[GZG] Batteries and CG

On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 11:30 PM, 
<gzg-l-request@mail.csua.berkeley.edu> wrote:

>> If it's that dangerous, they wouldn't be in common usage except for
>> applications where they had NO choice whatsoever.  No one is going
to
>> want effective hand grenades in the flashlight his kids take camping.
>> And that would be something that WOULD have a centrally located
>> manufacturing process (presuming, of course, they are rechargeable)
>> because of the safety/security considerations.
>
> Your point is well taken, but I think it's a matter of relative
danger.
> We don't see what it takes to force a md battery to critical failure.
> It could be harder than a car-crash.  We drive cars with 15-20
gallons of
> gas around all the time.

Very true.

> John, have you given any thought about the mini fuel cell technology
that
> might make it into consumer technology?  It would be like a ethanol
powered
> flashlight...

Nope.  As long as my electronic doohickys work, I don't care what sort
of batteries they run on, as long as I can get said batteries when I
need them.

>> 1: Contra-grav.  The way it has always worked in my brain (mine, I
>> decline to speak for anyone else--but I'm pretty sure this is how it
>> works in Marc Miller and Frank Chadwick's brains too) is that within
>> the 'envelope' of a CG suspension, the planet's gravitational pull is
>> cancelled out, so the limiting factor is how much stuff you can stuff
>> into that CG envelope.
>
> Okay. Unless you're cancelling the entire vehicle's mass though
> (Bergenholms?) to accelerate you still need to push your mass
> around. Outside an atmosphere, that's entirely dependent on mass
> and unaffected by volume.

Yes, and Yes.  But how much the energy expended in space travel is
getting it from point A to point B, and how much is expended in
getting it out of A's gravity well and controlling it's entry into
B's?  I'm not saying mass is utterly irrelevant, but I am saying that
if space travel is economical enough to be commonplace, and economical
enough to be launching an invasion, you aren't going to be worried
about a couple kilos here and there.

>> 4: I'm also presuming that FTL drives, when engaged, pull along
>>  things within a certain volume, not up to a certain mass limit.
>
> Would this lead to spherical ship design?

Perhaps, if there aren't other considerations.	Like the fact that
minis makers and gamers don't like 'em.  So you have to come up with
some PSB to fix that.

> If you have a Traveller-like 100 diameter limit for FTL, then
> mass will affect acceleration and how quickly you can get to
> a safe jump point.

And if you don't, you don't have organized political bodies very long. 
:)

John
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani
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