Comments on: Revelations, but not enough http://www.butteredwaffles.com/butter/revelations-but-not-enough Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:26:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: binocular comparison http://www.butteredwaffles.com/butter/revelations-but-not-enough/comment-page-1#comment-461 binocular comparison Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:21:04 +0000 http://www.butteredwaffles.com/?p=25#comment-461 Sometimes the steadiest of hands aren’t steady enough. Sometimes the steadiest of hands aren’t steady enough.

]]> By: tom http://www.butteredwaffles.com/butter/revelations-but-not-enough/comment-page-1#comment-16 tom Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:17:26 +0000 http://www.butteredwaffles.com/?p=25#comment-16 If caprica and the other colonies didn't had lower gravity than earth, the humans would be taller than earth humans. I think that the planet is Earth. There is a theory that Kara Thrace caused the nuclear war when she found earth and then there was some sort of time flux that sent her back to the nebula. I'm not exactly sure, but that sounds plausible. If caprica and the other colonies didn’t had lower gravity than earth, the humans would be taller than earth humans.

I think that the planet is Earth. There is a theory that Kara Thrace caused the nuclear war when she found earth and then there was some sort of time flux that sent her back to the nebula. I’m not exactly sure, but that sounds plausible.

]]> By: Butter http://www.butteredwaffles.com/butter/revelations-but-not-enough/comment-page-1#comment-14 Butter Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:13:19 +0000 http://www.butteredwaffles.com/?p=25#comment-14 The strength of a planet's gravity is commonly measured in <i>g</i>'s, where one <i>g</i> is defined as the gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface. In metric units, that's 9.8 m/s². This value is actually very simple to visualize in concrete terms: it means that for every second that an object is in freefall, and neglecting air resistance, it will accelerate by 9.8 m/s. Thus at the end of every second it will be traveling 9.8 m/s faster than it was at the end of the previous second. (Of course, in an atmosphere, an object will eventually stop accelerating when air resistance, or drag, prevents it from accelerating any more; thus kittehs have been known to survive falls from dozens of feet.) A planet that's less massive than Earth will have a smaller gravitational acceleration at its surface; one that's more massive will have a larger gravitational acceleration. Mars is only about 11% as massive as Earth, so its gravitational acceleration is less: about 0.38<i>g</i>, or 3.72 m/s².* To see how all this relates to what we see on-screen in a sci-fi show, just think of the old Apollo footage of astronauts on the moon from the '60s and '70s. People and objects in a weaker gravitational field (lunar surface gravitational acceleration is about 0.17<i>g</i>) movie differently: people's walks are bouncier and projectiles go farther. A given force causes an object to go up farther and take longer to fall than the same force on Earth. Since the humans and Cylons seemed to be perambulating normally with no distress on the surface of the putative Earth, we can conclude that the gravitational acceleration there is similar to what they're used to on their homeworlds and onboard ship—assuming, of course, that we're meant to infer anything from this at all, and we're not just supposed to ignore it as part of suspension of disbelief. Probably the latter is true, which is disappointing, considering that Newtonian physics have otherwise been portrayed realistically in the show (cf. the Vipers and Raiders rotating on their axes in battle). The Cylon-human battle for Earth will probably come from Cavil's faction; remember that they're still out there somewhere. It'll be interesting to see if they still have any fight left in them now that they're mortal. And yes, TOS is standard among the Galactica fanbase for the original series; it's ubiquitous on <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org" rel="nofollow">Battlestar Wiki</a>, for example. ———————— *If you're wondering why it's not 0.11<i>g</i>, to match the mass, the answer is that it <i>would</i> be, if we were measuring it at the same radius from the planet's center. But for practical purposes, we're measuring it at the surface, and Mars's radius is less than that of Earth; thus being closer to the center of mass compensates somewhat for the reduction in mass. The strength of a planet’s gravity is commonly measured in g’s, where one g is defined as the gravitational acceleration at Earth’s surface. In metric units, that’s 9.8 m/s². This value is actually very simple to visualize in concrete terms: it means that for every second that an object is in freefall, and neglecting air resistance, it will accelerate by 9.8 m/s. Thus at the end of every second it will be traveling 9.8 m/s faster than it was at the end of the previous second. (Of course, in an atmosphere, an object will eventually stop accelerating when air resistance, or drag, prevents it from accelerating any more; thus kittehs have been known to survive falls from dozens of feet.)

A planet that’s less massive than Earth will have a smaller gravitational acceleration at its surface; one that’s more massive will have a larger gravitational acceleration. Mars is only about 11% as massive as Earth, so its gravitational acceleration is less: about 0.38g, or 3.72 m/s².*

To see how all this relates to what we see on-screen in a sci-fi show, just think of the old Apollo footage of astronauts on the moon from the ’60s and ’70s. People and objects in a weaker gravitational field (lunar surface gravitational acceleration is about 0.17g) movie differently: people’s walks are bouncier and projectiles go farther. A given force causes an object to go up farther and take longer to fall than the same force on Earth. Since the humans and Cylons seemed to be perambulating normally with no distress on the surface of the putative Earth, we can conclude that the gravitational acceleration there is similar to what they’re used to on their homeworlds and onboard ship—assuming, of course, that we’re meant to infer anything from this at all, and we’re not just supposed to ignore it as part of suspension of disbelief. Probably the latter is true, which is disappointing, considering that Newtonian physics have otherwise been portrayed realistically in the show (cf. the Vipers and Raiders rotating on their axes in battle).

The Cylon-human battle for Earth will probably come from Cavil’s faction; remember that they’re still out there somewhere. It’ll be interesting to see if they still have any fight left in them now that they’re mortal.

And yes, TOS is standard among the Galactica fanbase for the original series; it’s ubiquitous on Battlestar Wiki, for example.

————————

*If you’re wondering why it’s not 0.11g, to match the mass, the answer is that it would be, if we were measuring it at the same radius from the planet’s center. But for practical purposes, we’re measuring it at the surface, and Mars’s radius is less than that of Earth; thus being closer to the center of mass compensates somewhat for the reduction in mass.

]]> By: David http://www.butteredwaffles.com/butter/revelations-but-not-enough/comment-page-1#comment-9 David Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:30:11 +0000 http://www.butteredwaffles.com/?p=25#comment-9 "Unless, of course, Caprica and the other Colonial worlds all had Mars-like gravity, and adjusting to one g, instead of 0.38g, will actually be the problem," Wait, WUT? Basic science education-FAIL. Speaking of which, I haz a blog...No, won't. I'd like to think it's Earth, but the fact that we have a whole half-season to go doesn't bode well. We'll either need a massive Cylon-hooman battle for Earth or a few episodes of massive navigation-fail to get to where we needz to be. BTW, your use of TOS I understandz. but it does feel a little sacreligious. Should TOS be reserved for its only other, and quite obvious, reference: Star Trek: The Original Series? I'm sure Usenet has already resolved this, but the rest of us are still uneasy. “Unless, of course, Caprica and the other Colonial worlds all had Mars-like gravity, and adjusting to one g, instead of 0.38g, will actually be the problem,”

Wait, WUT? Basic science education-FAIL. Speaking of which, I haz a blog…No, won’t.

I’d like to think it’s Earth, but the fact that we have a whole half-season to go doesn’t bode well. We’ll either need a massive Cylon-hooman battle for Earth or a few episodes of massive navigation-fail to get to where we needz to be.

BTW, your use of TOS I understandz. but it does feel a little sacreligious. Should TOS be reserved for its only other, and quite obvious, reference: Star Trek: The Original Series? I’m sure Usenet has already resolved this, but the rest of us are still uneasy.

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