Re: To Grav or not to Grav?

"Bell, Brian K (Contractor)" wrote:

> Grav is gee-whiz tech, so you can model it in quite a few ways.On
Fusion
> Power, fusion provides a lot of power. However, Grav units use a
> LOT of power. And they use it all the time they are operational. They
use it
> hovering, moving and firing. Also, many of the weapons (HELs, MDC) use
a
> HUGE amount of power (hence the powerplant limitations). It is
reasonable to
> assume that a Grav unit would need fresh fuel packs as often as a
chemical
> tank would need fuel.

This is the real problem with a grav unit.  One of the curious aspects
of the
Universe is Reciprocity:  All interactions except globally increasing
entropy
are reversible.  Given that gravity affects light (EM fields), EM fields
must be
able to affect gravity.  Everyone jump for joy, grav units are not
outside the
bounds of psb.	Unfortunately, given that the coupling between gravity
and EM
fields is very weak (it takes a very large star to bend light a small
amount),
the magnitude of the EM fields necessary to resist gravity will be very
large.
Although EM fields are 10^42 times stronger than gravitic fields
(comparing
amount of charge and amount of kilograms to get the same effect), expect
grav
tanks to go through liquid hydrogen faster than gallons per month.