Young Writers Society

Hey, so, the novel I'm working on has a lot of changes in weather from current day. (It's post-apocalyptic.) I have a few questions that I would love to get answered about the scientific aspects of my novel that could either make or break it.

1. For this, I made up a gas. For all of time pretty much, it's been in a highly condensed form, trapped in a chamber under the earth. After the apocalypse, the chamber is broken open and the gas is released into the atmosphere. The gas doesn't mix with anything, but simply floats up to the top of the troposphere creating a sort of cloud over the earth. So, what I'm wondering is, would this work at all? Is it possible for a new gas to enter our atmosphere and simply slide into place without mixing with other gases or making the air unbreathable or any other major changes in the environment like that?

2. Assuming the above isn't totally not possible at all, I'm thinking this cloud thing would be thick. Perhaps thick enough to block off light from the moon, even. So, how thick could I have it while us still getting enough light from the sun to live off of (even if the whole earth's in a wintery state, which it what I'm going for.) Or would doing this make the world completely inhabitable?

3. Assuming we can dot out the moon (in other words, at night you can't see it), what effect would this have on, say, tides and other things?

4. Back to the cold climates, what are we talking? How much snow, ice, frozen ground would we experience? What things could grow that we could eat? How would the climate differ at different regions around the world (though, I mean in vague terms. Supposedly, the continents will have changed a lot from the apocalypse)? What animals would be able to survive?

If you could answer any of these, or link me to some informative sites, that would be amazing. Because, though my novel's sci fi, I don't want it so out there. Plus, I don't want to finish a whole novel, revise it, and send it to agents just to hear over and over again "This would never work for this, this, and this scientific reason," and such. Just, if my idea won't work, tell me. I don't want to waste my time and I want this to be accurate and if I have to change a lot around, I will.

Thanks in advance for answers.

1. No. The process of floating up would result in mixing as the movement of the gas pushes through the other gases in its way. Also, for the gas to do that, it would have to be lighter than hydrogen or helium. Considering hydrogen and helium are the simplest of atoms... Basically, the gas screams impossible to me.

If you want a cloud of gas enveloping Earth, something more realistic would be a geyser of gas that, being suddenly released from being under pressure for so long, essentially erupts volcano-like. Pressure increases temperature. Gasses, when heated, become lighter. The higher the pressure, the more violent the depressurization. Combined, you get a geyser of gas that will jet its contents into the upper atmosphere. Depending on how violent the eruption is, it could also shift Earth's orbit and axial tilt.

Now why would you want a something less catastrophic? :P

2. Research 65 million years ago. Also research megavolcanic eruptions. Both asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions have released clouds of dust that have obscured the sun multiple times. Considering there is still life on this planet, I'd say it's survivable.

3. Tides would be unaffected. You don't need moonlight for tides; it's the force of the moon's gravity that causes tides. Unless the moon were destroyed or its orbit otherwise altered, tides and such would go on as per usual.

4. Tie in to #2. This time though, look up the various Ice Ages. What kind of creatures were prevalent? What do they all have in common? Where did they get their food supply? Basically, the colder the climate, the larger the animal as larger body mass results in smaller surface relative area. As surface area is what loses heat and body mass contains the equipment to generate heat, the smaller the relative surface area, the better. Also, look up geothermal vents.

Basically, the Earth has undergone several extreme climate changes, and there is a fair amount of information out there on those different climates/what caused them to come about. Looking into geology and brushing up on the earth sciences would be also a very good idea (especially considering #3...).

Thanks. I'll look into some of that stuff. (And as for #3... well, I'm 13 and don't like science. Plus, I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. xD )

If you want to write sci-fi, you're going to have to know your science. ;P