(no subject)

[pepper]

So, I'm writing a fic, and... I'm completely hopeless at anything sciencey. (Not that Stargate itself doesn't suck majorly at that, too, on occasion, but hey.) So, question, oh brainy ones:

What might MacGyver and geek!Sam need to work on together?

She's an astrophysicist, of course, and seems to be a bit of an engineer, and he's... well, done a lot of things. He seems to know stuff about chemistry, physics, nuclear physics... he helped to dismantle nuclear weapons, once lived in an observatory (verrrrry briefly, at the very start)... also knows stuff about forestry, conservation, and - well, pretty much anything. 

That was probably a massive display of my ignorance on such subjects, but Wikipedia is only so helpful.

Comments

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I know Sam much better than MacGyver but...

From what I've heard, Mac strikes me as a chemist who's dabbled in lots of other sciences. Chemistry and physics actually intersect very strongly in a lot of spots, so he could easily be doing the nuclear stuff from a chemistry background.

Sam is supposedly a theoretical astrophysicist, but most of what we see her doing is more engineering - along with some computer science, biology, chemistry, geology and occasional physics.

So, with those two, you could throw just about any science problem at them. Can you give me any more context for what you need?

[crazedturkey.livejournal.com]

I think just about anything is the answer...but like abyssinia I need more context :)

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, it's the Sam from Moebius, but she (as far as I could tell) seemed to be pretty much the same as normal Sam.

I started writing it, with Sam at work (she works at *checks* the Department of Aeronautical Research, as some kind of assistant), and Mac turned up and said he'd been sent by the Phoenix Foundation (he traditionally works freelance for them, on a huge variety of things). And then I got stuck...

Mac being generally a problem-solver who's sent in to deal with specific issues, I thought it'd be fairly plausible that he'd turn up at Sam's place of work (rather than these two genius science bods just... run into each other).

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

But can't you just... write my plot for me?

;D

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Okay. What about something to do with satellites?

Evil terrorist group has hijacked a satellite, added a laser beam, and is planning to blow up "x" city? Mac and Sam have to hijack it back? (I don't know where that came from)

Something with a plane or a rocket? Maybe an experimental plane (F-302 like?) that isn't working right?

A telescope found evidence of alien life and Mac needs help finding whether it's real?

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Mac apparently has a degree (or possibly was studying for a degree, never completed) in physics.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Gawd bless you! *g* I particularly like the experimental plane idea...

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Glad to help. I don't know a lot about planes, but feel free to poke me for brainstorming purposes.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

One of these days I'm going to explode and rant about how television (mis)represents science and scientists and how obnoxious (and wrong) mass media's love affair with physics is.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

:) See, that's why I ask. I know there's a lot of science people in Stargate fandom, and I don't want to write stuff that'll be annoying, if I can avoid it.

Not that I'm going to have them spout formulae, or equations, or whatever, but I want to start from a sensible basis.

*is scared of the skiense peeps who can kill me with their brainz*

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

It doesn't bother me in fandom, since fandom works off what canon gives us. It bothers me in canon when it appears time and time and time again. And I'm usually decent at squinting my way through bad science (I survive the show after all).

Don't be scared! We're nice, really :)

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, think of it as my need to do things correctly, then. *g* I love researching for stories, oh yes. To the point where I'll have a whole bunch of research, and never actually write anything.

But it means I'm good at quizzes. *g*

[crazedturkey.livejournal.com]

erm...no

having enough trouble writing my own...

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Well, gosh darn it, that's not good enough. I don't want to have to actually come up with plots myself, you know. I can't just sit around, thinking about Stargate all day.

Er...

Perhaps that should read 'I shouldn't just sit around thinking about Stargate all day.' *g*