You learn something new every day

[simont]

It occurred to me yesterday that the lembas eaten by Tolkien's Elves must have an extremely high energy density and thus I'd expect it to be explosive, or at the very least dangerously flammable to be hurling around near your campfire.

So it just occurred to me to try to actually estimate the energy density of such a fictitious food and compare it with that of some known explosives – and I discovered after some googling that in fact TNT has an energy density about one quarter that of normal carbohydrate-rich food. Fascinating. So high energy density is not merely insufficient to make something explosive, but in fact it isn't even necessary. I'm surprised; my intuition said otherwise.

In other news, lots of people have commentated on the recent papal election and have said many insightful, witty and/or heartfelt things about it; but I'm faintly disappointed that I've seen not one person entitle their post ‘Episode IV: A New Pope’. There. I have nothing else particularly intelligent to say on the subject, but I didn't want that one to slip by completely unsaid.

Comments

[j4.livejournal.com]

Episode IV: A New Pope

"Episode" is much better than "Benedict", but were there really three other Popes who took that name?

[simont]

*laughs* If there weren't, it can only be by a grievous oversight.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Episode I: The Papal Menace
Episode II: Attack of the Cardinals
Episode III: Revenge of the Popes

[mooism.livejournal.com]

Episode V: The (Roman) Empire Strikes Back
Episode VI: Return of the Jesuit

[lasher.livejournal.com]

hahahahhaahaha

[lasher.livejournal.com]

since the new pope is really benedictus the XVI.... one would need to come up with 15 other star wars movie names to preceed him. I see several already... i will have to think on some more just to see if we can come up with that many refrences that make sense and are a funny as the ones listed so far.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Of course, carbohydrates *are* explosive if you finely divide them and mix with air. Hence the general lack of metal parts anywhere near millstones.

[simont]

Good point; I'd forgotten that.

Yes, I suppose containing its own oxidiser is the other vital component of an explosive, and there's no more reason for lembas to do so than any other food. Fair enough.

(Makes me slightly sad that LotR isn't SF, though; if it had been, someone would probably have solved a problem somewhere along the quest by powdering some lembas and using it as an impromptu bomb. That'd have been fun, if only for the surprised look on Legolas's face.)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's exactly it. An oxidising agent in a fine mixture with a fuel. In the case of some explosives such as gunpowder they are different particles in the powder mixture; other explosives (nitroglycerine comes to mind, but I can't remember if I'm right) have one part of the molecule being an oxidising agent and the other the reducing agent. In the case of flour dust, the oxidising agent is the air; if it's not airborne, it's not explosive, hence why flour doesn't have 'CAUTION EXPLOSIVE' written on the bag.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

That and the gas thing kaet mentions. Fairly major part really. I suppose once it's started blowing up I stop being involved and don't think of that bit.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're right about nitroglycerine.
Actually, nitroglycerine is particularly alarming because (1) it is extremely susceptible to kinetic, rather than thermal or electrical, triggering (2) it contains enough oxygen to completely burn and still release some oxygen to the surroundings.

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

But Legolas wouldn't look surprised; he'd react in the split second of the instant of the explosion, jump onto his shield and surf on the edge of the blast wave. :-)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

And how Jerry Lee Lewis used to make his piano explode in Great Balls of Fire - bag of flour set to burst, and a trigger on the top key so it would go off when he did that long run at the end.

Lembas

[enslore.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have to obey the laws of physics, it's elfy magical!

Re: Lembas

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Spoilsport :)

Re: Lembas

[megamole.livejournal.com]

"Ah canna hold her Cap'n! We need morrrre lembas!"
"Right you are, Scotty. Mr. Sulu, set course for Valinor Five."

[kaet.livejournal.com]

Explosions don't really have much to do with fire, but more to do with creating lots of gas from solids very quickly. Of course, fire is usually involved as a good way of doing this! The pressure that they create in a small volume makes them extremely hot, too, so there's usually fire at least indirectly.

Some things are very dense with energy and can be made to violently and quickly transform into another thing without that change of state, but they don't really explode.

Mundane uses for explosion technology where fire isn't involved (hopefully!) is in car airbags. They use sodium azide which decomposes on heating (even slightly, that's why you keep it in the fridge) to release masses of nitrogen to inflate the airbag.

[velvetfox.livejournal.com]

There was this:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/princej3/12668.html
earlier

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased to notice that you did learn something -- when I read the first paragraph I thought you were going to deduce something, and prepared to be nitpicky :)

What Benedict XVI (or indeed Professor Tolkien) would have to say about Lembas...

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

Whereas the SUBSTANCE of Lembas indeed has a high energy density, its ACCIDENTS remain those of ordinary unleavened bread. It's all in Aquinas (http://www.seton-parish.org/parish/Eucharist.htm#3.), all in Aquinas: bless me, what do they teach them at those schools!

[ptc24.livejournal.com]

There's the other Episode IV joke, too, so let's try hybidising them:

Episode IV: A GNU Pope.

Scary...

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

RMS for the Holy See!
(Gets him out of bloody software.)

[simont]

Shurely that'd be the Holy C?

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Let's not be assembling any more puns.

[lasher.livejournal.com]

we need a.....
Pope Linus
for...
Open Source Catholicism

[pne.livejournal.com]

So you prefer the Cathedral method to the Bazaar?

[lasher.livejournal.com]

I apologize... but I don't understand the anaology. :( After reading more of this journal... and the reading some of your journal... although both are very interesting... I think that maybe I have stepped into a world of journals owned by people that have a wee bit more brain power than I. *wink*

Cathedral and the Bazaar

[pne.livejournal.com]

The Cathedral and the Bazaar is a document (http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/) (now also a book (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cathbazpaper/)) by Eric S. Raymond (http://www.catb.org/~esr/) (aka ESR) that basically compares two models of Getting Stuff Done.

The title is, I venture to say, moderately well-known in geekdom, even amongst those who haven't read the document, and was one of the first things I could come up with when associating "programming" and "church vocabulary".

I think that maybe I have stepped into a world of journals owned by people that have a wee bit more brain power than I.

Hmm... not so much brain power but having been exposed to certain things that could be considered in-jokes. I think it's mostly what you've been around than how intelligent you are.

[lasher.livejournal.com]

double hahahahah

[keithlard.livejournal.com]

It seems the Orcs had access to explosives, though, which they used to breach the wall at Helm's Deep. Perhaps they could have gone on to develop lembas-powered artillery, for example.

Of course, all matter contains a lot of nuclear energy; I don't think Saruman got as far as building a particle accelerator, though.