Re: OFFICIAL - GZG: Vacuum and zero/low gravity combat…?

On 7 Feb 2016, at 19:23, Douglas Evans <devans@nebraska.edu> wrote:

> Well, Sam, as embarrassed as I am to use the term, that's a paradigm
shift for me.

To quote a Dilbert strip: "Was that the sound of a paradigm shifting
without a clutch?"  ;-)

> 
> However, a slight change and
> 
>> without atmosphere or gravity Clouds of Chaff will 
>> [continue to rise] for awhile 

I'm assuming that in zero/micro gravity then a chaff cloud would
continue to expand at whatever velocity it was chucked out in the first
place, so its area of effect would continue to get wider but sparser
until it was spread thinly enough to be ineffective.
In low (Lunar) gravity and vacuum it would, as noted, simply fall to the
ground.

Jon (GZG)

> 
> However, 'on the moon', it will either fall back, or escape [serious
'faster than a speeding bullet' trucking involved]. No 'hanging.'
> 
> Doug
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> ...
> Chaff (and any form of dust) will probably fall faster on the Moon
than on Earth. In an atmosphere, light particles are kept up by
collisions with air molecules. In a vacuum, they just fall straight
down. So even though the gravity is lower, dust falls faster.
> 
> See:
> 
> http://www.wired.com/2013/03/the-acceleration-of-moon-dust/
> ...
>