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Relativistic Travel.


daniel l.

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4 hours ago, p1t1o said:

snip

Yeah, it is a lot of nines, but I had to put that many to get into the blueshift-to-gamma ballpark.

Subterranean nuke is a tricky approximation, sure, but I have no idea how to calculate the penetration depth of the particle in question, so I just took a data point that was available to me.

As for the rest, of course, one approximation on top of another, but in each step I took took the less dangerous end of approximation, and rounded up or down towards a less cataclysmic scenario. In any case, I believe that 0,999999c is just as unachievable as 0,9c is.

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Probably you would calculate not a particle impact, but a heat power caused by the gas flow.
Kinetic energy of the interstellar hydrogen of known density heats the shield causing it to radiate the heat back to space. Power/Area = sigma * T4. So, you then find an established temperature for known gas density and speed.

 

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9 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

So, you then find an established temperature for known gas density and speed.

Yes, the problem being that at relativistic speeds, the "established temperature" is off the charts, far higher than the temperature at which any material will vaporize.

Particles moving at relativistic speeds are no joke.

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1 hour ago, Snark said:

at relativistic speeds, the "established temperature" is off the charts, far higher than the temperature at which any material will vaporize.

Unless it vaporizes at far lesser velocity than "relativistic". Need to calc.

Edited by kerbiloid
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8 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Unless it vaporizes at far lesser velocity than "relativistic".

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.  And there's no "unless".  Relativistic speeds are equivalent to a "temperature" many orders of magnitude higher than the temperature at which, for example, tungsten vaporizes.

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3 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Yeah, I don't think even a General Products hull could stand up to a being hit by a particle at relativistic speeds. And those are fiction!

Didn't they say a General Products hull could withstand anything but Antimatter?

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1 hour ago, daniel l. said:

Didn't they say a General Products hull could withstand anything but Antimatter?

Well, at about .875c, kinetic energy equals mass. And at .9999c, kinetic energy is nearly 70 times rest mass.

So... it doesn't matter what the matter is made of. If it's moving at .9999c, it would only make a seventieth of a difference whether it's AM or normal matter.

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14 minutes ago, 0111narwhalz said:

Well, at about .875c, kinetic energy equals mass. And at .9999c, kinetic energy is nearly 70 times rest mass.

So... it doesn't matter what the matter is made of. If it's moving at .9999c, it would only make a seventieth of a difference whether it's AM or normal matter.

But this is a General Products hull we're talking about! :P It could fly straight into the sun and come out the other side!

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28 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

But a GP hull doesn't protect against EM radiation (unless coatings are applied to the inside). Or tidal effects

It's true that it cant protect the passengers from such things. But the hull itself remains fully intact. And as long as they have a stasis field, it's fine.

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