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Frostys Virpio
KarmaFleet Goonswarm Federation
2487
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Posted - 2016.01.14 00:46:14 -
[31] - Quote
Sobaan Tali wrote:Frostys Virpio wrote: It's also much easier to design something that will project an object in a designated direction (any weapon with a projectile) than it is to design a system to project another object in a desired direction with the intent of that object being able to come to a stop without destroying anything. It is literally easier to design a free fall rocket than it is to design a rocket system with a living quarter in it that can come back to earth without following the law of gravity in it's purest form of "you will accelerate toward the core of the earth until you encounter an object solid enough to break your path"... It's not just a question of wanting to design just weapon. There are much more constraint to designing those good stuff. Whose fault it is that destroying things is so damn much easier than building/preserving them...
While I don't disagree with any of that, convenience has never been a very good excuse. My dad never let me get away with that when I was growing up, and thank God he didn't, he was right to stay on my ass about it. Preservation is always easier that destruction, no doubt. That doesn't suddenly shift the responsibility away from it, though. Anyways, I'll shut up from this point as I'm derailing. In fact, I wouldn't blame ISD for removing my posts in this thread, just wanted to get my point across I guess and got a little carried away. So, my apologies.
Convenience is a pretty good excuse for stuff A being invented before stuff B when stuff B need stuff A to happen with many additional constraint. We learned how to patch holes in the human body before we though about opening new holes in it to fix something inside. We have to complete the "move metal stuff with magnetic field" before we go for the "move useful things inside of a metal casing with a magnetic field". They made a weapon because it happen that slinging metal at really high speed in a direction has an application in military. That also mean the military funded that part of research and we are done with that step that much faster than if it had no application for them. |
Nafensoriel
KarmaFleet Goonswarm Federation
257
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Posted - 2016.01.14 05:09:01 -
[32] - Quote
Hal Morsh wrote:Nafensoriel wrote:Space travel has very little to do with politics and more to do with trying to replicate a biosphere that wont suffer cascade failure for decades or centuries. This is why we are massively interested in FTL solutions.
In short.. if the speed of light is as fast as we are ever going to travel all space flight systems must exist for the long haul. This isnt easy. Cryo isnt remotely a thing or even possibly a thing. This means generation ships. Fixed "earths" with a minute fraction of the biosphere packed into a synthetic hull... without a handy star nearby to power them. This is such a massive and scary task it will literally crush your intellect when you start diving into it. And no.. regardless of what you hear on the news we do not understand the biosphere or weather systems well enough to predict them efficiently. The whole AGW debate is a prime example of this.. its an arena of 15% real scientists, 75% scientists who have lost their objectivity, and 10% nutballs or politically purchased opinions. (and no im not saying AWG doesn't exist. It does. Dont be stupid. Just that there is a massive sh*tton of bad science being thrown around right now on both sides)
Additionally nuclear tech has been so hobbled that our one true ticket to the stars isnt socially acceptable yet. People today hear the world "nuclear" and think the old 1970s terribly designed barely controlled bombs that we used to call reactors. Modern material science has made things so utterly safe that you can hit one with a 350 car freight train and have it survive intact and safely functional. Even the radiation concerns are laughable.. you dump more radiation into the atmosphere burning coal than you do using a modern reactor.
It also doesn't help that wind and solar are jack and useless outside of a solar system ;). So kids... want eve to be real? Scream yell and support your local nuclear(unless its a local US plant... jesus christ get rid of thoses things already and build some CANDUs. I think Monsanto has proven human stupidity with science well enough in modern times. It would also help a whole lot if things like the Fukashima disaster stopped happening. ~snipsnip~. That particular disaster had absolutely zero to do with the suggested design of the plant or the quality of the science or engineering being done. It was a purely political clusterf*ck of bad management by people who know about as much about a nuclear reactor as a dog. That said that is a problem all in itself and yes a very real one. The actual disaster was incredably tame and low impact.. Most of the areas affected are perfectly livable now(the human body has an amazing ability to handle radiation..)
As to monsanto.. Well i know several people there. For all the terrible decisions made by accountants and businessmen.. the science being done in their labs has positively impacted pretty much the entire worlds set of lives. Science is kinda weird like that.. As much as people try to abuse what we create.. the science itself, on the majority, is good and done by people who actually want to discover new and beneficial things.
Both companies bad businessmen have done their part in ruining public perception about very critical paths of discovery though.. and that in itself is a terribly and disgustingly sad story all its own.
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Pookoko
Sigma Sagittarii Inc.
137
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Posted - 2016.01.14 08:05:12 -
[33] - Quote
In the armed forces & defense industry you are always looking to identify potential threats, and the new weapons are often developed to counter such potential threats. Of course this goes in cycles because one nation acquiring a new technology means that other nations need to develop counter to that technology, and so on and so on.
I understand there are people who resent the idea of investing into technology for destruction, but sometimes you need to possess destructive power to stop someone else from trying to destroy you.
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Zozoll Neblyn
Ziggurat Forge
11
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Posted - 2016.01.15 00:43:57 -
[34] - Quote
Hal Morsh wrote:I came to this about EVE when trying to figure out how they fire aluminum. Because it ain't magnetic.
I imagined this is really just that "electrical Jacobs ladder" (science toy) turned into a weapon.
Electromagnetism is a different thing from natural magnetism. A moving electron always creates a magnetic field, so if you can get a bunch of electrons all moving in the same direction through a wire, there will always be a magnetic field around that wire.
Magnetism gets created a lot of different ways, so it can be confusing when you're familiar with one kind of magnetism and then someone starts talking about another. I mean: it's always the same effect, but sometimes results from different causes.
The reason the projectile usually vaporizes is because a very strong electrical current is running through it. Any material, except a superconductor, that has a strong electric current running through it will heat up. (But superconductors respond wierdly to magnetism so a railgun might not work with them.) That's how the burners on an electric oven work. It's also how lightbulbs work. The wire in the filament of a lightbulb is usually made of tungtsen, and it radiates bright light from it for no other reason than because it is super hot.
The projectile completes the circuit between the two rails, so it has a lot of electric current flowing through it. It only continues to accelerate so long as that is true. If it transitions to liquid form or vaporizes or something, and no longer can complete the circuit, then it can't continue to accelerate. |
Chekov Nikahd
Viziam Amarr Empire
0
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Posted - 2016.01.15 06:16:01 -
[35] - Quote
Mephiztopheleze wrote:Hal Morsh wrote:So if high boiling points are usefull, Does hybrid ammunition in EVE have high boiling points. Would it relate? They are all at plasma based on the descriptions, and some of them are things like "Iron" and "Tungstun"..... Just FYI: Tungsten has the highest boiling point of any element at a whopping 5,555C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TungstenWhich is why it's suitable for use in orbital kinetic bombardment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment and such projects as the Rod From God and it's been used in Discarding Sabot tank shells for yonks and yonks.
It's suitable in the mentioned circumstances because of its density.
Depleted uranium is also used as a penetrator because of its density, self sharpening capability, and the fact that once cut into small enough pieces it spontaneously combusts.
The reason you'd want something with a high melting point in a railgun - I can only surmise is in case of plasma arcing when you have current running across gaps between the armature holding the bullet and the rails.
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Nafensoriel
KarmaFleet Goonswarm Federation
257
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Posted - 2016.01.15 13:25:46 -
[36] - Quote
Partially correct. In both General Atomics and BAEs railgun prototypes use a shuttle containing the physical round. This is for two reasons: 1] The round itself MUST be aerodynamic for high velocity flights. A standard bullet shape is insufficient. This is why railgun "rounds" typically look like the old scifi space ship rockets. Its a basic design to handle high velocity atmospheric flight. To keep things short just assume that the faster you go the more the substance you are moving thru becomes water(in atmosphere) or atmosphere(in space). Air=water for purposes of flight. Only significant difference is amount of "water" you can push over flight surfaces for control or lift and how much stress the frame will suffer in movement. For railguns the round is subjected to enough stress to physically melt and deform the shell itself during natural flight.. Hence the reason for strange materials and launch shuttles. The latter is more used to keep weaker but magnetically optimal materials out of the shell since they are no longer needed after the launch and end of the acceleration phase.
2] DU and other heavy dense metals are used for railguns less for their traditional penetration power and more for their natural resistance to deformation and ability to operate at extremely high stress and temperature. It's cheap, simple, and effective Expected velocities and energy of battle ready naval railguns automatically gain a penetration effect due to the speed they are traveling. Anything they hit will have a sudden and massive conversion to gas at the impact point and the round has a similar effect to a traditional RPG by nature of physics.
Current railgun designs skirt the magical high energy part of physics where a nuclear physicist friend of mine once said: "**** gets weird and everything blows up!". |
Logan Revelore
Symbiotic Systems
77
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Posted - 2016.01.16 11:25:16 -
[37] - Quote
The challenges with a working plasma weapon in atmospheres is maintaining the integrity of the magnetic field holding the ionized mass together while it travels towards its target. In space, you don't necessarily need a magnetic field, even though that could provide for higher densities of mass. |
Zozoll Neblyn
Ziggurat Forge
11
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Posted - 2016.01.16 14:31:52 -
[38] - Quote
I wasn't going to go into this part, but then suddenly I remembered that this is Eve, and nearly everyone here knows math. So there is no need to hold back on that stuff.
Magnetic force is the cross product: " qv X B" B, is the magnetic field strength. q is the charge (usually an electron). V is the speed that charge is moving.
Basically, the strength of the field itself, multiplied by the speed that an electron in that field is moving in a perpendicular direction to the field.
So the electron needs to be moving in a direction that is sideways to the magnetic field, and the faster the electron is moving the stronger the force the magnetic field pushes on it with. Or pulls. That depends on which direction it is moving sideways at (using the "right hand rule" which I won't go into right now.)
Railguns are based on the fact that both things matter. Both the strength of the field matters, AND the speed the electrons are moving at in a sideways direction. So the electric current flowing through the projectile itself is EXTREMELY important to this effect.
As you run electric current at high speed through the projectile, that and that alone, is sufficient to heat it up (even if it weren't actually moving anywhere at all) As the projectile heats up, it loses conductivity. When it liquifies, the circuit breaks altogether. |
Mercur Fighter
Black Aces I N F A M O U S
4
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Posted - 2016.01.16 20:10:23 -
[39] - Quote
I think Faster than Light travel and huge combat spaceships will eventually be implemented...... like the Alcubierre Drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive
Because most things from science fiction 50 - 60 years ago has become true today. A few decades ago, combat lasers and rail guns were only science fiction, but now they are operational.
So I think quite a few number of things in science fiction today are gonna be true a few hundred years from now.
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Hal Morsh
Hmmzor.
487
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Posted - 2016.01.18 02:00:54 -
[40] - Quote
Logan Revelore wrote:The challenges with a working plasma weapon in atmospheres is maintaining the integrity of the magnetic field holding the ionized mass together while it travels towards its target. In space, you don't necessarily need a magnetic field, even though that could provide for higher densities of mass.
Plasma cutters shoot gas or liquid around the arc (separate) as a shield. I've read into plasma stuff and there is talk of atmosphere containment fields, so I assume it's in the works. I can't imagine plasma would be anything more than a fancy flamethrower as a weapon. Lots of burnt people.
I do remember reading rumors of melted things in the Middle East and expirmiental weapons, but all I heard was rumors off google or some video years back. Google turns up... Not much besides Israel using white phosphorus and some really nasty shrapnel bombs.
Dun'Gal > Hal is simply an imperfect ai, though if drunkeness ever gets programmed into ai's I foresee both a hilarious and tragic end to humanity.
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Hasikan Miallok
Republic University Minmatar Republic
1849
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Posted - 2016.01.18 02:20:51 -
[41] - Quote
Mercur Fighter wrote:
So I think quite a few number of things in science fiction today are gonna be true a few hundred years from now.
And a few such as the "beam me up Scotty" matter transporter in Star Trek are unlikely to ever be possible.
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Logan Revelore
Symbiotic Systems
79
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Posted - 2016.01.18 18:55:07 -
[42] - Quote
Mercur Fighter wrote:I think Faster than Light travel and huge combat spaceships will eventually be implemented...... like the Alcubierre Drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive Because most things from science fiction 50 - 60 years ago has become true today. A few decades ago, combat lasers and rail guns were only science fiction, but now they are operational. So I think quite a few number of things in science fiction today are gonna be true a few hundred years from now.
There's a difference in what's unlikely and what's physically impossible though. Also remember that 50 years ago man were just beginning to explore techcnology still. As we get further along, the less likely it will be that anything we can come up with in sci-fi will be actually possible in our current universe with the given rules we play by. |
Nafensoriel
KarmaFleet Goonswarm Federation
259
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Posted - 2016.01.18 20:20:50 -
[43] - Quote
Bah.. Dont fall into that trap. It was done in the 60-80s and its being done now. Science is about questions and disbelief. The latter being extremely important. If you believe you know everything you will never question anything new. Questioning things we "know to be fact" is one of the most basic ways in which we find new tangents of science to dive into!
True physics itself is a fairly hard wall but now that we are dabbling into the quantum more and more successfully and starting to turn something which has generally been seen as a form of practiced insanity into a full on recorded science I bet every picosecond of my experience that you aint seen nothing yet.
Also don't discount rednecks. I'm dead serious. The moment you give a redneck some spare nuclear reactors and access to NASAs junk yard is the moment you'll hear the phrase "hey yall watch this" as FTL is born. Unbiased curiosity and dedicated to seeing a project "get done" are the giant hands that push us forward.
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Mercur Fighter
Black Aces I N F A M O U S
4
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Posted - 2016.01.19 15:23:46 -
[44] - Quote
Nafensoriel wrote:
Also don't discount rednecks. I'm dead serious. The moment you give a redneck some spare nuclear reactors and access to NASAs junk yard is the moment you'll hear the phrase "hey yall watch this" as FTL is born.
Or the entire city could be leveled :) But there is a price to pay for all advancements!
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Nana Skalski
Poseidaon
3283
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Posted - 2016.01.21 08:02:55 -
[45] - Quote
Mercur Fighter wrote:Nafensoriel wrote:
Also don't discount rednecks. I'm dead serious. The moment you give a redneck some spare nuclear reactors and access to NASAs junk yard is the moment you'll hear the phrase "hey yall watch this" as FTL is born.
Or the entire city could be leveled :) But there is a price to pay for all advancements! I think they would rather take apart the cooling and use the rest of plant, and especially reactor block as very efficient barbecue party meeting field. The water from cooling would be redirected to big mud bath basins.
( -á° -ƒ-û -í°)/ GòáGò¼GòªGò¼Gòú - my sandcastle
( -á° -ƒ-û -í°)/ <=X - my yacht
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