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From: ph@wudma.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: A possible inconsistancy...
Message-ID: <243@wudma.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Apr-85 22:02:07 EST
Article-I.D.: wudma.243
Posted: Wed Apr 17 22:02:07 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Apr-85 08:21:19 EST
References: <1513@sunybcs.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, CS Dept. DMA Project
Lines: 24

>    On many episodes,(one example is 'Day of the Dove'), the ship is
> out of control and racing through space at warp factor > 10.  And of
> course Scotty cuts in with the usual 'The ship canae take the stress no
> more.  She'll break apart!'  My question:  Even if the ship is traveling
> faster that it is supposed to, what causes the stress?  After all, there
> is no air out in space to create a drag effect...

	I suppose one might argue that the engines are exerting more
	thrust than the support members were designed to take, but this
	seems more appropriate to our present-day primitive "impulse
	drives"--in any case case warps seem to be velocities, not
	accelerations (and velocities relative to what, anyway?).  I
	rather prefer the idea that the extreme warping of space created
	by the operation of the engines at such levels puts stress on
	the ship.  Either that, or simply that the engines can't handle
	the energies begin fed to them and are about to burn out/melt
	down/explode/whatever--remember that those matter-antimatter
	generators really put out impressive amounts of energy.

						--pH
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