Krypton's core is made of uranium? (mathy types wanted)

[MatterEaterLad]

Hmm, maybe I'm coming off as more adversarial than I mean, but that can happen with writing posts on the internet...

I intended to disagree with trying to find real science behind a lot of the comic's plot devices (many of which I have always liked), but I wasn't trying to muzzle what others like or get personal...my apologies if this is how it came across to anyone...

[Captain Kal]

Where in the comics have any kryptonians called their sun RAO?  According to E Nelson Bridwell Rao was originally the name of a sun-god.  In ancient times a moses-like figure made Rao krypton's name for GOD.  When Superman says Great Rao, that is basically the same thing as us saying good God or good lord.

We've had this discussion before, Ilozymandias, or at least someone else has had it with me here re: Rao = Krypton's sun.

To rehash it a second time ...



Quote from above scan:

RAO - In the mythology of ancient Krypton, the sun-god, who was deemed the chief of all gods.  So great was the respect for the red sun of Krypton that any soldier of Erok's time automatically became an officer if he had red hair.  When Jaf-El preached the worship of the One god, he gave Him the name of Rao, though no longer identifying Him specifically with the sun.  Note that in the wedding ceremony, the phrase used was "Rao, who kindled the sun," showing Him to be the sun's creator, but not the sun itself.

Note below how Erok, the founder of the House of El, describes Rao as the sun itself in the scan below.



If you don't want to accept it that's your business.  But I know I've posted this stuff before re: Rao.

[alschroeder]

Trying to rationalize the Silver Age Krypton and Superman is ALWAYS a daunting task....

    For instance, Kryptonian MATTER seems to be a little different from normal matter, in the Silver AGe....as soon as it was under a yellow sun, it became invulnerable.

     For instance, the Silver AGe Superman's costume, the rocket, etc.

     My own pseudo-scientific explanation is that the Sun-Beings who created Krypton made the internuclear bonds of the atoms from which they FORMED Krypton dependent on solar radiation---so if Krypton ever becomes a danger,  they could withhold solar radiation and Krypton would disperse into subatomic particles.  A side-benefit of that is that, under the more energetic radiations of a yellow sun, those bonds are made much more powerful---rendering the material invulnerable. (Since the "ultra solar rays" from Earth's sun goes right THROUGH Earth) I have to assume  that they're really talking about neutrinoes---that yellow suns put out a different "flavor" of neutrinoes than red suns, or at least in differing quantities.

    And the relevance to this discussion? That all the elements would be ANALOGS to normal matter elements---sort of how anti-matter "iron" is possible---but might have differing properties. So it really MIGHT be composed most of "uranium", or rather the Kryptonian matter equivelent....which might have different properties from the uranium we know

    Of course, it's all pseudo-science, but it SOUNDS plausible, anyway.---Al

[JulianPerez]

I *do* remember said post that gave Krypton the .24 of the Sun, CaptainKal, I'm curious how your calculation would be affected by the fact that Krypton's core, supposedly, is made of uranium as our buddy Weisenger told us, a particularly dense metal.

(Einstein once said "do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are much greater." Yeah, easy for YOU to say, you're EINSTEIN.  :mrgreen: )

As for the fact that Krypton's metals and materials ALSO became "super," perhaps this may not be a case necessarily, of it being instantly super as a result of being exposed to red sun rays, but the fact that worlds like Krypton and Daxam are so much DENSER than earthlike planets, and so have probably a higher concentration of heavier elements, substances and materials, than can be found on earth. The most common element in the earth's crust is silica; gold is said to be the equivalent on Krypton. Now, in terms of density, silica is 2 1/3 g/cm3, whereas gold is 19.3 g/cm3, a much denser substance by a factor of more than 8:1. In our own earth's formation, the lighter materials rose above the heavier ones. A tougher world probably yields denser and harder substances and materials.

[Captain Kal]

Hey, Julian, I was rethinking your question last night and I believe the higher uranium density of 19.1 g/cm^3 compared with iron's 7.87 g/cm^3 would reduce Krypton's radius from 0.26 to 0.16 or so.

As I said earlier, it's not far from the original figure but it is affected.

I'll think this through in more detail to see what I come up with.

[llozymandias]

One possible reason for super-matter having different properties under a red sun than under a yellow sun.  Or green sun, orange sun, blue sun, white sun, etc..  Magic.  The energies used for magic exist throughout the DC Multiverse.  Those energies could be generated by the stars.  Maybe those energies come from some other as yet unidentified source & pervade the universe.  According to some stories magic like cosmic rays travels throughout the universe in waves.  Maybe those "waves" interact with stars in some way.  Thus, red-sun rays, ultra-solar rays etc. are not really solar energy, but are different forms of magical energy.


    Yes i am aware that ancient kryptonians associated Rao with their sun.  However in more modern times Rao was kryptonese for God.  I have never seen a silver-age story where modern kryptonians called their sun Rao.  Actually in most stories about krypton, it was never specified what krypton's sun was named.

[MatterEaterLad]

I like it...magic is present in the DC universe and its an explanation that has some elements of parsimony...

[MatterEaterLad]

Oh, and I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the Julius Schwartz era, it is my perogative to have likes and dislikes, and that doesn't mean I am denigrating the Silver Age, I was there in the 60s reading comics, and I thought the 70s took the mythos way too seriously...made connections that put DC in an awkward, pseudo science but not really science position...

That's MY story, and I'm sticking with it...