Re: Saxton's Hypermatter and Brian Young's Accelerations
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:08 am
I'm prejudiced against the notion of FTL impulse (or "impulse supercruise" as I like to call it).
As for the radial geodesic . . . I still have issues with the notion that this is somehow related to the ship's innards. I mean, sure, it may have been that she was working out all the myriad details of the ship before tackling the problem of the timing of the security net drop, but they only had like 90 seconds before the bomb detonated and if she was trying to figure out the ship and doing the calculation out loud . . . it just doesn't work for me.
In other words, it should've been a relatively simple thing to know the maximum acceleration of the ship, work out its distance and velocity at such-and-such times, and reverse-calculate a number where you're going as fast as possible while far enough away. I would have issues doing it in 90 seconds by hand, but I am not a Federation science officer . . . that is to say, it can be done.
The only reason to start talking about spatial contraction whatzits would be in reference to a subspace distortion. And the only reason to start talking about a subspace distortion would be if the local environment required that discussion.
That is to say, it doesn't matter if the ship is propelled by an antimatter rocket, subspace field coils, beer farts, or fairy wishes. If it has a maximum acceleration then it is what it is, and this situation would seem to call for it so you would just plug in that number. At worst you might need to stop and account for the extra mass of ketracel white that was beamed aboard or the reduction in reactants that would occur over the next 90 seconds, but I wouldn't think that the white would be related to spatial contraction and I wouldn't think 90 seconds of go-go-juice would directly relate to the quote either.
Overcomplicating the math would not seem the prudent move given the time constraints, so the logical presumption is that she was only making it as complicated as it needed to be. And it probably only needed to be complicated in the context of subspace spatial contraction due to either the impending detonation of the facility's reactor or due to the security net itself.
Meanwhile, those who like magic bullets now have one . . . got a low range visual and big range dialog in Trek? Tag it as a spatial contraction due to subspace field distortion and move on.
Of course, I kid . . . magic bullets of that nature are not commonly used by those who favor Trek.
As for the radial geodesic . . . I still have issues with the notion that this is somehow related to the ship's innards. I mean, sure, it may have been that she was working out all the myriad details of the ship before tackling the problem of the timing of the security net drop, but they only had like 90 seconds before the bomb detonated and if she was trying to figure out the ship and doing the calculation out loud . . . it just doesn't work for me.
In other words, it should've been a relatively simple thing to know the maximum acceleration of the ship, work out its distance and velocity at such-and-such times, and reverse-calculate a number where you're going as fast as possible while far enough away. I would have issues doing it in 90 seconds by hand, but I am not a Federation science officer . . . that is to say, it can be done.
The only reason to start talking about spatial contraction whatzits would be in reference to a subspace distortion. And the only reason to start talking about a subspace distortion would be if the local environment required that discussion.
That is to say, it doesn't matter if the ship is propelled by an antimatter rocket, subspace field coils, beer farts, or fairy wishes. If it has a maximum acceleration then it is what it is, and this situation would seem to call for it so you would just plug in that number. At worst you might need to stop and account for the extra mass of ketracel white that was beamed aboard or the reduction in reactants that would occur over the next 90 seconds, but I wouldn't think that the white would be related to spatial contraction and I wouldn't think 90 seconds of go-go-juice would directly relate to the quote either.
Overcomplicating the math would not seem the prudent move given the time constraints, so the logical presumption is that she was only making it as complicated as it needed to be. And it probably only needed to be complicated in the context of subspace spatial contraction due to either the impending detonation of the facility's reactor or due to the security net itself.
Meanwhile, those who like magic bullets now have one . . . got a low range visual and big range dialog in Trek? Tag it as a spatial contraction due to subspace field distortion and move on.
Of course, I kid . . . magic bullets of that nature are not commonly used by those who favor Trek.