Re: Gravity and Black Globes

> Why does the Black Globe have to act like a *barrier* to solid, high-speed
> objects?  More likely is that it absorbs all types of energy impinging on
> it, including kinetic energy.

> Result:  that salvo of missiles was just stopped dead in its tracks at the
> edge of the field, within whatever common reference frame you happen to be
> using for the combat.  There is nothing to prevent them entering the field
> thereafter if, for example, the ship using the globe moves toward them.

> Am I making sense?
> 8 )

Since I can't conceive of how a "real" black globe could possibly be
engineered, your suggestion makes as much sense as any other.

If we assume your suggestion is correct, then it would be easy to blow
up a ship by throwing enough mass at a high enough speed at the black
globe.  Shoot a heavy piece of ordinance at .9c at the black globe, and
watch the sparks fly!

Alternatively, you could keep the Black Globe installation on a ship a
secret.  Then, as the opponent brings his fighter or boarding ship in
for the kill, you wait for them to get closer, closer, closer, and turn
on the shield at the last minute.  WHAM! It's as if they just crashed
into an asteroid.  Hope your capacitors can handle the kinetic energy
and resultant fuel explosions aboard the incoming craft.

I would tend to think that letting a mass with large kinetic energy
strike the black globe is almost as useful as letting it strike the hull
of your ship.  CRUNCH!  Only it's worse because having the capacitors
explode is an internal explosion, whereas hull damage is external
damage.

If we really wanted to get carried away, we could assume "all energy"
means kinetic, radiant (E-M, Gravity, Nuclear) and potential energy.
This would mean that the binding energy of molecules, atoms, and
subamtomic particles is absorbed by the field.  Unfortunately, this
would cause everything that struck the field to act as if it were a
nuclear explosion, and the matter would disintegrate.  This doesn't seem
to match the intended game balance.

I'm getting tired of theorizing.  Does anybody have "The Mote in God's
Eye" by Pournelle and Niven (I think those were the authors)?  I would
sure appreciate someone searching for an explanation of what the original
black globe was.

James