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DF General Discussion / Ash and the Minimalist Challenge. (WARNING contains Science!)
« on: January 01, 2010, 07:55:08 pm »
Greetings fellow Earth Strikers:
So here's the deal. My buddy and I were bored out of our minds, so of course that means it's time to fire up some DF. After flipping through the wiki we came accross the challenge page. (that's http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/DIY#Minimalist_challenge_build for the uninitiated.) In the walk through it states That you can build a smelter with 1 ash, which it notes is a "fire safe material". I thought this was the most absurd thing in this game. My friend agreed and thought it would make more sense to have to bring a block along. So while he went AFK, I sat out to research the web.
First I found this: http://www.flyash.info/2009/054-batmunkh2009.pdf
That is some scientific journal done by someone who was testing the feasibility of using coal ash as a building material in Mongolia. They even mention the Thermal Conductivity of the ash-concrete they made. Thermal Conductivity is the quantity of heat that is transmitted through a unit thickness in a direction normal to a surface of unit area. (for example "along the grain" in a crystalline structure.) They mention the conductivity but nothing about the melting point.
So basically if you read that whole thing they state it made a good pavement material and made a good concrete (presumably for making concrete blocks).
So given it's a game I understand my dwarves don't need to add the aluminium powder the scientists did. (though totally possible in the DF world, just get a miller and a quern and mill native aluminium ore, get a bag, do it like sand, etc..) But my question is, do you think that concrete blocks made of ash would be able to withstand the high temperatures required of "Fire Safe Material" in DF.
Yes... we were bored... Are you bored too?
Reference: here's a table of the thermal conductivity of some common materials.
http://www.flyash.info/2009/054-batmunkh2009.pdf
So here's the deal. My buddy and I were bored out of our minds, so of course that means it's time to fire up some DF. After flipping through the wiki we came accross the challenge page. (that's http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/DIY#Minimalist_challenge_build for the uninitiated.) In the walk through it states That you can build a smelter with 1 ash, which it notes is a "fire safe material". I thought this was the most absurd thing in this game. My friend agreed and thought it would make more sense to have to bring a block along. So while he went AFK, I sat out to research the web.
First I found this: http://www.flyash.info/2009/054-batmunkh2009.pdf
That is some scientific journal done by someone who was testing the feasibility of using coal ash as a building material in Mongolia. They even mention the Thermal Conductivity of the ash-concrete they made. Thermal Conductivity is the quantity of heat that is transmitted through a unit thickness in a direction normal to a surface of unit area. (for example "along the grain" in a crystalline structure.) They mention the conductivity but nothing about the melting point.
So basically if you read that whole thing they state it made a good pavement material and made a good concrete (presumably for making concrete blocks).
So given it's a game I understand my dwarves don't need to add the aluminium powder the scientists did. (though totally possible in the DF world, just get a miller and a quern and mill native aluminium ore, get a bag, do it like sand, etc..) But my question is, do you think that concrete blocks made of ash would be able to withstand the high temperatures required of "Fire Safe Material" in DF.
Yes... we were bored... Are you bored too?
Reference: here's a table of the thermal conductivity of some common materials.
http://www.flyash.info/2009/054-batmunkh2009.pdf