Thread: Breen Attack on Earth View Single Post
January 20 2008, 05:29 AM   #32
Nebusj

Re: Breen Attack on Earth

 Mistral said: OK, in a number of episodes they made a point of leaving solar systems under impulse power-and there has been mention of gravitational disruptions if you go to warp "too near a planet",
Too near being, apparently, less than twelve feet above sea level'' based on what actually appears on screen.

 re: ballistics-the calculations become extremely absurd when you take into account not just trajectory but also gravitational influences, 'quantum flux'(the catch-all for subspace eddies and spacial disturbances in ST) and of course, the simple idea that we are attempting to launch faster than light objects(read:warheads) at an object that is virtually stationary.
Would you be so kind to tell me what the functional difference is between aiming a fast-as-light item at a planet and aiming a telescope to look at a planet? We've managed the feat of getting a planet in telescopic sites -- despite all the alleged dangers of gravity, quantum mechanics, and luminal flight you want to name -- for four centuries now.

 Put a ping pong ball in the middle of your kitchen table. Make sure the ball has a magnet inside of it. Place at least 2 or 3 other magnets around it. Vary the distance of each magnet, ranging from 1 inch to 6 inches. Now get yet another magnet about the size of a staple. Stand 6 feet away from the edge of the table and make the staple-sized magnet in you hand stick to the ball when you throw it on your ballistic trajectory.Child's play, right? Let me know how it works out.
Gravity (Newtonian approximation): Force = G (m_1 m_2) (1/r_{1, 2}^3}\vec{r_{1, 2}}
Magnetic influence on an electrically charged particle: Force = q \vec{E} + q \vec{v} \ctimes \vec{B}

where m_1 and m_2 are masses of relevant bodies; r_{1, 2} is the distance between the centers of mass of the bodies; \vec{r_{1, 2}} is the vector from one to the other; G is the gravitational constant of the universe; q is the charge of the moving body, \vec{E} is the electric field in which the charged object moves; \vec{v} is the velocity of the moving charged body, and \vec{B} is the magnetic field in which the charged body moves.

This would be an enormously challenging problem to work out analytically if you happened to be in 1778. These days, it's maybe worth giving a freshman physics major to do, but won't really tax anyone's intellect.