Subject:
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Re: Hypothetical design question
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Mon, 23 Jun 2003 23:22:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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708 times
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In lugnet.space, Jonathan Mizner wrote:
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If I understand physics correctly, it doesn’t make a difference whether it is
the ship traveling at .9 c or the hydrogen atom. The energy released is the
same.
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That’s essentially correct. Two cars hitting each other head-on at 30MPH is
effectively the same as one car hitting a stationary vehicle at 60MPH.
Obviously the two accidents would not be perfect mirror images of each other,
but the level of damage will be similar between the two.
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Thus, that atom is effectively dealing far, far more energy than 1.5E-10
watts.
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How do you figure? It’s the smaller mass that determines the total energy
generated by impact, not the larger mass. A single hydrogen molecule traveling
at .9c does not cause more damage to a Star Destroyer than it would to an X-Wing
just because the ISD is bigger.
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Not to mention it will also have significant “drag” effects (not that it
matters if it vaporizes your ship first).
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One individual hydrogen molecule will not cause much drag on anything large
enough to fit a human inside, but hitting a whole mess of them (like travelling
through a nebula) will result in accumulation of drag. It’s kinda like hitting
a brick wall one brick at a time. Without any means of increasing your speed,
it will eventually bring you to a standstill.
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Remember, E=mc^2 is only accurate for matter at rest.
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I thought the whole idea of the Theory of Relativity was to predict the behavior
of matter as it approaches the speed of light, not as it sits on the living room
couch scratching itself and eating potato chips.
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) I'm not sure on the physics, but we can assume either to be interchangeable; the ship impacting a motionless particle at .9c, or a particle at .9c impacting the ship. Kinetic energy is derived from mass and velocity. So it is, in effect, a (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.space, FTX)
| | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) You're right, though I read Jonathan's point as being that I didn't account for relativistic effects in the energy calculation, which is true. If I have the math right, the crossover point where the relativistic energy exceeds the rest mass (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.space, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) If I understand physics correctly, it doesn't make a difference whether it is the ship traveling at .9 c or the hydrogen atom. The energy released is the same. Thus, that atom is effectively dealing far, far more energy than 1.5E-10 watts. Not (...) (21 years ago, 23-Jun-03, to lugnet.space, FTX)
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