Why do space ships shake when fired upon?

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LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
1
0
You hit any solid structure, in space or otherwise, and that fucker will vibrate. In space, more so than a surface ship or building, because the only damping comes from the structure itself. The shaking never bothered me.

edit:
you absolutely do not need two forces to shake something

Most explosives carry their own oxidizers and would work just fine in a vacuum. Except Hydrogen Bombs (which needs ambient hydrogen).
 
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BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Shaking of the space ship implies that the ship is being acted upon two or more forces in different directions, no?

The force in one direction from the weapon fire, and the inertial dampeners attempting to correct in the opposite.

Edit: I see I'm late to the nerd party. I did bring chips though.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,599
19
81
It's for the same reason that laser beams in space make a sound.


Inertial dampners can't keep up with the energy transfer when the vessel is hit.
Though they do manage to keep up with the ship going from zero to Warp 8 in less than 2 seconds.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Though they do manage to keep up with the ship going from zero to Warp 8 in less than 2 seconds.

A jump to warp would be pre-calculated and the dampeners could be pre-loaded to compensate.

Weapon fire could be more difficult to pre-calculate and plan for.

PS I'm playing Mass Effect right now, so nerd mode is in full effect.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,862
84
91
voyager for a while had ablative armor or something, but yea it doesn't make sense for the most part.
 
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Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,599
19
81
A jump to warp would be pre-calculated and the dampeners could be pre-loaded to compensate.

Weapon fire could be more difficult to pre-calculate and plan for.

PS I'm playing Mass Effect right now, so nerd mode is in full effect.
ST: Nemesis, and various times in the series: Ship takes a hit while in warp, and abruptly drops to impulse, or the ship is at warp and runs into a subspace-what-the-fuck, and abruptly grinds to a halt. That'd give a much larger, unplanned, acceleration (well, deceleration, depending on your POV) value than a simple weapons hit. Seriously, how much force would a powerful beam of light impart on a large ship, assuming it doesn't ablate away enough of the hull in order to create an explosive reactive force? Not a lot, I'd think.

But there is still the small matter of various interface panels exploding constantly. Maybe OSHA will end up being dissolved sometime in the next 20 years, after someone develops some new interface technology that's incredibly efficient, but has a small side effect of exploding at random. (Though I guess we've got that now - just get a device with a poorly-made Li-Polymer battery. ) The technology was so amazing that even following a catastrophically explosive incident, the affected control panel could still function normally.


Also, I have heard good things about Mass Effect; I shall have to look into getting it, perhaps after I finally get around to upgrading this PC to handle something better than Half Life 2 graphics.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,165
15,775
126
Because them fucking earthlings are idiots, the producers have to put in the shakes and sound effects to make the stupid earthlings happy.
 

TXHokie

Platinum Member
Nov 16, 1999
2,557
173
106
What really irks me is when they shoot and miss within visual range. All that high tech spaceships and they don't have a decent targeting system?
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,862
84
91
true, failing to target capital ships is a major wtf. let alone with future tech.

its not like theres gravity/wind or stuff to hide behind
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
30,937
12,438
136
um... no, that would make you a sitting duck. Even the sci-fi writers figured that out.

Check out the "Picard Maneuver", it will blow your mind!

()
"Don't worry, kid. I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose 'em."
 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
0
The Star Trek ships have "inertial dampers." I'm sure the director's explanation would be that heavy hits to the ship cause the inertial dampers to function erratically for a moment, which would throw everyone around in different directions.

But yeah, they do it because it looks exciting.
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,921
14
81
1) That's an inelastic collision.
2) The object that the golf ball hits is being held in place.

So? Anything on earth that's "held in place" is effectively just a part of something much more massive than the object that is moving. My point is that when an object gets hit, the shock waves take time to travel through said object and those deformations cause apparrent shaking. What the hell does any of that have to do with gravity?
 

PieIsAwesome

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2007
4,054
1
0
Objects in space still have inertia, they still resist changes in motion. There wouldn't really be any difference between a ship floating in space and a ship floating in the sky above the earth when hit by a projectile or whatever. The ship would still resist the change in motion when hit, momentum will still be transferred, energy will still be converted to work done on the ship and its materials (causing damage, deformation, and internal restoring forces opposing deformations), etc. Airplanes shake when hit by turbulence, for example, and the only difference would be the lack of a vertical gravitational force for a ship in space.
 
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Sea Moose

Diamond Member
May 12, 2009
6,936
7
76
You guys are a fucking bunch of nerds some days.....






Dammmnit i am one too !


:twisted:.......:hmm:..........:awe:
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,599
19
81
The Star Trek ships have "inertial dampers." I'm sure the director's explanation would be that heavy hits to the ship cause the inertial dampers to function erratically for a moment, which would throw everyone around in different directions.

But yeah, they do it because it looks exciting.
Similar to those poor Redshirts - attempt to illustrate "peril" to the audience without harming any of the regular characters.

"Ensign Meatshield, report to the transporter room!"
 
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