The Physics of Starship Battles- Laws of Motion and Momentum

[SWWProductions]

good work

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@SWWProductions Thanks. This was made with really low quality equipment and I'm self conscious about it.

[Ryoske6]

If i learn more in youtube than in school, fuck school.

[Jbudtheoneandonly]

This is by far the worst quality audio/video recording I have ever seen, however the knowledge is top quality. What gives?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Jbudtheoneandonly

This video is next to the oldest I ever did, originally recorded with analog equipment. (You make movies with the camera you have, not the camera you wish you had ;) ) Movies after this were all digital and look a lot better. Now that all that stuff is cheaper than it was back in the day, I'm going thru some of my movies and reuploading them at higher quality, but I dont think this one can be saved. I'll likely just remake the thing.

[aarontaylor94]

the only way to avoid inertia is through some form of micro teleportation

[BMWM3GTRLOVER]

good videos mate. but to greater impose the law of staying in motion, you shouldve had one starship Purposely crashing into another... not that you needed to though. That Babylon 5 clip at 5:09 is just fine. Try and make more of these if you can ;)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@BMWM3GTRLOVER

I scoured my brain for every clip I could think of of an actual impact. I think I used every one there was of Trek and B5. Ships didnt crash until 1995, when CGI went mainstream. Trek didnt even go CGI until after TNG was over.

But good news, I'm halfway thru my next movie now.

[slipiknot3000]

5:09=speakers and eyes blown away.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@slipiknot3000

Heaven forbid I ever upload the High Q version ;) I cant believe how youtube has washed out the color on these older uploads.

[slipiknot3000]

@SpreadingtheMuse what was that movie called?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@slipiknot3000

5:09 is a couple episodes of the TV series Babylon 5. 

[AstralDragoon]

@SpreadingtheMuse What's the crash clip right before that, the one right at 5:00 where the small ship rolls across the bigger one? It's mind-blowing.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@AstralDragoon

Thats from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, the last episode of season 6.

Looking at these older videos is painful. The quality is dirt poor. Maybe its time to reupload.

[SlipKnoT8589]

evil dead in beginning?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@SlipKnoT8589

Yes.  A quick easy demo of momentum. Thru a windshield

[Valen123456]

@grillinIstheLife Sorry i had to laugh a bit at this ... yes i admit Trek has got better at scifi relism in more recent works but a lot of TrekTech as they describe it is not really possible (dont get me started on Transporters) ... i still laugh a little if i watch an original (Kirk-era) episode where they find a ship and start fawning over its "Ion Drive" when all that is is a rocket with a different type of tailfire while their common-as-muck "Warp Drive" alters the fabric of space time

[Craynak]

I would like to know when you are gonna make a video on personal, and starship shields. I have a feeling the answer has to do with magnitisam, but I never took physics so I have no clue.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Craynak

The problem with shields is that they're fictional. We dont have any for real, dont know how to make them. Even if you read the Trek tech manuals, two different books give you two different mutual contradictory explanations. I have to stick to what actually exists. We'll have shields someday though, just no one knows how.

[Craynak]

@SpreadingtheMuse

I was actually asking if you thought it was possible to create shielding technology using magnatism.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Craynak

WHereas that might stop bullets, it wouldnt stop lasers

[Craynak]

@SpreadingtheMuse

Then a little bit of research and hard work, and we might've figured out the next generation of infantry armor. Gotta start small =)

[trekkie117]

4:49

i think Japan already figured that one out there bud

[HindenBOOM]

What was that movie clip with the shuttle attached to the jet? Thanks in advance.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@HindenBOOM

That was Superman Returns from 2006. I use that movie a lot. Lots of zero g.

[jackhuskey]

Where you are referring to MV=MV no matter how many parts you are in b4 or after the equals sign... One part you fail to mention is the effects of atmosphere/armor on the post explosion Mass. One astroid weighing 1 million Kilos impacting on Dallas would wreck the earth. 1 million astroids impaction from the N to S poles would make pretty lights. Same applies to 1 Large impact to an armored hull vs 1000 tiny impacts vs an armored hull. NEW VID MAN!!!!

[ricogoldstar]

OMG! Dude, when you put in clips from the classic Video game Asteroids....total flashback! That stupid little ship and it's momentum had me crashing into random asteroids all the time and cost me countless quarters...not to mention that smarmy little UFO gettin in my asteroid mining business...LOL!

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@ricogoldstar

I'm a child of the 70's. ;)  Watch other videos if you want an overload of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

[ricogoldstar]

@SpreadingtheMuse Excellent. I am also a child of the 70's/80's. I enjoy your vids. I am also an Avid Gamer with my own gaming clan. I will sub to your channel, so please sub to mine when you get time, thanx.

[cmdesign01]

Abraxas...can you maybe explain the Theory Behind Folding Space? And why it works or doesn't work?

[cmdesign01]

I still really like this producer...thank you heaps

[cmdesign01]

in motion. But what about sometihng that is at the very beginning that has NO origin or end....that ITSELF is the Origin and END. This would be the force acting upon every other universal force to make things happen originally. Kinda the MOTHER of all force and motion. Or Father as the case may be. I'm just thinking about this but does anyone ...especially our host at least concede I may have a point at least?

[cmdesign01]

"For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. " Okay...but this has come about thru observation. Because of the Law of Cause and Effect we accept this as a theorum. I'm not trying to go to a specific place but because of the Law of Cause and Effect....this pressumes there must be a force that initially "causes" from the very beginning. If this is true and it must be true..than Newton's Law has a fatal flaw in it. Being what? Being that Law is soley dependent on a mass already

[starfleetau]

Nice educational video's but technically not 100% correct, you claim there is no resistance in space or next to none, however space is not a vacum, ask anyone who actually studies space you do have resistance in space, not necessaryly 15 PSI of it, but the Gas, Dust and other particals make space anything BUT a void, and do cause friction. Just my one small nit pick :) other then that.. Love the video

[abraxas365]

You deserve a camera of better quality.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@abraxas365

Most of the quality here is merely the compression. I made this back before internet speeds were quite what they were. I have the HQ version around here somewhere, and sooner or later I'll upload it.

[MorganOfTheAncients]

Some of my favourite tV shows are on these videos...yet, I have not yet seen Stargate in it. Will it be coming up at some point? Or not...?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@MorganOfTheAncients

For one reason or another, I never got into Stargate. It was never on at the right time of day, never had reliable starship fights every week, etc. Some shows caught my attention and others didnt.

[trekkie117]

see Halo

see MAC guns

[rhatcher010]

I wish my physics professors lectured like this. I'd never leave my desk.

[Zekkandgrant13]

lol! just as you said the 3rd Newton's Law I started up my Newton's cradle XD

[LouistheHedgehog]

0:18

That's why you wear seatbelts kids!

[AstralDragoon]

That is one heck of a cool crash at 5:04! These battle scenes look a thousand times better than Star Wars.

[Lennier9]

@AstralDragoon

That's from the absolutely excellent Babylon 5 episode "Severed Dreams".

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Lennier9

Since you're a B5 fan, you'll love my movie on Artificial Gravity. Its higher quality and I use "Fall of Night." You know which scene I mean. ;)

[frballz]

What's the scene at :55 from?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@frballz

Thats the death of the Battlestar Pegasus from Sci Fis Battlestar Galactica 3rd season.

[eton7410]

LMFAO.. that guy is fat.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@eton7410

Actually, I'm not a pound over 190. Your pixel aspect ratio is obvious skewed. ;)

[Buemmo]

man you are soo geat! 2 things i like.. no wait.. 3 things i like: physics, science fiction and explosions... and all that in one clip! Awesome!

[SailorBarsoom]

Thanks for posting. As much as I enjoy Star Wars, the dogfights are pretty much World War I.

[MrLamemanwatch]

Doesn't Flak use this rule?

1 shell becomes a cloud of shrapnel, all going the same speed, if not faster, as the original shell explodes?

[grittygreenhorn]

MUSE! You are an inspiration. Really original material, well not really, but still original in presentation. To a budding science fiction writer like myself these videos have actually helped immensely. Peace.

[NodDisciple1]

Q at the end, always full of LULZ. XD

[Contevent]

In fact, the good plan would be to make something explode just Before it touch the spacship. Then, if the explosion is sufficient, it woul stop blow the pieces, and also throw them away

[krnt13]

Have you seen the video?

Just a half of the particles from a explosion of an moving ship could stop or reverse only if the explosion is enough to do that job, if is not, you are screwed, but the other half would be accelerated much more than the current speed, so may be you will still being screwed in both cases. the only solution is to avoid the collision or to have enough armor.

[aarontaylor94]

laws of motion rule 4 if something goes boom is goes faster forward (depending)

and from i'm going to hit you to I AM GOING TO FUKING KICK YOUR ASS

and that is the bonus an upgrade

[hfdpayner]

I find that there is an awful lot of bad science in films nowadays, such as microwaves frazzling the earth and such. I like to apply physics to modern day situations and i enjoyed these videos thanks for posting them.

[tennispro3782]

These videos are all very interesting. I just find it peculiar that Star Wars is not in any of them. Not 1 clip. Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, War of the Worlds, Battlestar Galactica. Seems like Star Wars fits right in?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Its an interesting question, and one I've thought about often. If I could go back and add in another scene to any movie, it would be to "Explosive Decompression" with General Grevious. But ordinarily, I avoid using Star Wars. Why?

One would not use the Holy Scripture to teach english class. ;)

[tennispro3782]

I find that last line funny because in 9th grade my English class did whole unit on the bible. I go to a regular non-christian private school. :)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Personal preference I guess. ;)

It also has to do with internal distractions. Most of my video clips are from rather obscure sources, not done to death in popular culture. But if I used Star Wars for a physics concept, the first thing the audience would think was "Oh its Star wars and its the clip from such and such and the last time I saw that was-" etc etc etc. And by the time that thought is over, they've lost 1-10 secs of the movie, ruining the momentum.

[ShyDaniel2112]

I thought it was really great to see a few shots of Trek actually paying attention to little things like physics for a change.

[Pfaenningz]

what's the movie at 1:50, where the space shuttle seriously fucks up that plane?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Thats Superman Returns. I use that scene a lot. ;)

[mackjsm]

wish the quality was better - great vid!

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I post my newer stuff at a higher resolution. I still have the high res version of this on DVD of course. ;)

[kaker69]

just as i thought. ounce the enterprise is at warp speed ut doesn't need the engines to be continuiously running.

[Excalibur01]

Perhaps the warp engine is needed more than just getting the ship at a particular speed, maybe it is also the same engine that slows down the ship from that speed and to maintain the ship within that speed since in our universe, an object cant go faster than the speed of light

[mackjsm]

good thought!!

[MelchiahTheObscene]

The warp drive doesn't move you forward, it creates a field of altered space that allows you to travel at speeds that are impossible in normal space (hense 'warp'). The engines need to be running in order to maintain that warp field.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I'm glad you explained that, I honestly couldnt find the right words to get it out myself. ;) Its a tricky concept.

[Excalibur01]

Yeah sorry for the month reply, but I came to that same realization myself about what the warp drive is.

[gregrutz]

And you don't need a 'tractor beam' to tow something. Just give it a push and it will keep going.

[SARGENTSCRUFY]

That was an awesome video! only thing I could criticize would be the bad audio pickup of your camera on the scenes where you chroma keyed. Other than that, its a fantastic production!

[Fulou]

Remeniscent of Rodney McKay, may i add.

[tommysch]

Not saying your wrong, just simplistic.

[tommysch]

Your half right about the momentum conservation, you didnt specified that it is a little more complicated then this. A spaceship being hit by a missile is a semi elastic semi nonelastic collision and you got to take in consideration the force applied to the airship be the explosion.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Elastic vs inelastic is a whole other ball of wax that I didnt want to get into. Missiles dont destroy ships thru kinetic energy, but with explosive force. Therefore the pieces of the ship are still traveling in the same general direction, and impact whatever gets in their way.

I ALMOST talked about elastic vs inelastic in my latest movie, but its a lot of exposition for little gain.

[Stratboy999]

Very good demonstration. More please!!!!

[thepsion5]

Where did you get your DS9 video clips? As you can imagine (since I'm watching this video) I'm a fan of things exploding in space and I don't think I've seen most of those battles.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Originally posted by sparrowlt

::::

You should had mocked shows like old BattleStar Galactica where when a ship ran out of fuel they simply stoped dead in space . In the new show not only they respect the phisics of "newtonian flight model" but they even say in dialog that Vipers use more fuel in atmosphere than in space because "they need their engines runing constantly" and in space they only need the engines to acelerate/change direction (aceleration being both positive/negative)

[Gungrave20]

space is not free from gravity as space warps around mass. Even if you were to stay at a constant speed the space around other objects would change your trajectory and velocity regardless of your distance from them.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

There's always gravity somewhere, but the force of that gravity decreases according to the square of distance. So the farther away you are from the gravity source, the less force it has on you.

At some point, the force would be so weak as to be negligible.  Starship fights in orbit of a planet would have to deal with it. Starship fights in the middle of nowhere would not.

[stonermanpigbird]

I love this man, plus Galactica is my favorite Sci-fi cause it obeys physics a hell of a lot more then any other that I've seen

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Good ole fashioned Nuke Wars. ;) Now lets just hope they end the series the right way.

[stonermanpigbird]

damn straight, although come to think of it I think firefly obeys it more cause they have no sound in space, they're ships don't fly faster then light being they converted a solar system worth of planets into "new Earths" and they still use good old fashioned bullets

[peepdust]

love it

[nomineZERO]

Well my browser is working slowly today, but I gues this video was about the exploding battleships dealling more damage, but I just couldn't resist, :D well if there's a outer force that destroys one object flying towards another and all the parts hit the other object it wouldn't be same like only one, because of the different corners of the parts, they wouldn't hit so much directly on the second object and it's a better chance to bounce off. Shorter: the corner decreases the rectangular force.

[JheakrynaKyAlur]

lol

this is hillarious ^^

'small force, small acceleration'

'large force, large acceleratio' *sproing*

but your first sentence is the best

this is called pain ^^

and

'happens all the time'

i love these guides ^^

keep up the good work

[Darusdei]

Maby u should beg the movie studios that u could go and educate film directors...

[alacrity024]

good stuff here man. you're a pretty good "host."

[Magni56]

Ah, good ol momentum and it´s uses for kinetic kill vehicles. Remember kids: Everything going 2 kilometres per second carries it´s own weight in BOOOOOM! (Or TNT, to be exact.)

[satweavers]

I always Gufaw when I see a spacecraft flying into a space-hangar with its engines blazing. I know there's a really hard stop in store for the inempt pilot. Also, when I see a spacecraft reach it destination planet, I see it's engines blazing in the direction of travel, I think, "Well, these guys aren't stopping here!"

[greenmagoos]

watch?v=Eo66TOwxXGQ

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Magoos what on Gods Green Earth could possibly give you the erroneous impression that THIS was the proper forum to peddle your latest kook-vid-dujour?

(Other than the fact that my movie has more hits? ;P )

This is about MY movie. Anything off-topic will be deleted, and I'll thank you to stick to the rules.

[greenmagoos]

Well get yourself onto the the video comments for the rover run.

Its all relevant to your effort here after all.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I had planned to give the moon community a break for a while. At least until I could determine that the hoax believers definitely intended to listen to refuting evidence, instead of hiding behind talking points.  I may drop in.

BUT, as long as you're here, can you at least make a comment on the movie at hand?

[hengsheng120]

momentum =/= inertia

momentum = mass x velocity

inertia = mass

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Inertia is a PROPERTY of mass, not a synonym for it.

[CanadianWolverine]

The physics will get you every time, unless you happen to reside in a fantasy space adventure.

Physics is a lot of fun but dangerous too, good reason to reduce your velocity when driving, especially if you don't expect to have enough friction to come to a stop before you hit something.

How about the forces of gravity, would that have an affect on space fighters, right? Is that often ignored in science fiction (thus becoming science fantasy) as well?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Most space fights take place outside a planets orbit, which also puts it out of gravities reach. The only fight I can think of that took place in a gravity well was Revenge of the Sith, and those were huge Capital ships large enough to stay in orbit. What most shows DO ignore however, is the sheer distance involved in flying from one side of a star system to another. Would take hours even at near light speed, but you see them zipping around all the time.

[CanadianWolverine]

I think I saw a show that did what you are talking about SG-1, where Oneil was stuck in a modified enemy craft. I didn't catch all of Babylon 5, I hope to get that on DVD one day, but I could have sworn they had some stuff like you describe as well. I think both shows solved long distances with "jump gates" or "star gates", with mostly controlled intentional wormholes or slipping into a different dimension of sorts.

[Valen123456]

pretty much ... it was called hyperspace but it works on the same principle as wormholes ... the driving force behind the stargate ... it is essentially about taking a shortcut and going a short distance in one space while going a massive distance in another ... in the case of a wormhole its space compressed or folded until the two points touch ... for hyperspace its like going inside a deep sphere and moving the relitive distance before popping back out again

[satweavers]

It always seemed to me that such an interception battle would be rather like jousting, with fleets making one pass, deploying loads of seekers in a cloud for the other side to fly through... even clouds of pellets would be deadly. Seemed they would pass one another, take damage, perhaps survive to attack the objective, but the fuel cost of turning to chase would be prohibitive.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Thats a darn good idea. Someone should work that into a story. David Weber writes a lot of military sci fi, maybe one of us should drop him a line.

[satweavers]

Thanks! You know... the fact that NO BODY GETS THIS makes MOST sci fi cinema something to be ENDURED!!! In almost every instance, you have to lobotomize the part of your brain that knows ANYTHING about physics. I'll check David Weber. Sounds promising.

[durwill2005]

I agree that that is a great idea.

[ylwenn]

I remember two books entitled "The Risen Empire" and "The Killing of Worlds" by Scott Westerfeld, where the author describe this kind of fight between a (space) frigate and a cruiser. Each ship accelerates to the other one and deploys clouds of sand on hundred of kilometers around itself in order to kill enemy offensive drones, and then, to damage enemy ship itself when they cross.

Simple but efficient. :)

[Tranchera]

Your audio quality leaves much to be desired.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I'll respectfully disagree. You're watching video thats been compressed twice, once by me and again by youtube, and yet I can still understand every word.

[Tranchera]

Oh, I can understand it fine. I'm just saying it could be a lot better.

But yeah, you probably have your reasons.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Now if you are that hard up to talk about this, you might be interested to know that I have made astronomy movies on this subject, which you may watch here:::

watch?v=VCN7qWrLHVw

Now please leave this movie alone, and take your quackery to a more appropriate thread.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Now 1plus8, I gave you enough rope to hang yourself, and you fulfilled my prediction to a T. Despite your advanced age, you are clearly just as desperately dumb as any 14 year old, grasping at straws and ignoring anyone with an education who actually has astronomy training, such as myself. If you cared AT ALL about the truth, you would engage people in discussion, not attack them with juvenile language like a little boy who got mad.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I think its apparent you have barely 30 seconds of prepared rhetoric on this subject, which quickly runs out, forcing you into the cliched response of "YOU'RE EVIL!" a statement more suited to the playground than a message board.

Its obvious my personal knowledge on the topic greatly exceeds your own, and you let your bias do the majority of your thinking.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

Now 1plus8, if you feel the need to evangelize the conspiracy theory du jour, find a wacko page and do it there. Your imbecilic last post, totally devoid of any rational understanding, is proof enough you are no one worth debating and that you are here only to regurgitate retreaded tripe you read on other people sites.  That may impress the kooks you usually hang around but not me. On this page you'll stay ON TOPIC or you'll get blocked. have a nice day. ;)

[SpreadingtheMuse]

A "criminal?" I cant be just wrong or misguided, I have to be a 'criminal?" Do you have any idea how fanatically DUMB this makes you look? Its one thing to read a kook webpage and fall for it because you're too uneducated to know any better, but to actively seek out and attack anyone with a different view is an act of sheer paranoid narcissism, and you prove my point by doing it.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I have yet to read any criticism of the moonlandings that I felt was competent enough to even NAME the 3 laws of motion, let alone successfully bluff some big words they copied from a kook webpage. I fail to be impressed by wannabes like you who watch a 5 min video and then think you're an expert.

[Chevron7engage]

Awesome vids! I would have probably paid more attention in school if vids like these were shown by my teachers.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

I used to use these video clips back in the day when I was the teacher. Its just as much fun to teach with them as it is to learn. ;)

[s205chriskellas]

haha i loved that nice one

[ichsuka]

rly cool vid, awesome work!

[Johannes9126]

Not to forget the A-wing that crashed the bridge of the Executor... 5/5

[SpreadingtheMuse]

That one was on my mind, but I have an unwritten rule about using SW in these movies (for blasphemy reasons), ;) and the A Wing lost control after being forced into a centripetal spin, which was more torque than momentum, and I have half a mind to do a torque video later on, which I would then use the A wing for (after begging for forgiveness ;) )

[Johannes9126]

Yeah, you are right. It wasn't really destroyed, just loosing control. Forgot that.

[Mazryonh]

Good work! Now if only we could make reactionless drives like the Minbari use on Babylon 5 . . .

Of course, in the vacuum of space, it's perfectly capable of "circle-strafing" around your target, but that would result in a constant g-force being smashed in your face, right?

[losbarbour]

Make another, I love this stuff.

[Notcoldsoup]

Great, NOW I'll be able to pass my midterms.

[maven21]

Hey man...very creative and entertaining way to put forth the laws of physics. well put together...good job.

[buckaroohawk]

These videos are so cool, and a great way to make the sometimes daunting laws of physics accessible to everyone. Thanks for touching on the "exploding = stopping" mistake from those old TV shows. That always bothered me, even when I was a kid.