NOT A BUG: Reaction wheels don't care where they're mounted

[Snark]

17 hours ago, silbrulf said:

Can someone send me a "for dummies" explanation or link please?

Not sure exactly what it is that you'd like to understand-- there's plenty of fertile ground for helpful explanation here , but would be helpful to get a more specific idea of what you're after.

Are you looking for:

1. practical KSP gameplay advice?
2. a bunch of physics equations, so you can work out the math yourself?
3. a simple, plain-English explanation of how reaction wheels work?
4. something else?

If you're after #1, @FleshJeb provides a pretty good answer immediately above.

If you're after #2, well, we can certainly have that conversation, but didn't want to start down that road unless that's really what you're after. 

If you're after #3, there's already a fair amount of that in this thread already.  Here's a general discussion of how reaction wheels work, along with a discussion of angular momentum and the conservation thereof (in particular, the important difference between reaction wheels and using monopropellant).  Further discussion with various other people, which can be summarized as "yes, I really mean what I just said, and I understand you just fine, but you're wrong", here and here and here and here.

Or if you're after something else, that would be...?

(Oh, and may I say, "welcome to the forums!" too.)

[silbrulf]

On 5/4/2017 at 10:50 AM, Snark said:

Not sure exactly what it is that you'd like to understand

tbh... i have an "intuitive" understanding of physics. Formulae confuse me to no end, but i understand Einstein (and yes, I know what he said about explaining science to a child, lol). Basically, I can build a rocket or a plane and have it fly, and fly properly, until the formulae kick in. Usually when an aircraft is needing to land and i realize that "flaps" and aerilons aren't really flaps and aerilons, or when the rocket hits thinner air and the aerodynamics change at each stage... not a big deal since i can use what i know to get into orbit and back and had two seperate command pods manage an unpowered flyby/return of the mun (it was NOT fun, lol... but talk about a sense of accomplishment). But the tweakables and how to do the seemingly simple math to use them, is beyond me. thats kindof what i need the help with... I get thrust limits and fuel capacity (lower thrust=lower acceleration+longer burn time, awa reduced lifting capacity and potentially higher final velocity, if done properly), but control surface stuff=?, and... basically a friend bought the game for me off gog, then emailed me the installer and said "have fun". that was a while ago and i never really played much more than to see if i could turn my kerbals into icbm fodder. so im entirely new to the game on 1.2.0.15something-or-other and im actually starting to get interested... especially seeing the mods available (already using halfrss...)

i basically just need the basics for tweakables and a quick-n-dirty course on Kerbaldynamics(?)... the rest i can figure out fairly well.

 

@FleshJeb I cant believe i didnt notice till now, but that actually answered that part of it... Id figured it out by the time id gotten logged back in, but thank you still. it did tell me where the rest of those RCS controls are though... lol

Edited May 17, 2017 by silbrulf
i was blind...