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Mon Palae
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Posted - 2004.04.16 16:17:00 -
[1]
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Uh, Isaac Newton's physics have a maximum velocity just like EVE does. And it applies just as much in real life. The maximum velocity of a spacecraft is limited to exactly twice the speed of the thrust.
I don't think this is correct.
In space as long as you apply a force (thrust in this case) you get constant acceleration.
NewtonÆs Second Law
The Law of Acceleration
The acceleration of a body is proportional to and takes place in the direction in which the force acts and is inversely proportional to the bodyÆs mass.
Acceleration = Force/Mass
Nothing in that to suggest any limitation.
Newton's Third Law
The Law of Reaction
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
So, as long as there is a thrust being applied (action) there is acceleration of the object (reaction).
If we add time into the equation we get impulse. The application of force over a period of time shown simply by the equation:
Impulse = Force * Time
All of that said there are indeed limits. On earth with friction (air resistance for instance) you reach a point where the acceleration force is cancelled by the resistance...as seen in skydivers reaching terminal velocity.
In space if you get going really fast relativistic issues come into play in a noticeable way (they are always there...just far too small to be noticed till significant speed is reached). You have to fall back on Einstein's equations then to get a correct answer for acceleration (NOTE: Einstein's and Newton's equations mostly agree at 'normal' speeds. Where they diverge in our daily experience is at degrees of precision few if anyone ever need worry about much less notice. Hence Newton's equations work very well and are much easier to manage than Einstein's as only rare cases require the greater precision. Again it is only at significant fractions fo the Speed of Light that the 'small' differences grow to become quite noticeable.)
Of course, the Speed of Light is the ultimate speed limit.
As to EVE being not 'true' to physics be glad it isn't. In addition to other good points here faster than light travel, no matter how you do it, implies time travel. You would get wierdness like a Tachyon Cannon (tachyons are hypothetical FTL objects) striking their target before they were fired  . There are many other such implications (like selling minerals before you mined them) best left aside for teh sake and fun of the game.
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Mon Palae
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Posted - 2004.04.16 18:12:00 -
[2]
Quote:
Acceleration based physics might seem more realistic, however you cannot accelerate infinitly unless you also have an infinite amout of energy with which to increase your rate of acceleration. Hence, you hit an effective speed limit and stop accelerating.
Yes and no.
There is no "speed limit" at all except for the speed of light. Nevertheless you can accelerate forever. Always approaching but never quite reaching the speed of light (it is here that relativity is in full swing and to an outside observer you will be accelerating at an ever decreasing rate...from your perspective all is normal...well actually the universe outside your window will look pretty strange but unless you somehow know better that would be 'normal' to you).
Of course, forever is a long time. As you mentioned nothing carries an infinite amount of energy to do this. The point however is that as long as you are applying a thrust to your ship you will accelerate. If you run out of gas then no more thrust and no more acceleration.
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Mon Palae
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Posted - 2004.04.16 19:01:00 -
[3]
Quote:
Also, I'm of the mind the the top "Speed Limit" is the Speed of Time, not light...
Now... let THAT bake your noodle.
Well...yes. They are intertwined. If you reach the speed of light then time stops. Pretty hard limit to imagine breaching.
Imagine you have you Super-Duper Light Speed ship. Hit a button and you accelerate to light speed instantly. On the first test you just want to see what will happen so you plan to hit the button to go to light speed and then hit the button to shut it off as fast as you can.
You hit the button and reach light speed...you never ever get to turn it off. The universe itself will come to an end before you turn it off. Time has stopped for you, the universe has compressed to a line with no width (2 dimensional) and you have infinite mass (hence infinite energy too) and are everywhere in the universe at once.
As you can see going that fast is problematic.
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Mon Palae
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Posted - 2004.04.16 22:07:00 -
[4]
Edited by: Mon Palae on 16/04/2004 22:09:32
About space 'vacuum' and Bussard Ramjets:
Space...even deep space...is not empty at all. Average density of deep space is about 1 hydrogen atom (almost all hydrogen out there) per cm3. That number obviously can vary up and down but that's about what you will get. That is not very much at all but neither is space empty. How fast a ship would have to move to be able to scoop enough hydrogen to be useful in an engine is beyond my math but you can get an idea if you think of the billions of atoms in no more than a thimble-full of, say liquid hydrogen, and then multiply how many centimeters you need to cross to get even that meager amount collected. Likely you will need a big magnetic field to collect from a wide area and a pretty high speed before you scoop enough to even so much as pay for the energy expenditure (running the magnetic field for instance) to collect it in the first place.
Then of course you have virtual particle pairs (particle and anti-particle) popping in and out of existence all over the place as a side effect of quantum theory. We don't notice this because they are formed and annihilate on the order of Planck Time but Stephen Hawking postulated that this effect could actually make a Black Hole glow (Hawking Radiation). For a stellar mass black hole the energy emission is very very low...below the cosmic microwave background...so it likely will never be detected unless someone gets around to visitng one in person. A small (or micro...say about the size of a basketball) black hole on the other hand would glow like the sun and emit tons of energy. How one would form such a mini black hole is hard to imagine but there is nothing that says such a thing can't exist (micro black holes may have existed in the very earliest moments after the Big Bang).
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