Dreaded Cloaking Lurker Mode Off, AGAIN!
Does anyone out there have a simple equation (no PDE's or poorly behaved
ODE's) to calculate the pull of a vortex (such as a Black Hole or Neutron
Star) both towards it and around it? Something in cylindrical or spherical
coordinates would be excellent.
The idea is to model the pull of a Black Hole or Neutron Star on ships
fighting a battle around the vortex. Moving the ship straight towards the
vortex according the inverse of the distance to the vortex loses out the
entire effect of acceleration around the vortex. Basically, I want crippled
ships to spiral in and die as opposed to simply being pulled straight in and
die.
Thank You,
> Imre Szabo wrote:
> Does anyone out there have a simple equation (no PDE's or poorly
F = C * M * m / r^2
where
F = the force on the ship from the vortex (and vice versa of course, but
the vortex is so massive so it won't move much anyway)
C = the gravitational constant (6.67e-11 [N*m^2/kg^2] in SI units)
M = the mass of the vortex m = the mass of the ship r = distance from the
vortex to the ship
If you're only interested in the acceleration the vortex imposes on the ship
you use the fact that F = m * a and get
a = C * M / r^2
If you want to calculate the parabolic or spiral-shaped paths ships
moving past the vortex follow, then I'm afraid that you'll have to integrate
it
:-/
Regards,
> Imre A. Szabo wrote:
> Does anyone out there have a simple equation (no PDE's or poorly
> or Neutron Star) both towards it and around it? Something in
> fighting a battle around the vortex. Moving the ship straight towards
> the vortex according the inverse of the distance to the vortex loses
> want crippled ships to spiral in and die as opposed to simply being
Depends on whether you play with vector or cinematic.
If you play vector, then the "spiral" effect happens automatically with
a vaguely tangential (+/- 45 degrees) course and a steady pull towards
the object, decreasing over distance. This is because of the way the vector
system calculates ending V by the position of the ship after movement.
Cinematic would be more complex to get the effect that you want.
J
[quoted original message omitted]
***
This is exactly the same formula as for you average sun, planet, or moon.
Except that the mass of the Black Hole may be as big as you like ;-) In
fact, the mass of a Neutron Star or a small Black Hole is that of a large
star. The point is that you can make your distance (r) much smaller than for a
star.
***
Thanks, Karl, for pointing out something I started to jump on. From Black
Hole, to Wing Commander, the point has been that the only major difference
between these bodies on passing ships is that you may be able get close enough
to a black hole to the point where tidal forces are more damaging than EM
output (light, heat, hard radiation, etc.).
Course, the really big singularities, 'eats suns for breakfast', appear to
have accretion disks that give off enough energy approaching the event horizon
to negate this.
Or is my own Saturday morning physics way off base?
Likewise, any use in the game?
The_Beast
On Sun, 7 Sep 2003 10:29:44 -0500 Doug Evans <devans@nebraska.edu>
writes: <snip> Ah, the most important question, as usual!
> Likewise, any use in the game?
[quoted original message omitted]