Someone else has just re-quoted A.Wren's "Rant On!" message, so I've
been reminded of the question of inertial dampeners, those wonderful
pieces of technology which stop people being spread all over the insides
of starships (and which stop the ships kind of crushing under their own
accelerations, presumably?). Okay, so if warp drive works by just
folding space so the ship doesn't move very far at all, then fine - but
we often see ships zipping around at very high speeds and accelerations
in normal space! For example, that type of spaceship I saw in B5 once
(I watched that episode under threat of death by Andrew Wren) which
slows, flips over and zooms right back the way it came. Imagine the
acceleration involved there! So obviously some sort of inertial
dampener must exist... or else, everyone's wearing those watches which
are powered by kinetic energy, and that's where all the energy goes!
Or, on a slightly less sarcastic note, the energy (how the hell it gets
collected I do not know, but theories would be appreciated) could be
used to bolster the ship's energy levels - like the way cars recharge
their batteries while driving normally, for example. I know that uses
up a tiny amount of the car's kinetic energy (and slows it down by a
miniscule degree), but that's the point of inertial dampeners - to stop
the energy splattering the human occupants!
That's all for now - The Trash-Heap Has Spoken! (Come on, didn't anyone
watch Fraggle Rock when they were kids? Back in the days of the
dinosaurs, judging from some IFIS members... just kidding!)
David Chilard
been reminded of the question of inertial dampeners, those wonderful
pieces of technology which stop people being spread all over the insides
of starships (and which stop the ships kind of crushing under their own
accelerations, presumably?). Okay, so if warp drive works by just
folding space so the ship doesn't move very far at all, then fine - but
we often see ships zipping around at very high speeds and accelerations
in normal space! For example, that type of spaceship I saw in B5 once
(I watched that episode under threat of death by Andrew Wren) which
slows, flips over and zooms right back the way it came. Imagine the
acceleration involved there! So obviously some sort of inertial
dampener must exist... or else, everyone's wearing those watches which
are powered by kinetic energy, and that's where all the energy goes!
Or, on a slightly less sarcastic note, the energy (how the hell it gets
collected I do not know, but theories would be appreciated) could be
used to bolster the ship's energy levels - like the way cars recharge
their batteries while driving normally, for example. I know that uses
up a tiny amount of the car's kinetic energy (and slows it down by a
miniscule degree), but that's the point of inertial dampeners - to stop
the energy splattering the human occupants!
That's all for now - The Trash-Heap Has Spoken! (Come on, didn't anyone
watch Fraggle Rock when they were kids? Back in the days of the
dinosaurs, judging from some IFIS members... just kidding!)
David Chilard