Houston, We Have an Idea…

Heard back from a lot of people that you all really liked those neat-o pictures in the last update, so I thought, “well, why I can’t disappoint,” so here we are! Photo-Inspiration 2 Electric Boogaloo!

I’ve been thinking about ice a lot, probably because it’s summer here and HOT and HUMID and BLEGH. Also recall that we’ve shown off some frosty work ourselves and that we’ve been looking in many different places to build our own frozen biome.

So let’s take a gander, shall we?

When hell freezes over right? Ha ha….

Pretty incredible to think that this whole cave was formed by glacier water, running on and on for decades to carve this phenomenon right out of the walls themselves. And it’s still actively melting – those clear-ish vertical lines are water falling from the ceiling! The cave itself looks to be about 15-20ft (4.5-6m) high and has dirt lines about a third of the way up on the left that show where the water was at some point in time, showing years of time in just one photo. It looks like something just chip-chip-chipped away above their heads. Obviously it’s just gravity, which only has one rule: go down, but it’s fascinating to see that each little drop made its own descent, each unique or additive, to make this super aesthetically pleasing cave that just lights up the imagination! This one was especially interesting to us because of the red light thrown up by the flare. It’s dramatic, lonely, a little spooky, and defies the general expectation of blue, white, or green tints that the human eye is accustomed to seeing from frozen water droplets.

Another awesome sight from nature, this is a lighthouse before and after a particularly nasty winter storm. The waves crash over the entire building, which is already impressive, but then the sea water freezes in midair, coating the entire structure in a suit of frozen armor. Water, by it’s very molecular nature, is naturally adhesive, meaning it likes to stick to itself and other things, and this is something we keep in mind when developing a world that still roots itself in our current understanding of chemistry and physics. Water reacts differently depending on atmospheric environment, and forces like pressure, humidity, space, density, and other chemicals mixed into water all affect how it will move, freeze, or evaporate. And of course the rules can change a lot if we’re not on planet Earth anymore, but only time will tell how zany our new planets are!

Speaking of, check this out:

That goop in a cup is silicone. Now, why is that pink eldritch horror relevant? Well, life on earth is carbon-based but scientist believe that silicon-based life might be possible on other planets or in other galaxies. There are a lot of reasons for this, but suffice to say that silicone provides the basic building structures that life needs to grow and evolve, similar to carbon but in a different way. Silicone-based life would look unlike what we know due to its molecular “skeletal” structure. Similar to water, silicone also reacts to its environment, such as to heat… or the lack thereof. In the case of coming into contact with freezing temperatures – the above assisted by liquid nitrogen – a thin piece becomes brittle and shatters at the slightest touch. But unlike water, if the silicone is dense or great in volume, it merely loses its elasticity bit by bit until it’s stiff and unbudging. It could be swirled into marvelous shapes before that time however, or as in the video (linked in image description), the boiling of the liquid nitrogen creates rope-like tendrils that slowly freeze too.

Considering the changes in temperature, materials at hand, and light source of aline planets, there’s certainly a lot of brainstorming going on about just how Second Star is going to appear, planetside.

Thanks again for reading, and don’t hesitate to leave us your thoughts!

-Griffin