Does anyone know of any sites that have information about the physics in outerspace. How things work, forumals to find things ect ect. Basically a good site on physics for outer space such as directions bullets go in events and such. If so could you referre me to ones you find extremely useful. Don''t click me! Killer Eagle Software

In outer space, there is no air resistance and no (well, technically speaking, just a terribly small amount of) gravity. Therefore, an object will keep going in the direction it is going at the speed it is going until it is stopped by some other force. This means that a player would keep floating off if they didn't apply some other force in another direction (NASA's space-walking jetpacks being an example, having some small engines to boost the astronaut one way or another, controlled via a small joystick).

This isn't a website, but still, it's information.

[edited by - DeathWish on November 20, 2002 1:38:38 PM]

Is it true in this specific scenerio, say when you have a space ship and your going in one direction and you continue to go in this direction. You rotate the ship around and now your cannons on the ship are facing the direction you are coming from and the back of the ship is moving forward. Now with that in mind the ship fires a bullet the direction the ship is coming from or to the direction of the front of the ship. Will the bullets that are fired go the direction they were shot at or will they continue to move with the ship?

Keep this golden rules in mind:
1. In space there is no [external] sound.
2. In space, lasers are invisible (except if they come right to you)

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Original post by Raduprv
Keep this golden rules in mind:
1. In space there is no [external] sound.
2. In space, lasers are invisible (except if they come right to you)

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True..and wouldn''t that make an exciting game

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Brent Gunning | My Site

Yeah, well, if you want realism, you have to go all the way
BTW, is there ANY space related movie that respects those 2 things?

[edited by - Raduprv on November 20, 2002 5:51:05 PM]

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Original post by DevLiquidKnight
Is it true in this specific scenerio, say when you have a space ship and your going in one direction and you continue to go in this direction. You rotate the ship around and now your cannons on the ship are facing the direction you are coming from and the back of the ship is moving forward. Now with that in mind the ship fires a bullet the direction the ship is coming from or to the direction of the front of the ship. Will the bullets that are fired go the direction they were shot at or will they continue to move with the ship?

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If the bullet is fired backward at the exactly the same speed as the ship is moving forward, the bullet will stay motionless. If there is any recoil on the gun, the ship will move forward even faster.

quote:

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Original post by Raduprv
BTW, is there ANY space related movie that respects those 2 things?

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2001: A Space Odyssey

More interestingly...

If a ship is moving at the speed of light and it fires a laser in the direction of travel then the laser will also be travelling at the speed of light (observed from a fixed observer) and the laser and ship will travel at the same speed and maintain the same position relative to one another.

Gravity is very important in space all though it''s effects are not very easily perceived. Take for instance a sattellite hurtling around Earth. It looks like it''s shooting off in to space but that small effect called gravity keeps it in motion around the planet.

If your working below the speed of light (say <1/3c) then you needn''t worry about relativity and you can just use the newtonian equations for momentum.

Oh and in answer to:

quote:

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BTW, is there ANY space related movie that respects those 2 things?

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I''m sure I remember some crappy black and white sci-fi things were the ships would move along then the laser would fire and you''d just see a big explosion on the other ship. Certainly not as fun as in Star Wars etc. I''d like to see cannons used in space :-) like a railgun or something! Would be still quite hard to hit anything.

Physics in space are pretty easy. Firstly, gravity only plays an important role if you''re near a planet. Secondly, the there''s virtually no friction so objects continue moving in the direction they are pushed (by engines, asteroids etc.) until something else pushes them. For guns, when a bullet is launched, it will have the motion the gun gives it, plus the motion of the spacecraft. Like if you''re running and you throw a ball sideways. Also, while relativity is interesting, it probably isn''t worth worrying about unless it affects your gameplay somehow.

tj963