Gravity Onboard by iwasafrycook

The source of gravity was coming from Serenitys battery bank. Its what kept the lights and med lab equipment going while the ships engine and back-up systems were down.Its what also powered the view monitor Mal used to talk to the salvage ship.

Z

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 22, 2006 4:50 PM

DUG

Yeah, they never said they lost power. They said that both primary and backup life support was non-functioning. As in broken. Doesn't matter if you've got power if a thing don't work. The grav system was still working. Since you can have gravity systems in shuttles and antigrav on something as simple as the hover-mule or even in a chandelier, the gravity system must not be tied to the main drive. It just needs a battery.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:40 AM

Yeah, I would assume that every kind of vessel in the verse has some kind of solar power collector that would allow the gathering and storage of any solar energy from any sun the craft may be floating near by.

This would allow the conservation of precious fuel needed to run the engine and generate power for other needs on the ship. Have you looked at the price of fuel at your local Alliance gas pump lately

? They are out of this world literally...ha..ha

Anyway,battery power would be good only for so long and depending on the vessel type some may last just for a short period of time. In OOG Mal had gotten Wash to take the ship on a leisurely course away from any thing and any one.Nothing around to regenerate battery power. Wash does say something about this(being in the middle of no&where) when Mal ask him about sending out a distress call. Everything did work out,but you already know that.

Z

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:52 AM

Maybe the gravity drive only requires power when the system is powering up or changing output. Maybe the gravity system will run from the solar panels.

You'd need super massive matter (like matter from a neutron star) in order to do it physically, and you'd have no real way of controlling the gravity output of the ship (think of the scene in Serenity when the Gravity is turned on in the cargo bay).

Quote:
Originally posted by ZZETTA13:
Yeah, I would assume that every kind of vessel in the verse has some kind of solar power collector that would allow the gathering and storage of any solar energy from any sun the craft may be floating near by.

There's only one sun that ships go near the 'Verse

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
"I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall'." -- Eleanor Roosevelt.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 6:10 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by iwasafrycook:
So I was watching Out of Gas with my dad the other day, and Mal's stumbling around in that cute, "I've got a gaping stomach wound" way of his, and there's no engines, air, heat, etc.

All of a sudden, my dad asked me, "Where's the gravity coming from?"

As has been said, the gravity is coming from the same place as the lights, and the beacon, and the communications, and the little sled-type things that the shuttles ride out on before they launch, and the ... and so on. Serenity has more power than she knows what to do with, think about the annoying, "Life support failure, check oxygen levels at once," voice, whe do you think it came from? Came from the power, the same power that made the gravity.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 6:32 AM

ROCKETJOCK

According to the Role Playing Game, while establishing or cancelling an artificial Grav field takes a certain amount of power, once one is established it's fairly low-rent to maintain it. In fact, if you don't deliberately suppress it, it can take a Grav field hours to "relax" even if power is cut off.

Of course, the RPG isn't necessarily cannon, but in the absence of on-screen data, I find it a reasonable source of technical info.

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 6:48 AM

JOSSISAGOD

Quote:
Originally posted by zzetta13:
Yeah, I would assume that every kind of vessel in the verse has some kind of solar power collector that would allow the gathering and storage of any solar energy from any sun the craft may be floating near by.

Now that you mention it I have seen what look like solar panels on Serenity. I'm not sure what they are used for, if at all.

JOSSIS(Most Definitely)AGOD

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 6:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
There's only one sun that ships go near the 'Verse .

There is a little bit of controversy considering that. It is possible the system of the 'Verse contains multiple stars.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 7:04 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
There is a little bit of controversy considering that. It is possible the system of the 'Verse contains multiple stars.

The best shot of the map of the verse shows one star and one system. That wasn't the phrasing of the original statement though, what I was saying is there's only one system.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 7:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
There is a little bit of controversy considering that. It is possible the system of the 'Verse contains multiple stars.
The best shot of the map of the verse shows one star and one system.

But it doesn't show dozens of planets. Consider the scene in the classroom. The monitor is projecting details of the stellar system called The 'Verse. First it shows one planet and then it zooms out to show a single star with 14 orbits scribed around it. Then the camera switches to the teacher and we don't see the map anymore. Consider the possibility that the map may have been about to zoom out again to show companion stars with planets orbiting them as well. Otherwise consider the possibility that Alliance teachers routinely lie about the number of planets in the 'Verse in a really obvious way for no reason. Otherwise consider the possibility that the word dozen doesn't mean the same thing in the 'Verse as it does to us.

Personally I'm in the companion stars camp.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 11:38 AM

Quote:
But it doesn't show dozens of planets. Consider the scene in the classroom. The monitor is projecting details of the stellar system called The 'Verse. First it shows one planet and then it zooms out to show a single star with 14 orbits scribed around it. Then the camera switches to the teacher and we don't see the map anymore.

The map is still in the background and it doesn't zoom out any further.

Quote:
Consider the possibility that the map may have been about to zoom out again to show companion stars with planets orbiting them as well.

Companion stars? What do you mean? A stellar cluster or a Binary/Trinary system?

A binary or Trinary star system is still a single system, and doesn't really gel with what we've been shown.

A star cluster can be discounted because no matter how densely packed the stars are they will be too far away from each other for space travel not utilising FTL (which we know they don't have in the 'Verse). It would also be completely impractical for the Alliance to govern such an expanse, especial since we can ascertain with a high degree of certainty that there is no FTL communications either.

Quote:
Otherwise consider the possibility that the word dozen doesn't mean the same thing in the 'Verse as it does to us.

People habitually misuse language. People say 'a couple' when they mean several.

In FireFly they call it a 'Verse when it isn't even a galaxy, let alone a Universe.

They refer to a planetary moon system as a 'system' a word we reserve for star systems.

Dozens is a fuzzy term that could as easily refer to ten as thirty six. People will say dozens to indicate a lot, point is fuzzy terms don't carry much weight, if she'd said "there's exactly thirty six planets" it would be different, but given the choice between a fuzzy statement and the fact that travel between stars in a star cluster would take years if not decades at sub-light velocities I know what I'm going to believe.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 12:23 PM

MELONCOV

When you get closer to the core of the galaxy, you have much more tightly packed clusters; often just a few light days. As Serenity can go at up to two percent of light speed acording to the RPG, a cluster of stars is quite believable.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:12 PM

That would be the centre where there is a huge amount of radiation and gravity from those stars and the super massive black hole would tear any planetary bodies apart?

I think we can discount that the verse is in the galactic centre

.

The average distance between stars around the centre is actually a light week, but even given your figures at Serenity’s maximum speed that's a trip of ~100 days, at maximum burn. That's a lot of fuel.

Most clusters and certainly the ones that could support the verse are somewhat less densely packed, an average of 1.5 stars per cubic light year, giving average distances that would take decades to traverse at 2% light speed.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
Companion stars? What do you mean? A stellar cluster or a Binary/Trinary system?

That's usually what's meant by the term companion star. I'm thinking more of a Trinary plus system examples of which are not unknown.

Quote:
A binary or Trinary star system is still a single system, and doesn't really gel with what we've been shown.

Yes a single system *with more than one star* which was the original point.

Quote:
They refer to a planetary moon system as a 'system' a word we reserve for star systems.

No we don't. I've heard plenty of talk regarding the Earth/Luna system also I'm sure I've seen reference to the Jhovian system regarding Jupiter plus moons.

Quote:
Dozens is a fuzzy term that could as easily refer to ten as thirty six.

Well a dozen is certainly fuzzy enough but dozens plural is a bit less so. You don't say your getting dozens of donuts if you're only buying 14. 20 planets - that could slide as dozens. 14 not so much.

But don't just take my word for the more than one sun theory take a look at the Oficial Visual Companion page 117. I count 7 objects that look much more like stars than planets and an awefull lot more planets than the 14 we see in the classroom.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:47 PM

I also take Joss's word for it when he said it was one system. I was talking about the Binary star system ages back when it seemed a better theory because it didn’t really conflict with what we’d seen (unlike the multiple star systems one) and the science is easier than the single star system. I dropped it because now it does conflict with things we’ve seen and to explain them away we have to start saying “Well the map was going to zoom out further, eventually…”

Given what we've been shown a single star system is more likely. Except for a single piece of artwork used in the film for a millisecond everything points to a single star. The map at the beginning, one star, any time we see the sun in the sky, there's one of them; ships flying through the system, one star. If there was any desire for the 'Verse to be portrayed as a Binary+ system, it would have appeared on screen at some point.

Personally knowing Joss has little grasp of scientific matters, what with them making him cry and all, I'd suspect he had one new system (which is actually said by Joss himself and in the original opening credits to the series) and he had a single star at the centre of that system.

Quote:
No we don't. I've heard plenty of talk regarding the Earth/Luna system also I'm sure I've seen reference to the Jhovian system regarding Jupiter plus moons.

It was in the context of the sentence.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:49 PM

SAMEERTIA

AAAAAAHGHHH!
Someone is putting science in my sci-fly! Make it stop!

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
I also take Joss's word for it when he said it was one system.

Nobody is disputing one system. The dispute is on the number of stars (and ultimately planets and moons) in that system. I don't think a single star with 14 planets is big enough to hold the 'Verse. And since there is no firm evidence disputing multiple stars and one firm piece of evidence that does support multiple stars in the system I conclude that the multiple star system is the most likely solution. It's certainly got enough evidence for it that you really can't be justified in saying that it's not possible no way no how which appears to be what you're arguing here.

Quote:
I dropped it because now it does conflict with things we’ve seen and to explain them away we have to start saying “Well the map was going to zoom out further, eventually…”

The multiple star theory conflicts with what that we have seen exactly? What specific piece of published/filmed/refered to information makes multiple suns impossible? Nothing. I've got a map of Chicago in my apartment. Just because it doesn't zoom out any farther there is no reason to say that the rest of the US doesn't exist.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:21 PM

"Hey,full well there are two suns."

unless I be wrong our own Milkyway Galaxy could qualify as another place in space were other spacecraft like vehicles could travel around using their solar powered equipment. That is unless the Milkyway is a totaly dead idea. We may have left earth that was to find a better place but my brother didn't have the correct change to pay for the bus ride. He stayed.

Z

pass the mudders milk please

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SameErtia:
AAAAAAHGHHH!
Someone is putting science in my sci-fly! Make it stop!

Sorry. For my part in what happened.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:43 PM

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

Sorry SAMEERTIA,

the thread began suffering from technical difficulties ( but that can be fun) Anyway I will steer it back on track.

How does everyone feel about inviting the Brady Bunch onto the boat?

Bartender takes the bottle of mudders milk away from Z " I think you've had your limit, fella."

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3:05 PM

yeah, Z I think you have to

JUST CALL ME DARLING!!!

-I was bored, and slightly mental, what can I say?

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 6:52 AM