Evan Chen Not on CRUSADE yet!!!!!! (Ramming Speed Comment)

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: Gary Farber <gfarber at panix.com>
Date: 27 Jan 1999 17:37:34 -0700
Lines: 28

In rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated <36AF9F45.730560EF at vnet.net> Shane D. Killian <shanek at vnet.net> wrote:
: Philip Columbus wrote:
:> 
:> Yes, I think that about sums it up; although I might not use the term
:> nitpicking.  I think it just hit some folks who were familiar with
:> either the science or military terminology as odd.  Additionally,
:> JMS's defense was a little weak, too.  If you remember, he defined it
:> as the speed at which you'd have to be going so that you could not
:> veer away and miss the target.  With that definition, "ramming speed"
:> would decrease as you approached the target.  Not quite what he had in
:> mind which is what set some of us off I suppose.
:> 
: IIRC, he explained it as going the ship's actual full speed

Um, this is a non-existent concept.  It is meaningless.  The only
possible maximum speed is light speed.  This is simple ninth-grade
physics.  What part of this do you not understand?

So long as thrust is applied, your speed increases.  It continues to
increase forever, never quite reaching lightspeed.  How many times must
people state simple facts of physics?

[. . . .]

-- 
Copyright 1999 by Gary Farber; Web Researcher; Nonfiction Writer, 
Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfarber at panix.com; B'klyn, NYC, US


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 27 Jan 1999 17:42:43 -0700
Lines: 31

>Um, this is a non-existent concept.  It is meaningless.  The only
>possible maximum speed is light speed.  This is simple ninth-grade
>physics.  What part of this do you not understand?
>
>So long as thrust is applied, your speed increases.  It continues to
>increase forever, never quite reaching lightspeed.  How many times must
>people state simple facts of physics?

This is true only if you do continue to maintain thrust without ever turning
off your engines.  Which means you would burn out your engines, or run out of
fuel.  

This is a pedantic point.  Maximum speed would refer to what this given
starship can do in regular operations, with finite fuel and common-sense
applied to how long and how hard you burn the engines.  A Starfury knows what
its maximum speed is if it ever hopes to return home; it's the OPERATING system
we're talking about, not the greater laws of physics in the universe.  A pilot
just needs to know "How fast can I push this puppy?"  Yeah, a jet fighter can
exceed specs...and he'll black out, burn out, and crash.

This is a case of not seeing forest for the trees.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com




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