TML::>BTW, is fuel liquid or compressed gas?
Based on what I've seen in ship designs, and based on what would
make sense, fuel has to be in liquid form.
First, the design issue: Many designs that I have seen plans for
indicate that there are surge baffles _in_ the fuel tankage. If
fuel were compressed gas, baffles wouldn't be needed. But, as the
level of liquid in the tanks drops, the potential for sloshing
grows. The baffles prevent the sloshing from getting too out of
hand and perhaps doing damage somewhere or other (turning as he
watches the bulkhead rupture...).
Second, the "what makes sense", which is partially based on one of
the thing I learned in high school physics: With the exception of
a few strange compounds like dihydrogen monoxide (Water), the solid
form is always the form whose bulk is the least. If you try to
compress a gas to the same volume, it'll collapse to a liquid well
before that point, and to a solid at the volume. However, managing
a replenishable solid fuel is rather awkward, so liquid is normally
accepted, as it is easier to manage, yet with a relatively small
volume.
J/
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