The Random Sci-Fi Contraption Thread

[Tompa'Ivong]

Post one thing that comes off the top of your head, of a Sci-fi invention in detail of what it does

E.G.

Flux capacitor

The flux capacitor, which consisted of a regularly squared compartment with three flashing lights (arranged as an upside-down "Y") was described by Doc as "what makes time travel possible". The device is the core component of the time machine.

The device was located between the headrests of the seats and, as the time machine neared 88 mph, light coming from the flux capacitor pulsed faster until it became a steady stream. Doc originally conceived the idea for the flux capacitor on November 5, 1955 when he slipped and hit his head on his bathroom sink while standing on the toilet to hang a clock. A flux capacitor is also seen in the front of Doc's second time machine, the Jules Verne train, at the end of Back to the Future Part III.

A flux capacitor appeared in Back to the Future: The Ride at various Universal Studios theme parks. After the closing of Back to the Future: The Ride Doc can still be seen riding around on a bike, complete with its own flux capacitor.[citation needed]

Although the films do not describe exactly how the flux capacitor works, Doc mentions at one point that the stainless steel body of the DeLorean has a direct and influential effect on the "flux dispersal", but he is interrupted before he can finish the explanation. The flux capacitor requires 1.21 Gigawatts of electrical power to operate. In the instruction manual for the AMT/ERTL Delorean model kit it says: "Because the car's stainless steel body improves the flux dispersal generated by the flux capacitor, and this in turn allows the vehicle smooth passage through the space time continuum."

-Taken from Wikipedia

[guest6785]

jumpdrive system.it's basically a wormhole teleporter used in the fictionous X universe created by egosoft.it requires large amounts of energy(presumabley megawatts)to power it.thought it actually doesn't create a wormhole,but sends the ship fading away and travelling through a worm hole and when coming out of thewormhole, you actually start at a larger version of the jumpdrive called a wormhole gate .but this is the best example i know of jumpdrives.

[Niwantaw]

Sorry got to post this.

Spoiler

ION CANNON

Spoiler

In the Command & Conquer Series, the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) uses a satellite-based Ion Cannon device to attack Brotherhood of Nod installations and forces; it is used at the end of the First Tiberium War to destroy the Brotherhood's command centre, the Temple of Nod. In Third Tiberium War it is used in a different way; it forms eight ionizing beams that coalesce into a devastating blast. In the Command & Conquer series, it can be seen in the following titles: Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Renegade, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

[Nì'awtua Eyktan]

From Mass Effect, one of my favourite games.

Spoiler

Mass effect fields are created through the use of element zero. Element zero can increase or decrease the mass content of space-time when subjected to an electrical current via dark energy. With a positive current, mass is increased. With a negative current, mass is decreased. The stronger the current, the greater the magnitude of the dark energy mass effect.

In space, low-mass fields allow FTL travel and inexpensive surface-to-orbit transit. High-mass fields create artificial gravity and push space debris away from starships. In manufacturing, low-mass fields permit the creation of evenly-blended alloys, while high mass compaction creates dense, sturdy construction materials.

The military makes extensive use of mobility enhancing technologies, with mass effect-utilizing fighting vehicles being standard front-line issue in most military forces. The Mako's small element zero core can reduce the vehicle's mass enough to allow a safe drop from the Normandy. Mass effect fields are also essential in the creation of shields to protect against enemy fire on the ground, and protect starships in planetary orbit or during space battles.

Many biotics can also use mass effect fields which are biologically generated and controlled. This requires intensive training, and cybernetic implants, but can produce impressive offensive or defensive effects. Some biotics' talents are not strong enough to be offensively viable, but all biotics are sensitive to the presence of mass effect fields.

However, the use of mass effect fields creates static electrical charge. In starship drive cores, this charge must be grounded at regular intervals, either by touching a planet surface or interacting with a planet's geomagnetic field, to prevent the electricity discharging into the hull and causing catastrophic damage. For biotics, this manifests as an occasional static shock when they touch metal or other people.

[Niwantaw]

JUMP TO LIGHT SPEED!

Spoiler

Hyperdrive is a name given to certain methods of traveling faster-than-light (FTL) in science fiction. Related concepts are jump drive and warp drive.
The idea of a hyperdrive in most science fiction relies on the existence of a separate and adjacent dimension most commonly called "hyperspace," though various other names have been used: "Drivespace," "The Immaterium," "slipspace," "Space2," "subspace," "Zero-space," etc. When activated, the hyperdrive shunts the starship into this other dimension, where it can cover vast distances in an amount of time greatly reduced from the time it would take in "real" space. Once it reaches the point in hyperspace that corresponds to its destination in real space, it re-emerges. Usually, hyperdrive refers to a method of travel in which it takes a measurable amount of time to go from one point to another. When the distance is covered instantaneously, the term jump drive is often used.
Fictional explanations of why ships can travel faster than light in hyperspace often accompany the storyline of novels, television programs, and films in which they are featured. Distances in hyperspace may be smaller than or geometrically inverse in relation to real space; it may provide a shortcut between two points in real space, thus effectively increasing the ship's speed by reducing distance travelled rather than time taken; perhaps the speed of light in hyperspace is not a speed barrier as it is in real space. Whatever the reasoning, the general effect is that ships traveling in hyperspace seem to have broken the speed of light, appearing at their destinations much more quickly and without the time dilation predicted by the Theory of Relativity.