Re: spaceships, terminology, windows

Mary K. Kuhner wrote:
In article <J4voEF.H0t@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Wilson Heydt <whheydt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <ed7dhq$6ne$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Mary K. Kuhner <mkkuhner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Seems to me that if you are flying along at a constant speed, upside
down, and suddenly turn off the AG, everything onboard will experience
a sudden pull downward.

I want you think about this v*e*r*y carefully.... If you are
moving in space at constant space (otherwise known as "free
fall") and the artificial gravity shuts off...*what* is going
to pull you to the ceiling? For that matter what does "upside
down" actually mean in this context? "Upside down" relative
to *what*?

I'm sorry; I meant to imply, by "upside down", that the
ship was flying like an airplane, next to a planet, not out
in space. Obviously it cannot be upside down while it's in
space.

Loss of AG while in space and not accelerating would be merely
annoying, as things which relied on gravity to keep them in place
would now tend to be moved by air currents.

I'm pretty sure that, as with a modern airplane, takeoff and
landing are much more stressful for this thing than anything it
does in open space. There's no reason to accelerate rapidly or
turn sharply, since it's not a warship. (And I'm not sure I
believe in battles of rapid manuver in space, anyway.)

[edge of an AG field]

My own expectation would be that the field would vary
smoothly. Thus, you might see the direction fo the AG field
shift, but it wouldn't be abrupt.

This suggests that the ship's AG might affect objects outside
the ship, which could be disconcerting.

Suppose that I have a ship meant to park on its belly, but I choose to park it on its tail and use AG to make things
convenient on the inside (I want "down" to be toward the floor,
not toward the aft wall). What would a person walking near
this ship likely experience? A bird flying over it? What
would it feel like if you popped a hatch and climbed out?

The world would appear to fall over, taking the ship with it. If you stepped back, it would bounce right back up. I'm wondering if it would exert some torque on you...probably not.

But here's something cool: you could have a cylinder (or sphere) with AG pointing towards it from all sides, and get objects to go into orbit around it.

Not sure if the orbits would be stable, though...hmm, would there be tidal effects? Does your AG obey an inverse square law?

At
some point, whether gradually or abruptly, you'd have to be
back in unadjusted planetary gravity. *This* I find hard to
visualize.

Would I risk damaging buildings if I flew low over them? If
I flew low and upside down over them?

That depends on how your AG falls off with distance, yes? And whether/how well it can be shielded?

Tim
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: spaceships, terminology, windows
    ... a sudden pull downward. ... For that matter what does "upside ... as things which relied on gravity to keep them in place ... the ship, which could be disconcerting. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: spaceships, terminology, windows
    ... a sudden pull downward. ... moving in space at constant space (otherwise known as "free ... For that matter what does "upside ... ship was flying like an airplane, next to a planet, not out ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: spaceships, terminology, windows
    ... whether the ship could survive that would depend on how valuable ships ... Seems to me that if you are flying along at a constant speed, upside ... where is the 1G acceleration coming ... constant acceleration of the Earth's gravity. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Inconsistent gravity model in Gundam Seed
    ... >>Am I the only one who noticed the inconsistent use of gravity effects? ... >>electromagnets activated by thought? ... But what about when they ship does high-speed ...
    (rec.arts.anime.misc)
  • Re: Cavorite: how does one correct ones course.
    ... a sheet of Cavorite will cut you off from the Earth's ... Imagine if you will a Cavorite ship going from Earth to Mars: ... The front pod has its front iris open so that gravity from that direction ... The rear control rod swivels toward the origin and its rear iris opens ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)