I had a number of candidates for today’s “Because It’s Friday”, looking for an attractive mate for a lonely plant, a funny story about dumb cyber criminals, another take on attraction by Randall Munroe. But there was one winner. I settled on a scientific study on how fire breathing would work if dragons were real.
House of the Dragon: if dragons were real, how might fire-breathing work? (theconversation.com)
Not such a new idea…
Robert Heinlein, an engineer by training before becoming a science-fiction writer, had a go at explaining dragon mechanics back in 1963, in what is one of my favourite books, Glory Road.
“They don’t exactly breathe fire. That would kill them. They hold their breaths while flaming. It’s swamp gas – methane – from the digestive tract. It’s a controlled belch, with a hypergolic effect from an enzyme secreted between the first and second rows of teeth. The gas bursts into flame on the way out.”
People are obviously interested in how dragons work.
Have a good weekend.
Clive
Photo by Pixabay
