> 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
>
I don't have the book right here as I write this, but this as much of an
explanation as they give (and I remember :)...
Pournelle and Niven never went into the mechanics of the thing (maybe they
couldn't decide on a good explanation either? :). About all they gave was
a simple description of the effects.
Their Black Globe generated a solid field (more on this later)
which absorbed energy including kinetic (to a certain extent), photons (up
through x-rays at least) and so on. It did NOT absorb gravitons o(r whatever
particles the physcists have decided mediate gravity :). Therefore,
densitometers would still detect the ship. Bye the bye, I don't believe
the MOTE universe had densitometers sensitive enough to be used to detect ships
at ranges greater than other methods i.e. E-M spectrum.
The MOTE B-G worked on relative velocities. That is the faster an object was
moving the more energy was absorbed. This stopped lasers cold. Also, missiles
moving fast enough to avoid anti-missile defenses (lasers) were also
stopped. Missiles moving slow enough to get through the B-G (something like
a few meters per second (maximum!) were sitting ducks for the anti-missile
lasers. However, at one point, a man fell off the ship and got his legs (?)
imbedded in the field. I believe he ended up with minor frostbite (because
the field absorbed some of the kinetic energy of his molecules) before they got
him out of it.
As stated earlier, the Black Globe generated a solid field which required
energy, of course. However, it required yet more energy to keep a hole open
in the center for the ship to occupy. I am not sure if traveller uses the same
mechanism or not (not yet having gotten around to ship design :). I don't
recall why you had to have the hole in the center, or what would happen if the
circuts which kept it open failed....probably something like total vaporization.
The MOTE B-G, unlike traveller, stored the energy it collected in the field
itself and acted as an ideal black body, radiating
excess energy into space. The globe radiated through the entire spectrumum
and when it got up to x-ray wavelengths, it wasn't far from collapse. But when
it collapsed, it radiated INWARD instead of outward. It was possible to
locally overload the field so that the entire ship wasn't destroyed, but I don't
think you could choose where the damage was taken.
That's all I remember, offhand. If someone sees any errors, post corrections or
more details.
Captain Sir Michael Talmoth UPP: BA5A8B
AKA Paul Baughman
AKA Unka Paul --> [email removed]
[email removed] or [email removed]
- ---------------------------
"You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars..."
I've been living on the edge so long where the winds of limbo roar" --BOC
"Mankind is possesed of an almost un-imaginably sensitive and delicate
instrument which it uses as a hammer or a club" -- Me.
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