How gravity regulation works?
POSTED BY: CrevanReaver
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 23:48
VIEWED: 10797
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Quote:That’s true, but there is a speculative particle called a graviton, which mediates the gravitational force; the gravitational analogy of the electron, which mediates the electromagnetic force. If we assume that it exists, it might be possible to direct and focus it, since the electron can be directed and focused. Although, I personally doubt it. It’s all based on aesthetics. The idea that gravity must fall inline with a general symmetry in the universe. Although, I’m not an expert on this issue, I feel like gravity may very well be a separate issue from the other forces. The General theory may never be reconciled with the Standard theory.
Originally posted by AnObjectinSpace:
Gravitiational Force is the attraction of two bodies with a mass.
Edit: I see this has already been dealt with.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:
Originally posted by AnObjectinSpace:Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:Quote:How do you know?
Originally posted by AnObjectinSpace:
Gravity isn't something that can be put into a beam.
Gravitiational Force is the attraction of two bodies with a mass.
I don't necessarily agree. In General relativity, gravitation is not really a Force, but rather the manifestation of curved space and time. As such, light, while it has no mass, its own self, simply follows the curvature in space, generated by the mass-energy of the object in space it passes.
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
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Like much of the science in the Firefly 'verse, there's no real canon on how the technology works. We do have a few clues, though.
In the pilot, we see the ship's gravity being switched on after the crew enters the cargo bay with the "goods". So gravity (or something that closely mimics gravity) is highly controllable.
We see action taking place on many worlds, some of which seem to be rather small moons. Yet the gravity always seems to be Earth normal -- unlikely without some sort of modification. So gravity must be controllable on a planetary scale. Yet it can't make an actual change in the mass of the body, or it would foul up orbits in a big way. (Imagine our Moon suddenly having the same mass as the Earth!) So the effect must be a local one: it provides a 1-gee field for those close to the surface, but from a distance the effect is negligible.
We have some terminology. Kaylee mentions the ship's "grav drive" in The Message, and talks about how it can interact with a planets "actual gravity".
As mentioned above, we know that an operating main engine is not required to maintain ship's gravity, for several hours at least.
Given those things, it's safe to say that the gravity technology in the 'verse must be based on new discoveries in Physics, unknown to us today. It's also likely that these same discoveries are probably behind the technology of the spaceships like Firefly that can cover very large distances very quickly -- not to mention the ships that made the trip from Earth-That-Was.
It would be fun if Joss & Co. had had more time to reveal more details. One characteristic of good S/F is to define the available tech and its limits, and stay consistently within those limits. I don't expect Firefly to be especially "hard" S/F but I'd like to know if these details had been thought out, or if they were left to be developed later (or not at all).
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I'm pointin' right at it!
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Quote:Exactly. But still, what causes the localised warping of Space-Time and how?
Originally posted by asarian:
I don't necessarily agree. In General relativity, gravitation is not really a Force, but rather the manifestation of curved space and time. As such, light, while it has no mass, its own self, simply follows the curvature in space, generated by the mass-energy of the object in space it passes.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
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Interesting discussion. But still I ask: Does anyone else have a theory?
Does anyone else have a theory on how gravity regulation works?
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i think it works because filming low g conditions, or zero g conditions is prohibitively expensive *or it looks like crap* that's all the explanation i need.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Uriahone:
...that's all the explanation i need.
But it's not for us nit-picking geeks.
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Quote:
Originally posted by CrevanReaver:Quote:
Originally posted by Uriahone:
...that's all the explanation i need.
But it's not for us nit-picking geeks.
Lucky for all of us the 'Verse has room enough for both schools of thought. While I enjoy picking the nit out of almost anything, I try VERY hard not to impose an expectation on a story, show or movie that will impede my enjoyment of it.
I cannot but in the most basic way explain the processor that allows me to use this computer, however, I am connected by it to this wonderful website without me needing to know. I could read up on microprocessors and become fluent in the language of computer scientists, but I don't need to. I NEED to reach out to the 'Verse.
Do I need to know about gravitation regulation? Only that we have in in the BDS/BDM. Does it have to be in technical terms defined to the nth degree? No. If that were the case we could build one now. Does the team of creative minds that has brought us to this place have all the details worked out? I hope not. I think that much of the technology we see in Firefly was either assumed (you know it's a space opera in the future: there will be gizmos.) or created from necessity. (Something has to keep our feet on the floor of the ship; not magnetic boots or a spinning hull to create centrifugal force, both being cumbersome and distracting from the drama).
It's fun to speculate on this stuff. But if I don't have an answer to any technology I see, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I'll just bask in the electrons that convey the Signal to me.
"Well, here I am...Does that seem right to you?"
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I'm with you, JQ. For hard S/F I want hard science, but Firefly isn't hard S/F so I just relax and enjoy the great characters.
That being said...
If I had to speculate, I'd go for some sort of "gravity dust" that produces a highly local spacetime distortion when electrically charged. The locality is such that it has a much sharper falloff than inverse-squared, so using it doesn't make a moon look as heavy as a planet from a distance, just creates a "skin" of higher gravity -- maybe a couple hundred miles thick before it falls off to the natural background gravity.
To use it on a planet, you charge it up and drop it from space, like a crop duster on a planetary scale. It might take a year or two to get enough down to make the moon people-friendly. The stuff acts like it's very massive, so it sinks through any surface soil/regolith down to bedrock, so you don't have to worry about it going anywhere. It holds its charge like an electret, or (if you prefer) like the buried charge in Flash memory. Maybe it decays slowly over time so you have to reseed after a decade or two to maintain the grav field.
The local grav on Serenity uses the same principle, except you have the ability to charge and discharge it at will using an electrical field. (You can even control different areas of the ship, such as the cargo hold, independently.) The engine has to work to switch the grav on and off, but the grav dust holds the charge for a long time if you don't switch it deliberately so you don't instantly lose grav when the engine shuts down. You do have to switch it off in a controlled way as you land on a planet, though, or else you'd weigh double aboard ship. Hence the potential for a bumpy ride as you reenter.
There, how's that for a fanwank? (Note to Joss: I'm available as a science consultant/continuity checker for the Big Damn Sequel.)
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I'm pointin' right at it!
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Gravity regulation? Same physical principal as the Heisenberg compensators in Trek transporters:- "Very well, thank you!" 
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