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Silverbullet wrote:Inertial dampers. What in Hell are they.

Inertia is the property of matter that resists a change in velocity (an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted on by a force). The more matter in an object (mass), the more force required to start or stop it (acceleration). The force required is proportional to the product of the two (Force = mass times acceleration.) In other words, an object of 1 kilogram travelling at a speed of 10 meters per second would have to be acted on by an acceleration of 10 m/sec^2 (approximately 1 gravity) to come to rest in 1 second. That's a force of 10 newtons. It would need a force of 100 newtons to stop it in .1 seconds, and a force of 1000 newtons to stop it in .01 seconds. (the more powerful the force, the more sudden the stop.)

But remember, Force = mass times acceleration, so as mass approaches zero, so does force. A 1 Kg object moving at 10 m/sec requires a 1000 newton force to stop in .01 seconds, but a 1 gram object only 1 newton.

An inertial damper reduces the inertia of an object, which makes it look like a smaller mass to the forces acting on that object. So, in the example above, my inertially-damped 1 Kg object can be brought to a stop with very little force. No broken bones.

Too bad there is no known way in real life to do this...

That's why it's technobabble.

Alternately, a wizard did it.

Uh guys remember not all of us are geniuses in math and science. Some of us barely passed, so um what are we talking about?

WarpGirl wrote:so um what are we talking about?

Technobabble!

I'm sorry but it's headache inducing!

Knowledge of math and science is unnecessary to comprehend Trek math and science ... since Trek math and science is mostly pulled out of someone's fourth point of contact.

Well they do use some of the same vocabulary as math and science and I didn't even do well in that. I admit it, I'm bad at it. I wouldn't even be able to tell you what they get wrong. Although, I admit, I know when they screw up the medical stuff. But I like that. The only science I did well in school was biology. When it comes to physics and what not it's like Charley Brown's teacher. wha wah wah wah

WG, that is okay. I am a stranger in a strange land too. That is why I asked if an Engineer could explain things to me. Then I can pretend I understood.

SB

Okay this has gone majorly off topic...

WarpGirl wrote:Okay this has gone majorly off topic...

What, you have a problem with people pestering Trip to explain how Inertial Dampers work? It seems to me that is very much on topic.

Actually, I'd love Transwarp, Rigil, and Elessar to teach a masters course on how to write technobabble. However, I don't think Trip would mind explaining it all to someone. I think it would be his idea of FUN! If anything I can imagine people who aren't engineers wanting him to shut up if he really got going.

I suppose if Trek was a bit more realistic, some of the 'encounter of the week' episodes would be quite a bit shorter.


Opening credits, spaceships wooshing around and so on. Fade to show the inside of an alien spaceship. There are two figures in EVA suits. One of them is holding a scanner.

Phlox: There appears to be some sort of organic residue smeared over the forward bulkheads.
Trip: Yup, I guess their inertial dampers failed.

Closing credits.


Not really working, is it? Perhaps better if we suspend disbelief.

Putaro put this amazing post in the "Mary Sue" thread, and for those of you who stick strictly to the TnT board, I had to post it here...

Putaro wrote:Now, here is, I think, a key part of the "Mary Sue". One man's perfection is not everyone's perfection.

While you, as the author, may think of a character as "perfect" and some of the characters in your story may think of said character as "perfect" it is almost impossible that "everyone" will consider the character perfect.

So, Trip might think T'Pol is perfect. Does Corporal Cole?

One of the defining points for a "Mary Sue" is that everyone (or at least everyone who is "good") loves them and thinks they're perfect. It's just not realistic. That's not to say that someone has to be hated by at least one of your characters, but they will see some faults, or just be a little less "I love X"

I had to highlight that last part. Sometimes, good decent people have to nit-pick TnT.

WarpGirl wrote:Actually, I'd love Transwarp, Rigil, and Elessar to teach a masters course on how to write technobabble.

I write technobabble? Really? I generally hate technobabble and go out of my way to avoid it ... or thought I did...