) Sword, from Halo 3

By Nick Erickson, Ben Vitale, and Max Emond

Period 7

"I have defied gods and demons. I am your shield; I am your sword. I know you; your past, your future. This is the way the world ends" (Cortana).

The Energy Sword from Halo 3 is an innovative and outstanding piece of technology. The theory of a sword that has an energy storage module and a device that shoots out plasma to form the blade does sound far fetched but still possible with the advancements of science. The technology, as all other feasible weapons can be used for good and evil. The technology could be used to protect people or can be used to create war. Our group picked this piece of technology because the idea of the weapon is intriguing. The idea of having a sword in which the  blade is not metal but in fact, plasma (energy) is amazing in theory. There are many ethical concerns with a plasma sword. The way the sword works is completely immoral. When one uses the sword to pass through a person's body the intestines and innards are burned and singed by the high temperatures of the plasma. The dismemberment of bodies, whether it's decapitation or being sliced into two, are common deaths of the victims. The loss of one's extremities is not always fatal but can disable and affect the standard of living for the victim. Surprisingly, this occurs more than dismemberment. The survival of a wound from a plasma sword is scarce. Even if the sword does not make contact with vital organs, the victim needs immediate medical attention or else they will perish. The sheer destruction of the sword is terrifying and immoral.

Iron Man's Suit- Christian Boisvert, Kevin Loria, Ben Vitale 

"Iron Man. That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold titanium alloy, but it's kind of provocative, the imagery anyway." 

In the movie Iron man a billionaire creates a suit to make himself a super hero. This suit has the ability to make him fly and shoot blasts of energy from his hands. I think its awesome, but it does not seem very possible. A suit that makes a person a super hero is unheard of, and if there was one it would be unfair for one person to have all that power. Although it would be so cool to have all this power, it would drive anyone who had it power crazy. I imagine it being used for military power at first. However, if like in this movie only one person yielded all the power it would be used for greed and evil.

Fusion - Ryan and Winston

"With this machine," began Ponyets, as his hand dropped softly onto the central chamber andcaressed its hard, round flanks, "I can turn the iron you discard into gold of the finest quality. Itis the only device known to man that will take iron – the ugly iron, your Veneration, that props

up the chair you sit in and the walls of this building – and change it to shining, heavy, yellow

gold” (Asimov 156).

There are two reasons as to why people would want nuclear fusion to be a possibility: to be able to turn invaluable elements into different rare/valuable elements or to produce massive quantities of energy.  Ponyets in Isaac Asimov’s book, Foundation, uses fusion for the former purpose while Steven Cowley and many modern scientists are turning towards converting nuclear fusion into usable energy.

Ponyets’ machine turns iron into gold through fusion, whereas Cowley proposes that fusion could be used to produce energy by combining atoms of less massive elements, such as hydrogen isotopes.  The feasibility of fusion is very possible because people have caused a fusion reaction once in the past.  However, iron has the most stable nucleus out of all the elements, so turning iron into gold is by far less possible than combining elements with smaller nuclei. Those with smaller nuclei would combine into a singular more stable nucleus.  Conversely, changing iron into gold is less likely a possibility.  The process would involve turning a stable nucleus into a less stable one, and thus the process would requiring more energy for the reaction to occur.  Even if the reaction were a possibility scientifically, it may cost more to make the reaction occur than the value of the gold produced.  In general, producing large quantities of energy is much more likely than altering larger elements as Ponyets proposes.

In chemistry class last year, the teachers spent time explaining how nuclear fission works to produce a significant portion of the energy used by people.  (Fission is the reverse process of fusion which involves the breaking down of nuclei.)  Fission actually produces less energy than a fusion reaction would produce which is why our group found this topic interesting.  If fusion does become a reality for energy purposes, then pollution and other hazards to the environment that are caused by humans’ need for energy would be reduced.  The reason for fusion that Ponyets uses would also be beneficial if the cost of generating the products was not more than the products themselves.  Maybe the devaluation of metals would entirely shift the economy.

Fusion, like fission, involves immense heat and radiation.  Fusion actually has greater temperatures and more instability involved with the process.  Malfunctions in the past with nuclear fission have caused devastation within miles of the incident.  For example, the meltdown at Chernobyl and the radiation leaks in Japan caused multiple detrimental health effects such as cancer worldwide.  The major drawback and ethical question behind nuclear fusion is whether or not it is worth taking the risk of a highly destructive malfunction--even more so than the fission accidents in the past--for the sole purpose of reaping tons of energy.

Arc Reactor - Paul, Liam, Natasha

The Arc Reactor - Clean Energy
In the Iron Man movies, the Arc Reactor is a technology the main character (Tony Stark) creates. It is essentially an energy source that he miniaturizes and uses to keep his heart from stopping due to shrapnel from a bomb explosion. Stark also creates a much larger reactor (pictured on the left) that he uses as the power source for his company.

The arc reactor is similar in idea to nuclear reactors/power, but more difficult because the science behind it hasn't really been explored yet. However, it does seem feasible because we invented large scale power generators in the past, and this is the same concept. The main idea behind this resource, is clean energy. It has virtually no waste. Clean energy is a huge issue in society today (i.e the TED talk we watched in class), so this technology is very relevant to today's society. Currently there is an argument between using nuclear versus non-nuclear energy. The arc reactor would solve this controversy. Everyone wants clean and sustainable energy, and this invention can provide it.

Another application for this technology is in medical engineering. In the film, the arc reactor is miniaturized and used to power a man's heart. If this could be done in real life, it could be a very useful to power medical

This is a clip of Stark having his secretary replace his original Arc Reactor which was slightly faulty due to him having to build it in a cave with limited resources.

Wormholes

They can also be used not only to travel through time, they can be used to travel through space. If we imagine the universe to be on a flat plane, and matter (such as planets) to be objects suspended on that plane, then hypothetically, it could be possible to bend the plane such that they are parallel to each other and a "hole" or tunnel can be created that allows the passage from one plane to the other. Thus, it will allow people to travel from one point in space to another point almost instantaneously. 

Teleporters (Kile Anestis, Emon Purkayastha, Julia Marcotte)

"Beam me up Scotty" - Captain Kirk


          The idea behind teleportation is one that would bring simplicity to life. No more driving, no more car accidents, no long trips, it would be wonderful.  Not only that but scientists could send these theoretical teleporters through space and could completely eliminate space travel.

           It is for these reasons that our group thought it would be interesting to look deeper into teleporters. We have found that scientists have done some basic teleporting on the quantum molecular level but that nothing even close to teleporting a human is withing our grasp.

          The issue is the complexity of the human body. Though teleportation is feasible, it is hardly close to happening and it may never happen.