Deck by Deck question

[circusdog]

I've looked at a couple of fascinating threads about creating a deck-by-deck recreation of a ship. They all seem to follow the convention that the decks all share the same orientation. Has anyone ever considered the possibility that some decks could be oriented differently since there is supposed to be artificial gravity?

In the Enterprise episode "Horizon", Mayweather finds the "sweet spot" on the ship where the artificial gravity is null.

 

[Ziz]

While it is technically possible, it just makes things unrealistically complicated. Why would a deck NEED to be upside down or sideways?

Mayweather's "sweet spot" (wait...that doesn't sound right...)

The "sweet spot" on the ship that Mayweather found is just that one particular area where other energies are accidentally canceling out the artificial gravity - it wasn't designed that way on purpose.

 

[Mysterion]

I've looked at a couple of fascinating threads about creating a deck-by-deck recreation of a ship. They all seem to follow the convention that the decks all share the same orientation. Has anyone ever considered the possibility that some decks could be oriented differently since there is supposed to be artificial gravity?

In the Enterprise episode "Horizon", Mayweather finds the "sweet spot" on the ship where the artificial gravity is null.

In the fan-published USS Khai Tam Technical Orientation Manual, the main shuttlebay is at the lowest deck of the saucer section. It has it's gravity oriented so that it is "upside-down" in realtion to the other decks, making the bay doors on the hull "overhead" to the hangar bay.

 

[circusdog]

While it is technically possible, it just makes things unrealistically complicated. Why would a deck NEED to be upside down or sideways?

Maybe I'm just a throwback to "2001: A Space Odyssey". I was thinking that whatever generates the gravity would have a center point and therefore a corresponding "up". Someone in Australia would be upside down with relation to my location.

Unless the effect is local to the deck you are on.

 

[circusdog]

In the fan-published USS Khai Tam Technical Orientation Manual, the main shuttlebay is at the lowest deck of the saucer section. It has it's gravity oriented so that it is "upside-down" in realtion to the other decks, making the bay doors on the hull "overhead" to the hangar bay.

Is the manual complete enough to explain what generates the gravity and/or where the mechanism is located?

 

[Mysterion]

In the fan-published USS Khai Tam Technical Orientation Manual, the main shuttlebay is at the lowest deck of the saucer section. It has it's gravity oriented so that it is "upside-down" in realtion to the other decks, making the bay doors on the hull "overhead" to the hangar bay.

Is the manual complete enough to explain what generates the gravity and/or where the mechanism is located?

Yes, IIRC, they basically expand on the explanation for gravity generation given in the TNG Technical Manual, and mention a "careful manipulation" of the system to achive the desired result. Pretty sure the book is out of print, but proably finadable on ebay somewheres.

ETA: These guys have a copy for sale: http://www.waynesbooks.net/?page=sh...=1&CLSN_1310=13103409111310860f7ce70a31cfd2b8

 

[Maverisms]

I was just looking at that section of the tech manual yesterday. I was pondering the thickness of a starfleet hull wrt to model I was making (~1 foot/0.3 meters).

Anyway, as I understand what the manual was saying, AG is generated by superconducting spinning disks. The effect generated moment to moment falls off rapidly, meaning the grav field has a range of about 30 meters.

The system doesn't require much power and continues to operate even if it has no power for up to 240 minutes.

Because it has an effect beyond 1 deck one must assume that every deck is not equipped with it's own gravity generation system.

Beyond that everything said by Mysterion is true according to the tech manual. The DS9 Tech manual indicated, however that Cardassians (At least wrt to DS9/Terok Nor) don't do it that way. They use mats of tiny grave generators and it is implied these are installed on every deck. This scheme would be more suitable to the idea suggested here as the gravity field fall off must be limited deck by deck. Cardassian generators also remain active even if unpowered but they dissipate their graviton generation in 48 minutes. However, they seem to do this with stored plasma rather than inerita, so it is possible to draw power from the grav mats and transfer it to other applications, suggesting that the gravity could be maintained for longer than the stated 48 minutes by effectively transferring gravity from other parts of the station.