Does the mass lightening page need a rewrite?
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:57 am
I find the mass lightning page rather poorly writen, and think it needs at least a parsial rewrite when it comes to Star Trek. One of the examples of mass lightning isn't even mass lightning.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what is written, but this part of the mass lightening page seems to need a rewrite to me.http://starfleetjedi.net/wiki/index.php?title=Mass_lightening wrote: At least two examples of encompassing large objects in subspace fields to reduce their mass.
▪ In TNG "Deja Q", the Enterprise-D used its warp nacelles to generate a subspace field that reduced the mass of a moon from an estimated 10E16 kg to just 2.5E9 kg, reducing its mass by a factor of about 4 million.
▪ In DS9 "Emissary", the station generated a subspace field from its deflector shield emitters that reduced its mass enough that it could complete a 160 million km trip that would normally take approximately two months on the few working thrusters available in less than a day.
This quote appears to be saying that the Enterprise-D's crew plans to alter the strength gravitational attraction between objects in a small area while leaving the mass of the objects unchanged.TNG: Deja Q wrote:
DATA: Geordi is trying to say that changing the gravitational constant of the universe is beyond our capabilities.
Q: Oh. In that case, never mind.
(Crusher enters)
Q: Ah, Doctor Crusher. I see Starfleet has shipped you back into exile.
DATA: Q says he has hurt his back.
CRUSHER: Ah ha. Well, if I didn't see it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it. According to this, he has classic back trauma. Muscle spasms.
Q: I've been under a lot of pressure lately. Family problems.
CRUSHER: Well. don't expect too much sympathy from me. You've been a pain in our backside often enough.
Q: Your bedside manner is admirable, Doctor. I'm sure your patients recover quickly just to get away from you.
LAFORGE: You know, this might work. We can't change the gravitational constant of the universe, but if we wrap a low level warp field around that moon, we could reduce its gravitational constant. Make it lighter so we can push it.
Q: Glad I could help. Ow. I think.
This sounds like Deep Space 9 was not designed with mass lowering fields in mind.DS9: Emissary wrote: DAX: Couldn't you modify the subspace field output of the deflector generators just enough to create a low-level field around the station?
O'BRIEN: So we could lower the inertial mass?
DAX: If you can make the station lighter, those six thrusters will be all the power we'd need.
O'BRIEN: This whole station could break apart like an egg if it doesn't work.
DAX: Even if it does work, we're still going to need help from Starfleet once we get there.
O'BRIEN: The Enterprise is still the nearest starship. They could reach us in two days.