In Defense of the Federation

[Master of Ossus]

The bit about the Soyuz astronauts is particularly interesting. If the recovery crews thought they were just asleep, the damage must obviously not have been too severe. Certainly not something which would be blatantly obvious from a large distance.

I've seen the video of that recovery and the team trying to resuscitate them. The only skin you could see what there faces, but those looked perfectly normal. Nothing discolored or bloody or burst.

I've seen it to. It was really tragic, and this may seem morbid but they didn't seem horribly mutilated by their ordeal. They did appear just about as they had in life.

[GeeYouEye]

My god, you're amazing. You don't know U/c? In retrospect, it's a bad example, E=MC^2, solved for M, is superior, but that doesn't excuse you not knowing high school physics.

U/c has only appeared in one context I've ever seen, and it ends up proving me right. That context is in time dilation, lorentz contraction, etc. where (gamma) = ?(1/(1-U^2/c^2)) (or whatever it is, I'm not going to go look it up), and that was in a rather old book. Newer ones have v instead of U.

And you're still wrong. Light has no mass, precisely because it travels at c, so (gamma) = ?(1/0), thus time dilation is infinite, lorentz contraction is infinite, and a whole host of other phenomena, relating to increase in relative vs. rest mass, etc., all of which adds up to light having no mass.

[GeeYouEye]

^ Those question marks should be the radical symbol, but since the software interprets opt-v as a ? instead...

[GeeYouEye]

Wrong. TNG phasers explode with the force of a firecracker ("The Hunted")

I must have missed something. Something like about where in "The Next Phase" a phaser explodes.

First, consider that in Kirk's time, a phaser on overload would have been enough to destroy half his cabin, or so he (or was it Spock) claimed. That's quite an energy release.

Second, consider that, given that 100 years have passed, and the Romulans are always out to have the most powerful guns, a disruptor on overload should have been able to do quite a bit more damage.

Hypocrite.

Perhaps I missed something again... like where I noted that TNG was 100 years later, and the Romulans are out to have the best weapons. Oh no, wait, I didn't miss anything that time, you did.

[GeeYouEye]

Oh, and one more thing (dang inability to edit). You can only use E=mc^2 if mass doesn't vary with velocity, which it does when you are talking about relativistic velocities.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

It's acceptable to take a 100 year old example and say the disruptor must be more powerful, but you cant' take a recent example and say it might not be more powerful? You say the Romulans want the most powerful weapon, but that's stupid. You should have enough firepower to acclompish the task-kill a man. Why would you need more?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

v and U are totally different.

[AdmiralKanos]

Oh, and one more thing (dang inability to edit). You can only use E=mc^2 if mass doesn't vary with velocity, which it does when you are talking about relativistic velocities.

Now you're just making a fool out of yourself. Energy and mass are inter-related; that is the whole point of E=mc^2, and it is part of the theory of relativity, which DOES apply at relativistic velocities. The distinction between mass/energy is destroyed in a black hole, for example.

Energy has a mass-equivalent, equal to E/c^2. In other words, 9E16 J of pure energy can be thought of as massless in the sense that there's no massive particles, but it creates a gravitational distortion in spacetime equivalent to 1 kg of mass.

You honestly should learn more about physics before you put your foot in your mouth so publicly. You are trying to replace a fairly simple theory (they can walk about, see, breathe, be affected by gravity, etc. therefore there is obviously some interaction, therefore a large enough, intense enough mass/energy phenomenon would affect a phased object) with one that requires one-way gravitational interaction and infinite quantities of what just happens to be human-breathable atmosphere permeating "phased space".

Your objections make no sense; the disruptor flash was weak even to those in phased space, hence should not be expected to be destructive to those in regular space. Your bizarre claim that explosion shockwaves are caused by the interaction of cold and hot air is simply meaningless from a physics standpoint; they are caused by a pressure front caused by rapid gas expansion; the shock front between the hot expanding cloud and the cool surrounding air is a symptom, not a cause. Your claim that light produces no gravitational effects defies the theory of relativity, which you ironically quote yourself but obviously do not understand. What are you trying to prove here? It is quite obvious that you are bluffing your way through talk of things you don't understand, because you don't want to concede the point.

[SirNitram]

My god, you're amazing. You don't know U/c? In retrospect, it's a bad example, E=MC^2, solved for M, is superior, but that doesn't excuse you not knowing high school physics.

U/c has only appeared in one context I've ever seen, and it ends up proving me right. That context is in time dilation, lorentz contraction, etc. where (gamma) = ?(1/(1-U^2/c^2)) (or whatever it is, I'm not going to go look it up), and that was in a rather old book. Newer ones have v instead of U.

And you're still wrong. Light has no mass, precisely because it travels at c, so (gamma) = ?(1/0), thus time dilation is infinite, lorentz contraction is infinite, and a whole host of other phenomena, relating to increase in relative vs. rest mass, etc., all of which adds up to light having no mass.

E=MC^2. Energy has no 'particles' in the sense of normal mass, but still has mass-equivalence. E=MC^2 can be solved for E, M, or C(Though solving for C is largely academic). Lorentz conraction never enters into it.

And how the fuck is the formula for light's momentum involved with this stuff? What I'm explaining is High-School stuff. U/c=m for energy. Of course, you've been thoroughly schooled by everyone else on this, but I wanted some closure.

[Ender]

The power generation technologies used on board Star Wars vessels are obviously incredibly advanced and almost ludicrously powerful, but they're not infinite. A Victory class Star Destroyer, for example, is capable of conducting a Base Delta Zero operation; however, it's considered impractical with this class as it uses up nearly forty percent of the ship's total fuel capacity. The Imperator class Star Destroyer, of course, is larger and more heavily armed -- however, it still has a finite fuel capacity.

BDZ is not a viable sustained military tactic -- if it was, building the Death Star would be rather pointless. The fact that the Empire *can* and *will* conduct such operations is a powerful deterrent, regardless of its practicality or lack thereof -- but in a do-or-die situation as the Federation faces, you just grit your teeth and accept the casualties.

Source for the 40% claim? I have never heard that before. Considering that the vic can go 4 yers before running out of supplies and an ISD can go 6, I really don't see any basis for your claim since it would only take a few seconds worth of it peak reactor output to produce the necessary energy that would be imparted.

[FaxModem1]

Gosh, all this from my notion to settle on Baku