Unit 01 in the Volcano

[Gus Hanson]

In order to get to Sandalphon, Unit 02 had to be fitted with D-Type Equipment for it to survive the environment the volcano posed. After the Angel is taken care of and Unit 02 starts falling after having it's line cut, Unit 01 appears without such equipment and rescues Unit 02. Wouldn't Unit 01 have burned alive going in without a similar suit or was it just an oversight that wasn't corrected?

[Bagheera]

In order to get to Sandalphon, Unit 02 had to be fitted with D-Type Equipment for it to survive the environment the volcano posed. After the Angel is taken care of and Unit 02 starts falling after having it's line cut, Unit 01 appears without such equipment and rescues Unit 02. Wouldn't Unit 01 have burned alive going in without a similar suit or was it just an oversight that wasn't corrected?

Apparently his ATF was going into overdrive, 'cause there's no other explanation for how he wasn't incinerated.

[riffraff11235]

In order to get to Sandalphon, Unit 02 had to be fitted with D-Type Equipment for it to survive the environment the volcano posed. After the Angel is taken care of and Unit 02 starts falling after having it's line cut, Unit 01 appears without such equipment and rescues Unit 02. Wouldn't Unit 01 have burned alive going in without a similar suit or was it just an oversight that wasn't corrected?

Unit-02 needed the D-Type Equipment to go to the depth where Sandalphon was, where the temperature and pressure are greater. When Unit-01 dove in to get Unit-02, it had already risen up the shaft of the volcano to a lesser depth, where the temperature and pressure were enough for Unit-01's regular armor to handle.

[The Eva Monkey]

Unit-02 needed the D-Type Equipment to go to the depth where Sandalphon was, where the temperature and pressure are greater. When Unit-01 dove in to get Unit-02, it had already risen up the shaft of the volcano to a lesser depth, where the temperature and pressure were enough for Unit-01's regular armor to handle.

This. It's more due to pressure than anything else.

So kids, what this means is that an Evangelion is capable of withstanding temperatures (at least briefly) of 700 °C to 1300 °C (or 1300 °F to 2400 °F). This isn't surprising considering that an Eva can survive an N2 explosion unscathed, which is comparable to a nuclear blast.

[Chuckman]

Sci-fi immersion bullshit explanation: An Eva can take a few seconds of a blast from Ramiel that will liquefy a mountain, it can take a dip in a volcano for a bit.

Real reason: The power of Shinji's love for Asuka overcame the might of the volcano.

[The Eva Monkey]

An Eva can take a few seconds of a blast from Ramiel that will liquefy a mountain, it can take a dip in a volcano for a bit.

There's also kinetic energy to be considered, but I'm curious if there's some sort of scientific information about how hot a positron beam would be.

[riffraff11235]

There's also kinetic energy to be considered, but I'm curious if there's some sort of scientific information about how hot a positron beam would be.

Well, the positron beam is about as science-fitctiony as you can get. Positrons annihilate instantly on contact with matter/electrons, so there's no way of firing a beam of them through atmosphere. To study the effects you could safely replace it with a beam of electrons (not sure why they didn't do this in the first place) since they have the same mass. Accelerated electrons move at near light-speed, so you probably wouldn't want to be in the way when one of those fires off. You're probably talking about temperatures on the order of millions of degrees.

[The Eva Monkey]

Positrons annihilate instantly on contact with matter/electrons, so there's no way of firing a beam of them through atmosphere.

Yup, I recall reading this.

The late Joe Bankhead, former USNS Electronics Tech 1st Class/Reactor Operator, commented upon the positron cannon employed by NERV against Angel Ramiel. Bankhead noted that while a stream of positrons might be a practical weapon in the vacuum of space, where normal matter in the path of the beam would be tenuous, a positron beam used in Earth's atmosphere would be "the equivalent of putting the barrel of your grenade launcher right up against a wall and then pulling the trigger... The matter/antimatter reaction, in other words, would start to occur within nanometers once the positrons leave the (presumed) magnetic containment field within the barrel. Boom."

http://www.evamonkey.com/writings_horn11.php

[Der Kommissar]

Probably a combination of the Eva's AT field and robust biology. It won't be the first or last time Shinji is willing to put himself willingly into extremely physically painful or dangerouc circumstances for someone else, either, so it's quite possible that it wasn't as casual an experience as it appeared from Asuka's point of view.

Kinda good to have someone like that in your corner.

[Kendrix]

This. It's more due to pressure than anything else.

So kids, what this means is that an Evangelion is capable of withstanding temperatures (at least briefly) of 700 °C to 1300 °C (or 1300 °F to 2400 °F). This isn't surprising considering that an Eva can survive an N2 explosion unscathed, which is comparable to a nuclear blast.

This.
There's a difference between the depht Asuka ended up in and being relatively near the surface, which EVA 01 probably could take since it has proven to be quite explosion-proof.

For what it's worth, EVA 01's eyes were glowing brightly, perhapbs signifying the ATF being pushed to its limits - in any case, there's high chance that this was probably more painful than it looked from Asuka's pov - He doesn't reply to her, probably because he was busy gritting his teeth.

[Sachi]

For what it's worth, EVA 01's eyes were glowing brightly, perhapbs signifying the ATF being pushed to its limits - in any case, there's high chance that this was probably more painful than it looked from Asuka's pov - He doesn't reply to her, probably because he was busy gritting his teeth.

This as well. It's suspense followed by a deus ex machina of sorts from the audience's shared perspective with Asuka, but there's an untold story left out that results in Shinji's dive into the volcano to save her. Was it a brave, impulsive decision on his part? That would be almost out of character for him had this not been during the "action" arc of the series. Or had he needed a motivational speach from Misato, as per usual?

[bobbyfischer's ghost]

I would thinks it would be a mix of feelings for Asuka(what ever they are)and also his sense of duty to a teammate. early on of course

[Der Kommissar]

That would be almost out of character for him had this not been during the "action" arc of the series. Or had he needed a motivational speach from Misato, as per usual?

Dunno. When someone stands to be hurt, Shinji will usually put his balls on the chopping block, even if he doesn't like it. I mean, protecting another is what got him in the Eva in the first place. When it comes down to risking his bacon to protect innocents, Shinji's pretty reliable right up until End of Evangelion, once he's actually in the Eva.

[arkiel]

I guess what we've been thinking of the positron beam is actually the radius of annihilation effect generated by a nuclear (in the middle of) stream of positrons.

A better question might be how these beams didn't give everyone on the planet aggressive cancer. Seems a safe bet that the kinetic energy involved made this a high energy case...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron%E2%80%93positron_annihilation#High_energy_case

What a great coda that would be for the series:
After preventing Third Impact and finding the true meaning of Christmas, everyone died from ball cancer on account of something that happened in episode 5 (or was it 6?)

[Monk Ed]

What a great coda that would be for the series:
After preventing Third Impact and finding the true meaning of Christmas, everyone died from ball cancer on account of something that happened in episode 5 (or was it 6?)

Maybe this is why Third Impact was inevitable and necessary -- so that all the people could resurrect in new, ball-cancerless bodies!

[riffraff11235]

Maybe this is why Third Impact was inevitable and necessary -- so that all the people could resurrect in new, ball-cancerless bodies!

Maybe this is why EGF users are so keen on the Movember thing!

[Mr. Tines]

so there's no way of firing a beam of them through atmosphere.

Conservation of momentum would mean that the result was a somewhat directed gamma ray beam, with the beam width depending on the speed at which the positrons are projected. The emission would be omnidirectional in the centre of momentum frame, and aberration would collimate the beam to a degree dependent on the velocity of that frame relative to the firing platform.

[riffraff11235]

Conservation of momentum would mean that the result was a somewhat directed gamma ray beam, with the beam width depending on the speed at which the positrons are projected. The emission would be omnidirectional in the centre of momentum frame, and aberration would collimate the beam to a degree dependent on the velocity of that frame relative to the firing platform.

As arkiel's Wikipedia link explained, if the positrons have enough kinetic energy, the annihilation would produce many heavy particles in addition to high-energy photons. Since it took the electrical energy of an entire country to power the positron rifle, we can safely assume that this is a high-energy case. It was probably those heavy particles that did most of the damage to Ramiel's AT Field and body.

[TheFlyingBeagle]

Well, I always thought EVA-02 was "an arm's lenght" from the volcano's upper lip when EVA-01 rescued it barehandedly.
I don't know exactly the ratio between depth-to-pressure on such case, but it's sure that, as deeper you go, the pressure builds up constantly. If EVA-02 was really close to the volcano's "mouth" for Shinji to rescue her bare-handed, pressure wouldn't be an issue.
Oh, and yes - if Shinji's EVA took Ramiel's hell-of-a-blast before sniping it back, what is a little lava-smudge? ;)

[Der Kommissar]

It's hard to say, because we don't have much sense of scale for just how powerful a shot from the positron rifle is (laying aside the wonky physics).

Rebuild at least shows us Ramiel using its own particle beam to vapourize half of a small mountain.