Re: Worldbuilding question: Life underwater

John F. Eldredge wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:22:40 -0500, "E. Liddell"
> > On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:50:46 -0800, Alma Hromic Deckert wrote:
> >> On 12 Jan 2006 14:26:33 -0800, "Estrelda"
> >>
> > > > Question: do they have a means to stop metal from rusting
> > > > underwater? Iron would be a problem, unless it was coated with
> > > > something to stop the salt water corroding it.
> > > >
> > > > It seems to me that concentrating on the applications of glass
> > > > tools and weapons might be a worthwhile avenue to take -
> > > > especially if they use their magic to transform the glass into
> > > > something that is less fragile. Once they've done that, they
> > > > could possibly even use glass to make their spears.
> >>
> >> diamond spears...? Oooh, I like that idea.
> >
> > Diamonds are just fancy carbon, come to think of it, aren't they?
> > That might actually be a practical way to go. The most viable other
> > idea I have at this point, stitched together from several other
> > people's suggestions, would involve a spear shaft of some
> > non-ferrous metal (Aluminum? Nickel? What would turn up in
> > seawater in large enough amounts? I'm not sure if they know how to
> > produce stainless steel.), with a glass tip, possibly containing a
> > poison reservoir, designed to break away from the (more valuable)
> > shaft when it's stuck into something. That might actually be a
> > more useful defensive weapon, but they couldn't use the poisoned
> > version for hunting things they wanted to eat . . . Hmmm.
>
> Diamond's brittleness might or might not be a problem. After all, our
> ancestors managed for millenia with flint tools, which are also fairly
> brittle. Making glass underwater might be rather difficult, given the
> temperatures required to melt the silica and other ingredients, unless
> they are simply collecting obsidian (volcanic glass).

Could they use undersea volcanoes and/or other hotspots as furnaces?

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