10-16-2012, 06:10 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
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10-16-2012, 09:45 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
Quote:
Gravity, magnetism, etc still affect the ship with the drive off, but in interstellar space they don't necessarily matter much. (Though Smith did write a bungled scene of a ship under inertialess state in Masters of the Vortex.) Now, a more interesting issue, to me, is the effect of inertialessness, as described in the stories, on living creatures. I have a strong suspicion that being within the volume of effect of a Bergenholm would be rapidly lethal. Last edited by Johnny1A.2; 10-16-2012 at 09:56 PM. |
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10-16-2012, 10:48 PM | #23 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
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I recall the idea being posted that a soon as the drive went off the ship stopped. However there was some kind of problem where if you went inertialess with a particle that was not "Free" (or vice versa, I cant recall correctly) you could lose the ship. I think his stories were influenced by the old Ether concept.
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10-16-2012, 11:30 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
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10-17-2012, 01:35 AM | #25 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
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10-17-2012, 09:17 AM | #26 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
Quote:
As just one example, before WWII the liquid fuel rocket was considered impractical because no one had yet imagined the turbo-powered fuel pump and nothing else could pump the needed amounts of fuel fast enough. The pump on the Shuttle Main Engines _is_ a ridiculous piece of tech. Half the weight of the whole engione but providing 75,000 HP for 750 lbs of weight. So whe the SF club Arthur C. Clarke belonged to as a teenager tried to rough pout a moon rocket on paper they had to plan for the use of massive banks of solid fuel rockets. Now, that is what looks totally impractical.
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Fred Brackin |
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10-17-2012, 09:19 AM | #27 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
Which one was that?
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Fred Brackin |
10-17-2012, 05:40 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
Smith had a PhD in Chemistry. He might have ignored numbers if it made a better story but he did understand them. And was good enough at thinking of implications to "invent" WW II era naval warfare CIC.
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10-17-2012, 05:47 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
Notable: A PhD in TL6 Chemistry does not an astronomer or physicist make. It's helpful in some parts of rocket physics (propellants) but not in the actually-getting-it-to-go-somewhere-specific part :) You can think the Sun goes around the Earth and still do Chemistry (especially TL 6 chemistry, which is his era).
Now, I'm not claiming Smith was like that, but naval tactics and chemistry just aren't astronomy or physics, and really aren't any more relevant to a TL6 writer trying to imagine the future of space travel any more than if he could carry a tune or had beautiful handwriting. On the other hand, I'd be ashamed if he made mistakes about the chemistry of his aliens or the unobtanium devices of the future.
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10-17-2012, 06:39 PM | #30 |
Computer Scientist
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dallas, Texas
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Re: Inertialessness (the Lensman & Arilou sort), top speed, and spinning
I don't think inert matter is limited to c in the books, so the accumulated ISM ought to accumulate and dribble off the sides like a very thin superluminal bow shock.
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Tags |
arilou, inertialess, inertialessness, lensman, lensmen, physics |
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