The Physics of Starship Battles: Energy, Waves, and Sound

[bulwine]

TWO GROUPS OF PEOPLE I'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND- TREKKIES AND PEADOPHILES

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@bulwine Whoever those two groups are (never heard of a "peadophile" lol) rest assured I'm sure they're more productive and emotionally balanced than internet whiners obsessed with CAPS LOCK who post begging for attention whines on OTHER peoples movies ;)

Dont worry about you though, you're blocked ;)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@KelleGilman

Didnt I see that on facebook?

[FionnMarr]

Great clip STM, and I especially endorse your conclusion. What's the harm as long as we are enjoying ourselves? Informative and entertaining. Well done!

[McCbobbish]

Hey, umm wouldn't you hear your own engines, your weapons fireing (But not any one else's weapons) and the sound of stuff hitting your ship? I just heard that somewhere.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@McCbobbish

Yes, you'd hear or feel the vibrations of your own ship. Unless they totally pad the ship to add soundproofing as to not bust your eardrums...

[deestilo]

Help me thy muse !

During a giant explosion, energy changes form - from - matter to heat /energy explosion and often ends as a waveblast. However.... where does the energy goes to after the wave ? Who keeps em afterwards?

They can't dissipate right? just changes form.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@deestilo

It can dissipate, and does.  Dissipate doenst mean "disappear," it just means spread out. The energy just keeps flying off into space, getting weaker and weaker the further it gets because its spreading out and out. Its still there. Just too weak to be measured.

[TheReturningShadow]

Please explain something to me: if radio waves are sound, then how can we "beam" them into space for "others" to hear? or why are all those SETI scientists LISTENING for sounds from space? even though space has no atmosphere (obviously) those sounds have to exist somehow.Those scientists have recorded SOUNDS from SPACE. Some sounds are from satellites we have sent out through the solar system.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@TheReturningShadow

Radio waves are not sound, they're photons of light from the electromagnetic spectrum. Radio transmitters transform sound into electromagnetic waves and back again. When astronomers say they "hear" something, they're referring to pointing a radio telescope at a star and measuring the radio frequencies that come out of it. Its not "sound" coming through air, no.

[OneEyedJack1970]

@SpreadingtheMuse It would probably be more accurate to say that we "see" them, would it not?

[gstv87]

I just finished BSG and Firefly, and I have to give some credit to the production, because they're the two first shows I see that actually try to portay the real vacuum of space.....

BSG softens the sound, so that it would appear it's heard from inside of wherever the camera is placed.

Firefly directly suppressed the sound for the ship optics, but they kept it for some ship-to-ship couplings, and cutting right to the airlock, as if it was the characters the ones that are hearing it.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@gstv87

BSG's sounds were realistic, even when you were watching from outside in deep space. Thuds and bangs and stuff cause they used heavy kinetic weapons and nukes.  I had so mush fun watching Firefly I never payed attention to the sounds of the ships, lol

[jackhuskey]

The new BSG was pretty good about keeping space soundless. Some of the time we were watching from a pilots view and might hear something from his own weapons/engine (transmitted through the hull of the ship) but as the series rolled on they paid less attention to that.  I allways felt they could of used alot of pilot chatter to fill out the sound in some of those scenes, instead of silence.

[Hurotheblue]

So if sound needs air to be able to travel from one end to the other, does that mean that radio contact is impossible in space ?

(maybe i didnt pay much attention and missed something, i have though watched this part and every other parts in your "The Physics of Starship Battles" and find all of them very entertaining and educational.)

If im wrong and im asking a obvious stupid question, i apologize. Im just a teenage icelander who hasnt been in touch with Pshysics for a long time :)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Hurotheblue

Radio waves are made of light. It only turns to sound when it comes out of your speaker. Thats how we talked to the astonauts on the moon, even though theres no air between us and the moon. A long time ago we used to think that light/radio waves needed something to travel through, but they dont. Dead space is just fine. ;)

[Hurotheblue]

@SpreadingtheMuse Thanks for clearing that out! :)

[Hurotheblue]

@Hurotheblueokay. Thanks for clearing that out :)

[cmdesign01]

Hi...who is "they" ? that have this crowd control weapon? I beleive you I just wanted to know. ANNNNDDdddd....by the way I love that I found this channel by accident no less...and on a tv show ...I forget which....I saw that the US Govt. has developed a series of non lethal weapons (maybe this is what you refer to?) where they spoke about an X-Ray Gun that actually HEATS up would be criminals from the inside out and forces them to drop their weapons without actually "Harming" them physically!

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@cmdesign01

I remember that heat gun too. I think that and the sound gun were in the same show. It was Modern Marvels or something talking about non-lethal weapons.

[cmdesign01]

you can see this evident when the victims of suicide bombers and bomb blasts have their insides ...i.e. organs etc, turned to mush but with no outer evidence of force or trauma.

Can sound then be used as a weapon ABraxas? I do hope you respond to me...I just stumbled over your site and I'm very glad I did so.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@cmdesign01

They've got a crowd control weapon right now that sends out pulses of sound below human hearing to induce nausea and such.  Pretty nifty ;)

[Excalibur01]

I know that if you are the fighter in space shooting laser or "guns", you should hear yourself. So to be realistic, if a new sci fi series shows us sound that we can hear, but not sound coming at us. That's realisitic, but what if the sound the audience hears is the sound EVERYONE in the show hears. We the audience exist beyond the 4th wall, outside what we are watching. Sure we can design a show from perspectives of a character but we are mostly seeing and hearing everything there can be

[Excalibur01]

Just to add, I think from a TV show or movie production, sure we can't really hear sound in space, but sound is purely for entertainment value, but do you think my theory of why WE the audience can hear sounds in space is that we are hearing the sound from EVERY CHARACTER'S and EVERY OBJECT'S point? So there would be sound...Just we don't hear it. Like in the ST movie, Nemesis, I might need to watch the scene again, but in the final battle, we are viewing from Shinzon's bridge and see -

[Excalibur01]

- (continued from last post) we are viewing from Shinzon's bridge and see and hear what he hears and all I remember is his ship firing on the Enterprise and no impact sound from HIS point of view. I might have hear weapons from from his ship, but I don't remember hearing impact of his disruptors on the Enterprise until we go back to the view of outside the ship as an audience's perspective.

In the new reboot Trek film, a scene of crew being thrown into space lead to soundless space.

[EthanStrife]

from 6:45 to 7:05 I was making all the spaceship battle noises in my head!!! *pew pew* (prolly would out there in the fight when it comes too :D )

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@EthanStrife

Making spaceship sounds in the middle of a spaceship fight might be a good way to keep your head concentrated on the fight. I'm all in favor. ;)

[dixievfd55]

I actually liked the sequence with just the heartbeat. It seemed almost like a general sci-fi trailer. Also there is a reason the word fiction is in science fiction and that is sometimes forgotten. Space battles on the big screen just aren't the same without the Earth shattering kaboom.

[Nails077]

Of course you would probably hear things that impact the hull of your own ship, but you would never hear the enemy weapons being fired. You may hear your own guns being fired but it would probably sound very different, since the sound has to pass through the solid materials of your ship before being transfered to the air that your ears can pick up the sound from.

[tekwatcher]

Someone may have mentioned it already but my favorite example of a space movie that is sound-accurate but maintains the emotion (by use of camera/CGI work and music) is Serenity. Some of the best looking battle scenes I've seen on the screen. Nice work on these videos by the way...

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@tekwatcher

I've got that Serenity battle in my favorite places somewhere.

"Target the Reavers."

"Target the REAVERS."

"SOMEBODY FIRE!!"

[LouistheHedgehog]

Wouldn't you still hear SOMETHING if you're RIGHT BEHIND A ROCKET ENGINE AT FULL BLAST?!

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@LouistheHedgehog

You'd hear the rocket as there's physical matter connecting you to it. The hull of the ship for example. But the rocket of ANOTHER ship?  No.

[Zarrov]

I can't accept final conclusion. The problem is not in enjoying whatever, the problem is in inability to break ridicolous taboo, that you cannot make a good battle scene in space without sound. Quite on contrary, you can, you just have to do it in different way than scenes with the sound. This was, however, not figured out yet by filmmakers, since they are lazy assholes treating us like dummies. 

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Zarrov

Whats the best sci fi movie you've seen, that is as scientifically accurate as possible? Having trouble thinking of one myself...

[Zarrov]

@SpreadingtheMuse, speaking about "space SF" only Space Oddysey 2001 was more or less accurate, but that's not the point. I don't need "scientific accuracy" I just need space battle wihout sound. It's too ridicolous to tolerate. We could see attempts towards this in BSG or new star trek movie.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Zarrov

Asking about the best sci fi movie wasnt really a retort about sound, merely professional curiosity. I'm always looking for a movie I've missed. Saying its "ridiculous" is a little steep though, as we've never seen it any other way, accurate or no.

[AstralDragoon]

@Zarrov Are you saying you would actually find a space battle without sound to be more engaging? Can't there be a compromise, perhaps in the form of toned-down effects like in Battlestar?

[Zarrov]

@AstralDragoon, why you need a compromise? You have never seen such depiciton of space battle. But look, there is moment in new Star Trek movie, when there is huuge space destruction, battle and everything. And for a second or two-there is no sound. That was most amazing part of this battle sequence. You just have to show it properly. In new way. Normally, sound builds around 30% of emtioins on screen. Without it you need new scene-making, but effect will not be worse. It could be even better.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Zarrov

Are you referring to the opening space battle in the first 5 min? Or the climatic one? My views of how that movie did things will be skewed against it, as I didnt like it hardly at all.

[Zarrov]

@SpreadingtheMuse, I don't really know which was it, I just remembered that for a couple of seconds there was silence-and then the sound was back again. But the effect was brilliant. And by "brilliant" I don't mean entire movie, just that scene ;)

[FucK88vivalaFrancia]

@SpreadingtheMuse What's you're job, because you seem very clever

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@FucK88vivalaFrancia

At the moment I'm a nuke worker, but I used to be a high school and university professor of physics and math. These movies are more or less what my actual lectures used to be like.

[FucK88vivalaFrancia]

@SpreadingtheMuse omg ^^

[dixievfd55]

@SpreadingtheMuse Don't forget that they confused blackholes with wormholes until it suited the purpose of the plot to have the Romulan ship destroyed by one.

[semcorda]

this video would be much better if sound and picture quality wasn't so crappy

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@semcorda

Half of that is Youtubes own compression. Sometimes it does more harm than good. I've got the uncompressed version on my machine here. If I get around to it, I'll upload that.

[Pfandfleisch]

Well, in case of sound, the Babylon 5 staff asked someone from NASA, and he said that "technicaly" you CAN have sound. Technicaly means: if a ship explodes, the fire burns its atmosphere the crew was breathing. If another ship flies close enough or through the explosion, and the flames would pounding against the hull, its crew could hear the explosion as a roar or a thunder. If the explosion cant reach the other ship, they hear nothing. I saw that in a making-of of a B5-DVD.Dont know if its true

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Pfandfleisch

Its true. Sound just needs a physical connection to whats making the sound. On Earth air does that nicely, but in space the atoms of the exploding ship would in fact carry the vibrational waves that could be heard as sound. As long as you're touching the explosion exactly.

[Apwrath13dMusic]

help me i want to know what we would need in specifics to a spaceship eg anti gravity (not necasary as its not possible yet) artificial gravity, a power core (mostly nucular & solar power) decent practise on life support, pressure, metals for extreme heat or anti frost, make a vid on what is possable and what is not and how to go about ever acheiving this, if you must make movie reffs put some stargate or firefly in their too, and try a better quality vid cam pwease. ;)

[SailorBarsoom]

You can have as much noise as you want in your air-filled ship. And it isn't unreasonable that sometimes the POV might be outside the ship, looking at a weapon, and you hear the captain shout, "FIRE!" Just like you might see a car driving down a road while you hear, "Mommy, are we THERE yet?!" Nobody thinks that you would actually hear the kid if you were standing along the road.

[SailorBarsoom]

But explosions and stuff... I'd actually like them to be silent. Not just because it's more accurate, but because it's sort of creepy. Just like it should be. Because it points up just how weird and alien the space environment is.

[Gnatsirt]

SO I would hear Crickets in space! lol. Awesome vid

[stickyresin]

Well there is still presumably air inside of your cockpit or starship. I assume you would still hear weapons hitting your ship as well as some amount of engine noise from vibrations through the hull.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

You could "hear" anything that was connected to you by matter. The engines, or anything that physically hit your hull for example, yes. Most of the sound complaint is about hearing an explosion thats across a void of space with nothing inbetween but cold nothing.

[kdraper2007]

Could be hearing radio waves emitted as a by product. kind of like the radio waves emitted by planets & stars.

[animeownage86]

It would be nice if I could "hear" any of your videos...

[thirdclass2006]

On hearing engines; astronauts on the shuttle can hear the thrusters fire. Comes from the initial moment of ignition. I suppose it varies, but they report the sound as being like a cannon going off.

[Marinealver]

lol space crickets

[aarontaylor94]

chemical to light to electrisity

wrong

chemical to ELECTRIC to light to electric

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Thats technically right, but I left out the first electric as it occurs inside the flashlight where we cant see it, therefore no fun.

[MrWooaa]

you are a good teahcer. most of what you have said i allredy knew, but, you lectures helpt me sement my knlolage.

now if you could do a few leqtuers on spelling.....

[azezel2311]

well, the future will not get here unless we research it. We cannot research it unless it is a core priority to do so by having a high density per capita of creative potential. The more knowledge you load a person down with the less their potential is in a highly specific area. So you must educate them to where that potential is desired. Right now we have a medical/energy/infrastructure crisises but we are training millions to work at mcdonalds while only a handful are going to do real things.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Well I've worked in fast food for a while, so I can say its hardly a black hole of no return.

Nothing is free is this world, nor should it be. The people with the most creative power usually also have the most ambition, and therefore rise to the top. Its worked well enough so far.

[azezel2311]

I used to work 2 jobs. One in a warehouse and the other at a fedex ground hub. Tried to enlist, had an asvab score of 95. Was going to go to be a welder but the recruiter talked me into secf (sub electronics computer field) and I had to be honest when I got there hoping for an exception. They sent me home and Im stuck in a packing plant until they open my field up to me. Nuclear technology with a specialization in nucleo-synthesis. Basically designing and producing new isotopes is what I wanted.

[sbeer6er]

all reply's on here are really long. lol

[xylii42]

Lazes and mass drivers require massive energy transfers when charging to fire. This causes electromagnetic interference. The disintegration of matter and the shorting of the ships systems would sound like a spark gap transmitter at least for a moment.

Just try listening to a radio near a welder or any industrial equipment that uses large amounts of power. Imagine this many times worse.

I agree that it sounds nothing like the way it is normally portrayed but it would be very far from silent.

[xylii42]

Wonderful video series but I must disagree with you on the sounds of a space battle. You must consider that you are surrounded by equipment that is designed to make sounds. When an enemy weapon charges and discharges, there would be electromagnetic noise picked up by anything with a speaker. It would be like the charging of a flash on a camera then a pop like lightning on a radio. The energy levels involved and the exposed device for discharging it would be beyond any effective shielding.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Well that would be a bunch of electric buzzes and pops but hardly the musical symphony we've been told to expect. And that would only work with ionized weapons. Stuff that doesnt use an electric charge, like lasers or kinetic energy mass, wouldnt make any sound even over electronics.

[gorn9146]

In the new "Battlestar Galactica". They touched on this concept of space battles being completely soundless. I remember seeing in one episode, a pair of vipers were flying within an atmosphere. They sounded like jet fighters and their weapons sounded like big machine guns. But anytime they were flying and fighting in space, everything was much quieter as though the audience was only hearing what the people heard from inside their ships.

[Intranetusa]

well, you can make that argument for any sci-fi space battle, that they're only hearing what people are hearing inside ships.

[Excalibur01]

That's true even more for us the audience. Since WE the audience of any space battle aren't really PART of the universe we're watching, we're watching and hearing everything that occurs, that includes every single sound that happens. There are time when we hear nothing but that's how some shows puts us in the shows of the characters and what they hear or dont hear

[BoomBoomSticks]

A simple work-around for the "soundless space battle" is if it takes place on a planet's upper atmosphere. That's what George Lucas did in Star Wars episode III, so that the explosions would be even better and more destructive.

[Excalibur01]

adding to my point, if you are in a fighter, firing off machine guns and launching missiles, you'll heard the weapons fire echoing from within your ship and if debris and enemy weapons fire hit you, you'll hear the impact and even the explosiion coming from inside you, you wont hear YOUR weapons fire impact enemy ship, but you wouldn't be in utter silence if you are shooting around.

[Excalibur01]

Sound as entertainment is needed since it's a show, it's for the audience's benefit but if you are on a ship when there's an explosiion IN your ship, you'l hear that, if you fire a weapon from your ship, you'll most likely hear it if you are inside your ship. In the recent Star Trek movie they demostrated in an explosive decompression when a body flew outside we see phasers firing but we hear nothing from the unlucky guy floatin out there. As entertainment, we the audience would hear everything.

[dashin999]

That is all make sense to me. Nice vid 5/5

[Marinealver]

lol crickets in space. I think the best space explosion sceene is in HAL0 2 when the 2 other MAC guns blow up. You first see the light flash of the station blowing up but don't hear anything untill the shockwave finally hits the station.

Only problem is how do you get en explosive shock to ripple through vacume? I mean a supernova can send destructive shock waves throughout the starsystem.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

All a shockwave needs is matter to push. Now whereas there's none in space, there is matter and mass in the space station, which gets pushed out in the blast, hitting anything it touches.

[LiliumNightShade]

if i vibrated some superstrings, could I have sound in space?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Refresh my memory, are superstrings found in an utter vacuum?

[LiliumNightShade]

far as i can tell, yes

[LiliumNightShade]

someday i'll make a movie with all the right physics, and it will be awesome

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Well I'll watch it. ;)

The "right" physics is a tricky game, for as I say in my ending commentary, it tends to take the fun out of it. Shows are getting more realistic all the time, but they always have sound in space. Its just humorless without it. ;)

[LiliumNightShade]

I think something would make at least a little noise if I ripped the universe open XD

[thirdclass2006]

"Shows are getting more realistic all the time, but they always have sound in space. Its just humorless without it. ;) "

Closest we got was "2001", and I agree that it did lack humor.

However, I still loved simply for the fact it did portray a plausible view of space travel, even if the talking, homicial computer was a bit beyond our CURRENT tech. :)

[WordoftheSenate]

Well, Firefly had no sound in space. But then again, would the Battlestar Galactica series finale be as epic as it was without sound in space? Sometimes you gotta sacrafice realism for dramatic effect.

[KoutaSeto]

was mich zu punkt 2 bringt der sound im weltall XD wen der sagt die wellen können sich da bewegen was auch auf radiowellen zutrift dan sollten die soundwellen die von schildeinschlägen oder explusionen ausgehen es auch zu anderen schiffen schaffen (JEDES SCHIFF HAT SAUERSTOFF ALSO SAG MIR MA EINER DAS GEHT NICH)

[KoutaSeto]

omg der sagt eiskallt das schilde eigentlich nen scheis bringen XD hatt er recht nur hat jede rasse die es im universum gibt auch die waffe um sich den efekt nutzbar zu machen? nehmen wir den phaser der schlägt mit hitze auf und schwächt nur das schild heist jeder laser jeder disruptor wäre kein gegner für nen raumschiff wie er beschrieben hat

[cyberdaemon]

Do you know that in most "space fantasy" games when you turn off the spaceship engine , the spaceship completely stops its motion :D

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Yeah, and in the game its usually a liability. ;) Asteroids is like that (which I used clips of for this show). In a high speed game, being able to stop on a dime is usually more helpful.

[cyberdaemon]

Did you make these clips by the way ? Because i would love to know how shields work and how they can break down when hit constantly and so on.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I made these movies, yes. :)

Shields are tricker, as they're fictional. Stuff like lasers and missiles are real, so the physics have to be real, so I can explain them. But shields were just made up, so they can make up anything else they want to as well. In the Trek "Technical Manuals" they attempt to explain shields, but two different "manuals" explained it two different ways. : /

I'm working on the next movie right now, it'll be about Gravity.

[stalkervision]

In actuality the science of "shields" is at this time being developed by the military. As is invisibility btw. Nice attempts at using general science principles to explain this all..

[cyberdaemon]

Actually in Star Wars and many movies they dont use lazer weapons at all.Lazer would fly at the speed of light and would make one constant line from weapon to target.These what they use are called "blasters" , but you spoke about this element with different name in other video.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

One line of dialogue uses the word "Turbo Lasers," but we can attribute that to the infatuation Hollywood has always had with BIG SCARY WORDS, using phrases to sound smarter than they deserve to, phrases that they havent the slightest idea the meaning of.

[cyberdaemon]

Dont even start with cartoons like iron man or something similar like that , they had loads of weird names and words for all sorts of systems :D

[Szadol]

actually it is not quite true with sound, if we were flying around battlefield as some physical object (like camera) we would be constatly bombarded by explosion shockwaves made out of hot gases, that would make us hear at least blasts :)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Yes, we would "hear" the impacts, but not the lasers themselves.

[MaGaO]

I found the video quite entertaining, but I wouldn't have said that the sound energy used to make audible the radiowave transmission comes from that transmission (if it was, I want that battery/flashlight/photoelectr­ic array for Christmas!). Oh, and transversal waves are quite useful besides sound: see lithotritic waves;-)

Since I can find little more that I didn't like, I must say this is quite a good video altogether. Keep the good work up.

[MaGaO]

Argh, substitute transversal with longitudinal.

[RicardoAugustoLifeCo]

Thank you very much, you help to make science fun as it ever was. I hope in the future the teachers make the lessons so enjoyable as you did it.

[No1CGIguy]

All this time I thought we were supposedly hearing the electromagnetic vibrations from the explosions, etc. I know sound doesn't travel through space but electromagnetic vibrations do. For example search for this video.

"Jupiter sounds (so strange!) NASA-Voyager recording"

Nice video though :)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I personally wouldnt give the writers of trek enough credit to think of blaming electromagnetic vibrations. They usually just do whatever they think is a good/dumb idea.

I've heard the Jupiter sounds, but those are better described as radio waves (the electromagnetic spectrum) that we translate into sound. A sheer explosive *BOOM* can only happen in an atmosphere.

[nosorab3]

yes but truly, sound in a space battles on tv or movies is purely for dramatic effect.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Yes, and a good dramatic effect it makes. ;) Thats why I'm in favor of it. We can be and should be accurate in the classroom, but imaginative inspirational entertainment should get a free ride.

[Killersepp]

To be fair, the only two examples of "quiet space" I can think of (2001: A Space Odyssey and Firefly/Serenity) are pretty impressive nonetheless :-D

Oh, and I guess the new Battlestar Galactica is *meant* to have quiet space, but this "muted" sound is meant to represent an "interior perspective", i.e. what you would hear within the spaceships.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

"the point is at the energy loss, where the energy goes into another form, like you the transmiting of the voice to another place,"

Otherwise know as resistance and/or entropy. But thats a whole other movie.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

It comes from the oxygen on the ship, which lasts only as long until the oxygen escapes into space.

[FearlessSon]

This does remind me of one of the things that I enjoyed about Joss Wheden's Firefly was that there were no sound effects during space shots. Sometimes they mix it up by having a shot start out silent, then as a ship enters an atmosphere it builds up to a roar. Or in the movie Serenity when Mal and Zoe are talking in the hall, you can hear the ship rumbling through the turbulence, then when they break atmosphere it quickly dies down to background silence.

[elky78]

These theories are based on cosmic semantic wave vibration collation. True post isomeric disturbance with excessive force would provide pivotal neural inner space combination relative to vacuum, and what we perceive as sound. Sound is replaced by time space wave displacement developing an alternate path for the resulting energy conflict. Therefore in short; Transfinite space in relative comparison to space time energy conversion becomes the result. It can not be made more simple....Thanks

[wrestlesomnia]

there was one flaw in the DS9 episode where the defiant was destroyed the reason why it was destroyed was becoase all the power was lost right so what about the red alert lights ??? shouldn't they have gone out to ?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Well that depends on how the Breen weapon worked, which they never explained. If the weapon only muffles the warp core and power generators, emergency lights that run off of battery power would still work.

[MajorDiarriah]

You could also have the ship's thrusters violently compensating for the change in course caused by explosions.

There might be some sounds in spaces within space. Hull vibrations should vibrate the air in the hull, making audible sound, unless the frequency is too high or low to hear. Explosions in proximity should carry sound. In nBSG you're supposed to assume you are hearing what the ship carrying the camera can hear.

How does the video explain violently exploding electronic equipment?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I would expect to hear sounds INSIDE the ship, sounds of the explosions hitting the outer hull that were then transferred thru the ship. But a separate observer watching a battle from a distance wouldnt hear a thing of course.

As for all the internal damage, like when the battle shatters the glass windows, the excessive vibrations cause cracks in circuit boards, resulting in rapid short circuiting.

But that doesnt make it sound like fun.

BOOM!

[MajorDiarriah]

Yeah but those computer consoles are exploding like, well, explosives, in Star Trek at least. They throw people several feet and cause huge nasty burns. If it's shorts, doesn't that means the voltages are insane?

Another thing, if something like spalling is happening to your ship, wouldn't you design an outer hull to lengthen the wave caused by impacts so it doesn't effect the inner portions, or create a less rigid inner hull? Well, that's ship design and sort of outside the topic.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

A good way to stop vibrations would be an inner hull separated from the outer. But I'm not sure of the engineering of that. Trek's biggest booms usually come when the shields are down, meaning the poor guys thrown from one room to another are the guys unlucky enough to be at the very end of a vibration. Meaning they get to be a direct conductor of the kinetic energy of the blast on top of the electrical discharge of his particular panel.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

A good way to stop vibrations would be an inner hull separated from the outer. But I'm not sure of the engineering of that. Trek's biggest booms usually come when the shields are down, meaning the poor guys thrown from one room to another are the guys unlucky enough to be at the very end of a vibration. Meaning they get to be a direct conductor of the kinetic energy of the blast on top of the electrical discharge of his particular panel.

[johnh23]

I always found Star Wars, ... Lord of the Rings etc .... completely boring .... kids stuff.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Everyone can only like what they like.

But I suppose its therefore good for me that neither Star Wars nor Lord of the Rings are in this video. ;)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I'm trying to get excited to make the next one, but its too darn cold around here. ;)

[Qujo00]

Then warm up!

Can't wait to see more. :D

[turtlewings]

Wicked!

hey, if the Enterprise crew simply turned off whatever 'Gravity' switch they had during a firefight, wouldn't they simply float around instead of having to lurch back and forth getting thrown onto the floor?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

They wouldnt get thrown to the floor, but they'd still get thrown around. Longitudinal waves have their own energy and dont need gravity to work. Its that darn conservation of energy. A bomb from the left throws you to the left using transferred vibration.

[Rosyblade]

Yo muse i was frankly stunned by your magnificent camera art and i was hoping if i could have a copy of your video.

[MSB3000]

Wow. This is awesome. You've obviously put a lot more into this movie than most people on Youtube do.

This was fun, definitely not boring. Insightful. I'll see where I can post a link.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Thanks. A good fan is hard to find. ;)

[maven21]

great stuff as usual muse. I have learned a great deal as usual

[Qujo00]

Great work!

how about going a litle deeper into the details of what happens to a starship taking hits?

Example: If you hit its hull with a direct energy weapon like a laser, would the lokalised heating an the resulting expansion of the material realy let the affectet part of the hull explode?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Now thats an interesting question. Most sci fi shows play fast and loose with their terminology. What they call a "laser" actually looks a lot more like plasma. Since plasma does have mass, it would cause an impact and explosion. A true laser wouldnt explode, just burn right thru. Trek is pretty good about that. Other shows just repeat big words hoping no one would notice, but we do. ;)

[LhodaKblerz]

It is bordering on the crimminal that this video has only been viewed about 300 times!

[SpreadingtheMuse]

You're telling me! I've been trying to link it to some Battlestar sites but I cant get registered. If you can recommend any sites, go ahead and let'em rip. Post this anywhere you can think of.

[durwill2005]

Brilliant, as usual.

Your videos are proof that copyright laws do not need to be broken in order to enjoy Youtube.

[CanadianWolverine]

Thank you, I really enjoy your videos, even your D&D one where we got to discuss the vagaries of spell battles.

I like how you present the communication between earth and mars but I found myself wondering about other ways energy displays itself and interestingly enough, my sci fi side wonders if they could be used as weapons in space ship battles:

Microwaves

Radio Waves

Light Ultra Violet Visible Infra Red - I think that was covered already in a previous video.

X-rays

Gamma

[SpreadingtheMuse]

When it comes to energy, the only limit is your imagination. It all depends on what the other guy is vulnerable to. If shields havent been invented yet, then I say aim a tight beam at the enemy ship and bake him with microwaves. :(

(Thats harsh).

[KillahMate]

The crickets were when I started laughing :-)

You sure have a knack for this, and even though I learned all this a long time ago it's still fun to watch you explain it - I guess that's the hallmark of a good teacher...

If you'll allow me one good-natured comment: you do have to work some more on your delivery. You're getting there, and I don't think you're a bad speaker, it's just that you have to get a bit more comfortable with the camera.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Back when I started making movies, I made 5-6 before I ever said a spoken word. My biggest early movie "Legacy of the Spellmaster" (the reason I use that big skull hand for my production logo), had only one actor, me, on screen for 6 minutes without a SINGLE LINE of dialog. ;)

I like to think I get along with the camera, but if there's room for improvement I'll certainly look for it.

[buckaroohawk]

I absolutely love these videos; they're informative, educational, and extremely entertaining. I wish all my school instructors had had your imagination and enthusiasm. I'm always looking forward to seeing what you do next. Bravo!

[losbarbour]

man I love watching these! Creative, informative, and well produced. Thank you for taking the time to make this!

[taiyoshin]

Well done!

[jedigramma]

WOW! That was a lot of physics presented in a cool way...

[Valen123456]

once again you deliver the goods spectacularly ... well done