Odd Thoughts

[yevaud]

I was following the Higgs Boson thread in ATA, when an odd couple of thoughts hit me:<br /><br />FTL drives hypothesized, from the Alcubierre drive to Star Trek's Warp Drive, essentially "detach" a small region of space (and what's contained within) from the overall continuum. <br /><br />Hmm. <br /><br />So the entire gravity potential present within that small region would only be due to the mass of the ship and contents. You would simultaneously be able to be travelling at FTL velocities, and be nearly weightless at the same time. <br /><br />Holy Moley, I just violated a major "scientific" part of the ST world. Why do you need "Inertial Dampeners" to protect against accelerational forces, when the force on you as you accelerate is zero? You're not moving - the region of space you're in does. You're just carried along. <br /><br />A couple of divergent thoughts. Any of yours? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

The 'field' or whatever might be subject to a square or cube law, and the effect may vary over macro distances, and dissipate with distance from the generator. Perhaps the inertial dampeners and structural integrity field smooth out the effect over the dimensions of the craft. <br /><br /><br />I've always been a big fan of the Alderson Drive myself, instantaneous is where it's at, man.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[yevaud]

I know Dan Alderson's concept quite well. I am a huge Pournelle fan (he's in my top ten favorite SF author list). Fyunch'click, baby!<br /><br />(Btw, should we ever meet, I am literally a Kevin Renner type of personality, except for some of his more lugubrious traits)<br /><br />Oddly, when I was in school, I came up with a similar concept, except it was a gravitational effect, not thermonuclear equipotentials causing the effect. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Well, there may be a need for inertial dampeners when you are going less than FTL. After all, the ship has to slow down sometime. Once it is less than relativistic, something rigged to keep the crew from becoming a new coat of interior paint is probably a good idea. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Another thought:<br /><br />What if not only do you translate the mass effect of your ship but also the minute effects of gravity from nearby celestial bodies? For instance, there have been a variety of sci-fi mechanisms that prohibit an FTL ship from going FTL near planets/suns/large masses. What if at the time of singularity, when you translate into FTL, all of the mass effects, including the weak forces of gravity from nearby masses at the departure point, are all translated with you. Non-localized gravity effects gradually bleed off consistent with the inverse square law. But, in order to keep this bleeding off effect from dumping your coffee on Yeoman Rand, the inertial dampeners slowly compensate for the loss. During the rest of FTL, the dampeners wouldn't be needed until you approached your destination. Then, dampener tuners would pickup nearby gravity waves and gradually apply the appropriate compensations as your ship entered normal space. This keeps you from falling out of bed after you had been congratulating Yeoman Rand on her new promotion... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[a_lost_packet_]

<font color="yellow">ZeroGeezus - Yeoman Rand was a Klingon spy (the subspecies Worf didn't like to acknowledge). She bleached her hair and skin. She had a 23rd century Super 8 camera and tape recorder hidden in that Shriners hat hairdo. Kirk gave away all kinds of secrets during orgasm.</font><br /><br />BLASPHEMY!<br /><br />They would NEVAR!!11! put the "fuzzy camera effect" on a klingon, female or no! Yeoman Rand was constantly surrounded by a glowing nimbus of romantic fuzzy camera goodness!<br /><br />Besides, Kirk wouldn't give away secrets at the height of passion. He wouldn't loose his cool like that. Why, once, Kirk conquered the entire galaxy, defended the honor of a busload of cheerleaders, accepted their physical offers of thanks and balanced the budget of the Federation all while having his toenails clipped by firing the ship's phasers at them while navigating an asteroid field during an electron storm... I find it difficult to believe one little session could draw out Federation secrets.<br /><br />But, then again, it is Yeoman Rand we're talking about... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>