And lo on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:49:42 -0000, Chambers  
<ben### [at] pacificwebguycom> did spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>> And lo on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:01:29 -0000, Tim Cook
>>> Why don't they make submarines, F-15s, heck, even trains large enough  
>>> that you can just waltz around freely?  Space is at a premium in just  
>>> about any vehicle.  You use as little as possible.
>>  No, it's down to weight and manoeuvrability neither of which apply to  
>> a spacecraft. In terms of fiction take a look at the Warhammer 40k ships
>> http://www.wargames.co.uk/Pending/Archive/May03/odds&sods/bfgcover.jpg
>
> Air resistance might not apply, but manueverability does.  Applying a  
> force to different parts of the ship will stress different sections in  
> different ways.  That's a whole lot of differences there!

Yes except what might be deemed 'travel' ships shouldn't be engaged in  
high stress producing maneuvers; those are reserved for the  
fighters/escorts/shuttles, which I agree need to be smaller.

> Besides which, weight is out, but mass is in.  So smaller is still  
> better.

No because a) although you need more oomph to get the ship moving/stopping  
that's a one-off cost and b) volume doesn't directly equal mass; if I  
increase the height of a room the only mass increase is in the walls and  
'air'.

Create a 7 unit cubic room with walls massing 1kg per square unit (all the  
same thickness). You're pumping it full of a gas that masses 0.1kg per  
cubic unit. So the mass of the initial room is 328.3kg. Now increase the  
height of the room by 1 unit and you get 361.2kg a ~10% increase in mass  
for a ~14% gain in volume. Make it all 8*8*8 and you get a ~49% volume  
increase for a ~32% mass increase.

Not that I'm saying 'Hey why not make all the rooms 300ft square' at some  
point you hit overkill, what I am saying is make the rooms the size they  
need to be for everyone to use them comfortably. So no ducking through  
doors or having a shared up/down ladder. It serves no purpose other then  
being able to use those surplus navy submarine doors.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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