03-02-2020, 10:27 AM | #111 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
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Separate atoms rather thna rubble. The molecular binding energies of what look like very solid objects to us are rounding errors when compared to the KE of relativistic objects. Then of course, kinetic interceptors do the same sort of damage to relativistic objects that those objects would do to their targets. The only difference is that of mass. So when virtually any sort of projectile hits your "RKK" there will e a burst of hard X-rays sufficient to ionize the entire mass of the the RKK. It will then become a rapidly expanding cloud of ions and though it may techically "hit" it's original target it does so one atom at a time and many of those atoms may miss entirely. Everyone should stop thinking about these "solid object" things. They (and the rules that bind them) don't exist in collisions above a few miles per second.
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Fred Brackin |
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03-02-2020, 11:32 AM | #112 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
Very true. Of course, the hard gamma and cosmic rays produced by relativistic collisions will likely cause massive radiation damage to anything in orbit.
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03-02-2020, 11:37 AM | #113 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
Even if the thing does flash into ions in the upper atmosphere you might be able to sterilize a continent. It's those precion citybusters that are in the wrong queue.
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Fred Brackin |
03-02-2020, 02:52 PM | #114 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
That would depend largely on the size of the spacecraft, the speed of the spacecraft, and the distance from the surface. A 1,000 metric ton spacecraft traveling .1c would have ~100 gigatons worth of energy. At 10,000 km, the energy would likely be 358 kJ per square meter or 35.8 J per square centimeter, so it would wreck unshielded objects and increase the radiation belts, but it would not sterilize a continent. A 1 million metric ton spacecraft going .5c that detonated 1,000 km away would release 89.5 MJ per square centimeter, which would vaporize a continent (and probably sterilize the planet).
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03-02-2020, 03:51 PM | #115 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
For an object manufactured with a bit of brains and precision engineering, it's totally possible. What you do is, rather than using a single impactor, you use a series of objects striking the same location to drill a path through the atmosphere (and the ground, if you want). Precision isn't going to be great, but it can get away with no more wide area devastation than you'd get from nuclear weapons.
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03-02-2020, 11:43 PM | #116 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
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03-02-2020, 11:46 PM | #117 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
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Also, a GM might prefer to avoid time dilation issues. A 'classic' reactionless drive opens up serious time dilation possibilities.
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03-03-2020, 05:46 AM | #118 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
Yes, time dilation is always an issue when traveling at high velocities. If you want to have some fun though, try time compression for your FTL drives (though you need to throw an absolute in the formula to avoid 'i'). It ends up that time compression roughly equals velocity in 'c' (a spaceship going 1000c roughly experiences 1000x the time as the outside Universe). Total automation and nanostasis are required for any trip (at 1000c, a trip to Alpha Centauri will take less than two days in the outside Universe but will take around 4.37 years within the spaceship).
Imagine the tactical applications though. A spaceship jumps a light-month after a battle. While less than an hour passes in the outside Universe, the crew of the spaceship has an effective month to perform repairs. Of course, that would mean that reactors would need to be refueled quite often. |
03-03-2020, 09:59 AM | #119 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
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You can make up whatever math you want regarding passage of time in FTL, but its just that: made up. I think most of the serious suppositions (like the Alcubierre drive) assume a false movement that creates a sort of space-time moving sidewalk, and create a state where no actual FTL travel occurs. Still breaks causality, though.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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03-03-2020, 11:29 AM | #120 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Coolant [Spaceships]
Well, that depends on whether certain formulas are actually complete. Since the break in causality is represented by negatives or square roots of negatives occuring in the formulas, it may just be that the formulas are incomplete (lacking absolute functions). Unfortunately, this is quite difficult to test, as we will not know if formulas are incomplete unless someone actually stumbles upon FTL and, since everyone would 'know' that FTL is impossible due to the incomplete formulas, it is highly unlikely that any would receive sufficient funding to do the necessary research anyway.
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