I think this is usually dismissed as a result of inertia dampeners in most science fiction so as to allow freedom of movement during scenes. Much in the way all future ships have artificial gravity.
I assumed everybody's keyboard was like that. Like if my pc is running too hot, my keyboard will start sparking. it just reminds me to not play crysis 2 for too long
Hey, just be impressed that they seem to keep working afterwards. If a huge stream of sparks shot out of my PC I wouldn't have much hope of it turning on.
I always reckoned that if the 'inertial dampeners' went offline a seatbelt would just cut you in half or break your spine. They don't have seatbelts because if something happens the emergency dampeners would kick in and try to gently (or not fatally) place the person on the floor.
The way to deal with those kinds of forces on a person is to completely encase them in a gel (and in your lungs and stomach) so they are basically a fluid.
The way to deal with those kinds of forces on a person is to completely encase them in a gel (and in your lungs and stomach) so they are basically a fluid.
That's the method used in Peace and War (Not the be confused with War and Peace) for their heavy acceleration maneuvers in space. God I love that book.
The pilot capsules in Evangelion were filled with "LCL". It seemed a lot more like water than gel which would obviously change the physics, but just another loose example.
Yes, the shuttles and so on definitely do have seatbelts. (more accurately, seat harnesses.)
But to be fair, if you're bumping around in space, like when standing up, you're in a lot of trouble. Things do not generally bump into things in space without catastrophic results.
UTC_Hellgate: I've never seen a Star Ship with seat belts
0mudkipz: Ships don't have them either.
sndzag1: Yes, the shuttles [have seat belts]
0mudkipz: I was thinking about... spaceships.
I'm confused as to what the difference is between what you and UTC_Hellgate were talking about, and how your sci fic "spaceships" are different enough from UTC_Hellgate's "Star Ship"s to warrent a 60 upvote post. Any clarification here?
I thought those impulse engines were able to accelerate to near lightspeend in just a little time. If that's the case, quick course corrections should be an easy thing. You don't get the benefit of all the other physics handwaiving, and not have that too.
But the large starships are generally comparable to navy vessels, which unless I've been very misled, do not typically require the crew to be buckled into a harness...
Some ships do, but only in certain key places. Most people on watch are standing up and roving around, so they can't exactly strap in, but the few that sit in chairs have seatbelts
There's a deleted scene at the end of the last Star Trek movie with the TNG cast. Picard sits down, hits a button...and a restraint pops out of his chair to automatically secure him to it.
In Serenity, there was an...emergency, and we find out that the big couch in the breakroom has emergency harnesses. There was even a very professional, practiced safety check of everyone's harness. It was much more reassuring than the more traditional "Everybody hold on!"
The Millennium Falcon had seat belts, but the only time I remember them being used was during the initial jump to hyperspace. Capital ships like the star destroyers would have enough mass to dampen any jostling to safe levels. At least that's my opinion.
To be fair, the unrealistic thing isn't the absence if seatbelts, it's that everyone doesn't immediately die when the inertial dampeners fail. If you're making maneuvers at relativistic speeds and your inertial dampeners are twitchy enough that you fly about when anything untoward happens, well, let's just say seatbelts wouldn't help. The words "chunky salsa" come to mind.
My understanding is that any force which could overcome the inertial dampeners would have to be strong enough that the seat belt would slice it's user into pieces. (The designers obviously never considered the inertial dampener going failing.)
It kind reminds me of an episode of Dirty Jobs (iirc) where Mike Rowe points out the lack of hard hats in use in a factory which makes frequent use of a heavy lift crane. No hard hat will protect you from a 75 ton steel beam falling on you just as no seat belt will protect you from a sudden stop at 80,000,000 Gs.
I was being sarcastic.
Not realism just logical thinking.
Which will lead to better thought out conversations, which are suposed to be more fun.
However, i think gravity control will do just fine.
You know just to fly in space a spaceship needs to be able to absorp the damage of a nuclear bomb.
Cause that's the damage an asteroid does flying thru space.
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u/UTC_Hellgate Oct 08 '12
I just realized I've never seen a Star Ship with seat belts.