Re: Interplanetary exploration in a fantasy setting (surgeon's general warning: contains reactionless drives)

KJK::Hyperion wrote:
On Aug 8, 5:11 am, "M. Trimble" <u...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sounds like the space battle ship *yamato* had a bit of a run-in with
the *Galactica*.....

Please, please, bear with me here. "Giant airship" is a contractual
obligation for fantasy authors. Appreciate that I'm not trying to pull
too many parascientific principles out of my ass, and help me here
with these outer space hazards, would you?

From a cursory research, I'm now pretty sure that you can well have
radio and radar without any knowledge of relativity: "it's just
waves". Radioactivity is a natural phenomenon that occurs everywhere
on ground level, all the time, and once you have electricity you are
going to pretty much stumble into it somehow. Chemistry and newtonian
mechanics alone can bring you very close to atomic theory. Electricity
sooner or later gives you vacuum tubes, and theories on electrons;
relatively simple experiments reveal electrons are lighter than
hydrogen atoms, thus subatomic theory is born. Radioactive bombardment
experiments will reveal there is a lot of empty space between the
parts of an atom.


With some luck and basic newtonian mechanics you
discover isotopes.
Let's replay that one, with an accompaniment of some careful explanation of how a leads to be, please.

It's not a big stretch from there to discover all
atoms seem to be made of whole multiples of electrons and hydrogen
ions, and there you have nuclear theory. To go beyond that, you need
quantum theory, which I think can be reasonably assumed to be a big
enough rats nest to require extraordinary individuals and big strokes
of luck - altough in a world with rigorous scientific theories on the
nature of magic and metaphysics, the idea that we are "made of"
probability functions will probably be more readily accepted

All in all, this means they should be somewhat well-prepared for the
high energy perils of outer space. The São Paulo already has a layered
armor of steel plates, water tanks and concrete walls: those by
themselves should give pretty good radiation/cosmic ray shielding

Now let's see what lack-of-Einstein gets us. No photoelectric theory,
so some big confusion as to the nature of energy and light as an
energy carrier; they can, however, reach the same conclusions in a
somewhat roundabout way, through their research on metamateriality;
until then, no laser.

No model of Brownian motion, so atoms aren't believed to be "real"
yet; as noted before, though, they have theories on the nature of
reality itself, so they would definitely keep their pants on at the
news; not sure of the non-philosophical implications here.

No special relativity, and this seems to be a pretty big breakthrough;
my backwards podunks hence still believe in luminiferous aether, and
are still baffled by its confusing properties. Still, outer-space São
Paulo seems the perfect laboratory to discover that light has no
inertia and a fixed velocity;
There's a tall assumption. Read up on your basic physics, then reconcile the following statements.

1. Light has neither mass nor inertia and therefore a constant velocity.
2. Given a change in conductive medium (as for example air versus the crystal of a well-crafted prism) light can and will bend, or refract, implying a *slight* (read: really, really *really* tiny)change in velocity.
3. The gravitational lens effect has been demonstrated.

I've been working on that for a number of years now, in the interest of disproving the red-shift (my thinking calls for a loss of velocity, something like -.1% in velocity over distances greater than perhaps 100,000 light years), and no soap. The texts most carefully dance around that subject, as well as the solar wind phenomenon.

on the longest travels, they will
invariably begin noticing extra inertial mass coming from nowhere (or
maybe velocity affects the pullor as well, perhaps *dropping* its
output as it increases)

No mass-energy equivalence, and no reason to go looking for it,
either; altough further study in the nature of magic
a carrier particle of some sort, then, able to affect the natures of atoms at the will of the caster?

will eventually
reveal it, clear as day, and then things will get interesting and
magic study will probably get sidelined for ZOMG BOMBS (it must be
noted they do have bombs of the ZOMG quality, altough they are
antiques that cannot be reproduced or even dismantled).

General relativity: one of those "DUH" phenomenons that you literally
have been measuring since forever but never realized; let's assume
that somebody will, by chance or divine inspiration, eventually look
into a telescope during a solar eclipse; until then, they are going to
observe and measure time dilation and redshift, and not know what to
make of it.

I'm sure I'm underestimating the implications of ignorance of
relativity and quantum theory, though. Anyone can fill me in?


If you're going into the idea of science being conducted by magical means, then you must respect Schroedinger's Cat.
.

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