Earthfleet - The Relativity Limit
Posted on: Feb 03, 2010 at 10:04pm
Last Updated on: Never
Spoiler Warning! If you haven't read book 2, "Destiny's Mission" yet, and you don't want to be potentially spoiled in regards to elements presented in the story, stop reading here!
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!
One of the things mentioned in the Earthfleet series is a dangerous condition known as the "Relativity Limit". This is essentially a theoretical point during FTL (faster than light) flight when a ship goes so fast that it flies apart.
The simplest and easiest way to understand it is to compare it to a similar event that can occur to airplanes. If you take an airplane and you fly it faster than it's designed to go, it will fall apart. That's essentially the same thing that happens to a starship under FTL flight when it hits the relativity limit. The name for the theory itself derives from the theory of relativity, around which key elements of FTL flight are based.
But how can a starship fly apart like an airplane if space is a gigantic vacuum? Well, in reality, space is not a complete vacuum, as it's full of dust particles, rocks, planets, stars, gasses, and a lot more, including dense pools of energy. Subspace is even more so. And for those who are confused to what "subspace" is, think of it like this: Space is divided into layers stacked one on top of the other, each with its own unique properties, energy densities, and other elements.
But those layers, when viewed from the side, look oddly like an upside down pyramid, with the "shorter" layers on the bottom, and the "longer" layers on the top. Since travel speed is determined by the distance between two points, the shorter that distance, the faster one can travel in relation to the objects around them. Subspace is merely a lower level of space, and one that is considerably shorter than our own. Therefore Superspace is the layers of space above our own. There are also unique levels within each of these two zones as well.
Some layers within Subspace are referred to as "warp" or "hyperspace" or "coaxial" space. While these names may designate the typical layers in which these type of FTL drives travel, an FTL drive is not limited to just one particular layer within Subspace. This is because, to travel at Faster Than Light speeds, one must sink into a lower, shorter layer of space and travel at speeds up to the physical speed limit permitted in that particular layer.
One way to picture this is to see the layers of space as though you were a submarine in the ocean. Our layer of space is the surface of the water. Subspace therefore is anything below the surface, and Superspace is the air above. Under normal conditions our "buoyancy" within the galaxy, aka the energy wavelength our bodies resonate at, locks us into existing on one particular layer of space. To go lower, an FTL drive much change our "buoyancy", thus allowing us to sink into a lower level of space, much in the same way a submarine floods its tanks with water in order to reduce its buoyancy in order to submerge itself.
The Relativity Limit comes into play here in much the same way that a submarine implodes if it dives down below its crush depth. This occurs because Subspace is not devoid of matter or energy. When a starship travels through space, it must push aside thin, wispy clouds of energy, matter, dust, etc that block its path. The faster you go, the more builds up in front of the ship, creating a type of bow shock that is very similar in many ways to the kind you'd see on an aircraft. The faster a plane goes, the higher the pressure in the bow shock becomes. The same is true of the energy, gasses and other matter being pushed in front of the starship.
Due to the necessity of being incredibly rugged in order to endure space travel, starships typically are able to absorb this bow shock and deflect it away from the ship fairly well. But as speed increases, and the pressure builds up on the ship, two things occur. First, the superstructure and the spaceframe become stressed. Secondly, a ship traveling at a given speed will begin to generate sheer, which causes the ship to begin vibrating gently at first, and continues growing until the vibration is severe.
Then, the pressure of the bow shock, combined with the incredibly violent shaking caused by sheer, the hull and/or the space frame fail. And once there is a minor failure, the rest falls quickly like a house of cards, and the ship flies apart. So in short, before you'll ever hit the relativity limit, which is usually only seen at insanely high speeds, your ship will shake itself apart first.
Now, the next question is, "At what speed does the Relativity Limit exist?" Well, there is no one defined speed. Since the Relativity Limit is more or less the point at which the ship's superstructure fails and it flies apart, the speed at which that occurs is entirely dependent on a wide range of factors, including the strength of the ship itself, sheer intensity, energy and matter density, the strength of the bow shock, and much more.
In Destiny's Mission they come fairly close to the Relativity Limit for the Sergenious. However, despite the fact that the engines were in a runaway state, causing the ship to fly at unheard of speeds (not to mention speeds that can't be achieved under normal operating conditions, even if you prodded them to with some of the craziest possible methods), she would not have reached that limit due to many of the factors I listed above. She would have most certainly been shaken violently, but not enough for the hull or superstructure to fail.
She was more likely to have suffered a critical explosive failure of her coaxial drives, due to the incredible energies pumping through them, rather than to have fallen victim to the Relativity Limit. She would have needed a third engine generating the same massive energies of the other two in order to reach that point. But even so, even traveling close to that limit is scary enough on its own and left the ship severely wounded, and the engines nearly inoperable when they finally returned to normal operating conditions.
Well, that's all for this little segment. If you have any questions about this little technical explanation, please don't be afraid to ask. 
Social Bookmarking - Add this page to your favorite social networking sites!
If you have any problems with any of these links, please let us know. Thanks.
To suggest more social networking links, please contact the webmaster.
Latest Comments:
There are currently no comments.
