Recent content by Ishmael

I am no longer in Sussex, NJ that entry can be removed I moved to Oz 3 years ago

It seems to me that having such sharp and rapidly changing gravity gradients inside a ship would be very hard on the ship structurally. Perhaps a hack into the computer controls for such a thing could cause fluctuations that set up destructive harmonics within the hull causing the ship to shake...

Actually, the speed of sound is dependent on temperature, not density. ---------------------- speed of sound = sqrt ( 1.4 * 8.3144 * T * 1000 / M ) 1.4 is the adiabatic index for diatomic molecules ( that's over my head ) 8.3144 is the gas constant T is temperature in kelvin M is molar mass in...

That post seems to go with the following; hardpoints ~= vol_dtons^(2/3) * .093 * 'area mod' I use a slightly different method to find surface area*, but this is good too. * posted years ago on this board. https://sites.google.com/site/moukotiger/sf-rpg/rules/vehicles/hulls Like many people, I...

The extra armor thickness is used as decks and bulkheads, given the scaled up distances between decks and bulkheads in the larger version. I can no longer check how FF&S1 did things, but if it was as you say, then it is wrong, and it would imply that as ship mass approaches infinity, then the...

Structural considerations, actually. Consider doubling the size of a ship in each dimension... twice as long, tall, and thick, mass increases eight-fold ( assuming ship density remains constant ) load bearing area of the structure increases only four-fold. The larger ship can only handle half...

This might be helpful for determining that.... https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/168781/how-do-you-calculate-estimate-hypersonic-leading-edge-and-skin-temperatures

Only because Traveller has always ignored the square-cube law. Its the reason a Boeing 747 can't manoeuvre like a Zlin Acrobat. ( I really mean 'accelerate' as fast... not top speed )

imtu, I use laser rifles as target designators for guided sniper munitions. The guided sniper munitions might be SEFOP round scaled for anti-personnel fired from a remote mortar. Or it might be a guided kinetic round from a more conventional sniper rifle fired from a different location.

coincidentally, load stress capacity also scales alongside the square/cube law. Its why there are limits to how big something can be within a gravity field or under acceleration.

all this fuss over what appears to be the use of the square/cube law? sheesh. why not go further and apply it to the number of hardpoints too, seeing as you'll be estimating surface area after a fashion.

I had the idea that a ship's LS might scale in a way similar to Kleiber's Law. this might give an idea of power usage which could then be used to gauge roughly volume, cost and and mass. After all, LS and an organism's functions at basal metabolic rates are similar. It is a power function...

Technology can help mitigate the problems, but they won't solve the problems completely. Technology hasn't solved the 'sick building syndrome' yet, for example. But if someone wants to play 'technology-and-robots-solve-everything' in space. cool. btw, flush toilets of some sort have been...

why illogical considering that it has been true of closed-cycle ( subs and spaceships) conditions up to the present? "Another bad thing about living aboard the ISS is that every time someone farts or the like, that air has nowhere to go. Also, given the tight quarters and limited bathing...

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/11may_locad3/ OTU example for a stinky spaceship.... "The major fault of the type S scout/courier is its air system. Although of respectable quality for life support, it begins to smell after about three weeks of use. Thereafter, the...