I should look before I leap...

A thread of 2 messages, 15 January 1991 to 16 January 1991, in the order they were sent.

#2077 I should look before I leap...

Mark F. Cook · 15 January 1991

Based on my subject line, maybe I'd better start running Vargr
characters. :-)

Regarding my post about black globed ships slamming into planets and
overloading, I guess I should have read a bit further into the MT BBS
on GEnie before proposing MY brilliant inspiration, to wit:

- - ------------------
Category 11,  Topic 10
Message 194       Sun May 13, 1990
M.MIKESH                     at 16:53 EDT

 Subject: Black Globes

 Joe -
      <Of course, one thing everyone has been assuming is that the
 ship/energy sinks onboard the space vessel with the black globe could
 absorb all this energy that the vessel gathered when it entered an
 atmosphere.>
      True.  We've just been talking in theory so we can develope a
 better understanding of what's going on.
      <In actuality, I see the energy sinks of the owning vessel going
 into an overload condition if it enters a world's atmosphere.>
      You're right.  I just ran through the equations, and what I found
 was that the energy in de-orbiting and that which a J-1 ship could
 absorb was well over 10 million times in difference.
      The scarry thing about this was that the lion's share of the
 energy was in the form of potential energy ( E=mgh ).  This means that
 a globed ship had best stay away from a planet.  A slight change in
 depth to a gravity well could spell doom.
- - ------------------

Well, at least it's nice to know I think along the same lines as the MT
designers, huh?

                "Here's the next plant for your collection, Turin.  It's
                 a Pharosian Bitching Cactus.  Where do you want it?"
                        "...MY NEEDLES ARE TOO DRY...MY POTTING SOIL
                         ISN'T SANDY ENOUGH...THIS POT IS TOO SMALL,
                         I'M GETTING ROOT-BOUND...IT'S TOO DARK IN HERE..."
                "...put it in the airlock."
                                [paraphrased from my MT campaign]
Later,

        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        [address removed]

INTERNET: [email removed]
          [email removed]

#2080 Re: Black globes and gravity

Adrian Hurt · 16 January 1991 · reply to #2077

Mark F. Cook [email removed] writes:
>
> A)  Black globes cut off gravity.  If you turn one on while in orbit
>     around a large body (i.e. planet), you suddenly take off in a straight
>     line, tangetial to that body.

Does the theory about gravitons apply in Traveller?  If so, how's this for
a perpetual motion machine?

1. Vehicle with black globe sits at a certain height.  Globe is off.  Vehicle
falls.
2. Vehicle switches on its globe.  Vehicle now takes off as described above,
and also absorbs the gravitons.
3. Vehicle shuts off globe, uses some of the energy absorbed to move along
back to its previous position, and beams the rest at the planet.
4. Go to 1.

In another article, Mark F. Cook [email removed] writes:
>       You're right.  I just ran through the equations, and what I found
>  was that the energy in de-orbiting and that which a J-1 ship could
>  absorb was well over 10 million times in difference.
>       The scarry thing about this was that the lion's share of the
>  energy was in the form of potential energy ( E=mgh ).  This means that
>  a globed ship had best stay away from a planet.  A slight change in
>  depth to a gravity well could spell doom.

How far away must it stay from the planet?  The further it gets away,
the more potential energy it gains, as h in the above equation gets
bigger.  Meanwhile, it's losing potential energy as it gets closer to
something else, e.g. a star 2 parsecs away.

- - --
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   [email removed]