Re: Re FT-Forts

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard and Emily Bell <rlbell@sympatico.ca>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2001 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: Re FT-Forts

>
>
> Alister Crowe wrote:
>
> > I recenctly nipped into town and picked up the last model of B5 from
a
local
> > model store... its about 40 cm long, pretty cool looking and
features a
> > spiffy rotating section in the middle. I need to sit down and work
the
thing
> > out... I'm planning on using a 'sections' type design for it (ie you
have to
> > beat up certain sections to kill the thing), with 3 reactor centers
to
power
> > the vessel (ie the solar panels on either side and the reactor right
at
the
> > end).
>
> <Pedant>
> Those are not solar panels (more precisely, they shouldn't be solar
panels),
> they are radiator panels for whatever mechanism converts the heat
produced
by
> the fusion reactors into more useful forms of energy.  [Warning!
Physics
> bafflegab]  Their resemblance to solar arrays is due to the surface
treatment
> that allows them to go from strongly emissive (in shadow) to strongly
reflective
> (in sunlight) to maximise their blackbody radiation output and, hence,
minimise
> their temperature.  A fusion reaction at 10,000,000K and a cold
resevoir
at 5K
> allows even a physicist to construct a practically 100% efficient
system.
> </Pedant>
>
>

I`m shocked, some PSB that is actually based on science, you would get
thrown out of every trek meeting for saying things like this. What next,
a
movement system based on conservation of momentum, greatly simplified
for
game play? Oh, we already have that.