05-06-2014, 06:04 PM
Probably another unrelated concern. On Wikipedia and here, they write that q-balls are stable because of charge conservation. If you have positive q-ball with 1E6 - 1E40 elementary charges, it will probably strongly suck in electrons and emit neutrinos and radiate its mass away until it is gone. To isolate such strong charge from other charges seems like extremely challenging engineering problem.
For the same reason, it might be very impractical to shoot the q-ball with protons to obtain energy. If the q-ball is positive, it will be very difficult to get to the q-ball through the Coulombic barrier. (Although if you succeed, you are refilling the q-ball charge, which is good.) If it is negative, it might emit neutral particles and get smaller and smaller as it loses charge. But I guess you can always construct device that would hit the q-ball by neutrons.
Unrelated note: very good defense against q-ball cannons may be to charge the spaceship. Even small charge will repel the q-balls strongly.
For the same reason, it might be very impractical to shoot the q-ball with protons to obtain energy. If the q-ball is positive, it will be very difficult to get to the q-ball through the Coulombic barrier. (Although if you succeed, you are refilling the q-ball charge, which is good.) If it is negative, it might emit neutral particles and get smaller and smaller as it loses charge. But I guess you can always construct device that would hit the q-ball by neutrons.
Unrelated note: very good defense against q-ball cannons may be to charge the spaceship. Even small charge will repel the q-balls strongly.