Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"in 1974 I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Skew-Flip Turnover | ||
| Used halfway to the destination by torch ships to slow for one's destination. |
Heinlein is the first one to describe it as a "skew-flip", but he's not the first one to describe the maneuver.
| But right now ! think we had better hang on. We ought to be at half way point in a few minutes and a skew-flip is disconcerting even if you are strapped down.
I had read about skew-flip turnovers, but only as a theoretical maneuver; I had never heard of a ship that could do one. If this was a ship. The floor felt as solid as concrete and as motionless. I dont see anything to hang on to. |
| Technovelgy from Have Space Suit - Will Travel,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Scribners in 1958 Additional resources -
|
The novel was published in pieces in F & SF; here's a bit more from the second installment:
Was Pluto in opposition? Or quadrature? Or conjunction? Nobody looks at Pluto so why remember where it is on the ecliptic? Oh, well, the average distance was 30 A.U.s that would give a close-enough answer.
Half that distance, in feet, is: 1/2 ื 30 ื 93,000,000 ื 5280. Eight gravities is: 8 ื 32.2 ft./sec./sec. speed increases by 258 feet per second every second up to skew-flip and decreases just as fast thereafter.
So 1/2 ื 30 ื 93,000,000 ื 5280 = 1/2 ื 8 ื 32.2 x t2 and you wind up with the time for half the trip, in seconds. Double that for full trip. Divide by 3600 to get hours; divide by 24 and you have days. On a slide rule such a problem takes forty seconds, most of it to get your decimal point correct. It's as easy as computing sales tax.
Compare to negative acceleration from Skylark of Space (1928) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith and turnover from Off the Beam (1944) by George O. Smith.
It's a two-piece problem; accelerate for half time (and half distance); do a skew-flip and decelerate the other half time (and distance). You can't use the whole distance in the equation, as "time" appears as a square it's a parabolic.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Have Space Suit - Will Travel
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
| The First Space Warship For Space Force |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
