Just for the hell of it I started to make calculations on the pressure of
the jet. This might be the wrong method, but what the heck.
The ship weighs 684,000kg and accelerates with 19.62m/s2. This means
that the force acting on it will be 19.62 m/s2 * 684000 kg = 13.4 MegaNewton.
This requires an opposite force of the same magnitue.
The air pressure at terran sealevel is 101.325 * 10^3 Pascal. Pascal
is the same as Newton per square meter. So if we divide the force by the
air pressure we get the area over which the force inflicts exactly the
air pressure: 13.4e6 N / 101.352e3 N/m2 = 132.25m2.
That is a circle with 6.5m radius. Using Steves model for beam dispersion
(10km diameter on 50km range) this translates to 64.9m from the nozzle.
-bertil-
"I love the smell of Metrics in the morning"
- --
"It can be shown that for any nutty theory, beyond-the-fringe political view or
strange religion there exists a proponent on the Net. The proof is left as an
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