So while doing a bit of flight assist off along the training station, I noticed gravity isn't ideal everywhere with this design.
youtube.com/watch?v=Pa4PhbHqZNs
youtube.com/watch?v=Pa4PhbHqZNs
Coriolis Design Flaw
- Thread starter Bambi
- Start date
Actually, the game universe, lorewise, doesn't have artificial gravity so it wouldn't make sense for you to fall outside the station without touching it in any way. The stations use centrifugal force to create a bit of gravity so as long as you are touching it, from the inside that is, it'll keep you pushed toward the outer shell of the station.
What you experience in this video is just the station drifting away from you while it's spinning happily.
Also, I couldn't understand where the floors were facing. The ceilings have to point towards the center of the station while the floors have to point away from it to work properly. They looked OK to me.
What you experience in this video is just the station drifting away from you while it's spinning happily.
Also, I couldn't understand where the floors were facing. The ceilings have to point towards the center of the station while the floors have to point away from it to work properly. They looked OK to me.
Technically speaking, its centripetal force.
that doesnt change the fact that the force is pulled outwarts in a straight line.
It doesn't exactly work like that. The station is rotating around a fixed axis. You are not bound to it so even if you keep your angular momentum fixed on the station actively , when you let go, you start drifting as the angular momentum gets translated into a linear momentum. In other words, it's like jumping of a 'moving' cliff into free fall. So your trajectory relative to the cliff surface would not be a straight line but curved.
That effect only comes into play much further out, the square faces on the side of the station have correct gravity but the triangle corners do not.
You don't have to touch the structure. It's not glue or velcro. The gravity is accurately simulated in the game.
![[VR] Deggial](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/47/47252.jpg?1553527110){kind=avatar}
The key is the atmosphere in the stations.
In order to experience the centrifugal force, you will have to couple two systems: yourself and the rotating station.
In a thought-experiment, let's start floating over the floor and have the "ground" rotate beneath us.
If the station would be filled (not filled?) with the vacuum of space, the coupling could only be done by grabbing a fixed station-part and letting you pull with it. The centrifugal force will kick in and press you towards the station wall, where the friction between you and the "ground" should be enough to keep you rotating with the station.
This isn't necessary with some sort of gas filling the station. The gas will be dragged by the station and rotate with the same speed. You, on the other hand, will 'float' in this gas and slowly be accelerated by it. This will cause your own rotation within the station, hence drift to the outside and finally causing the contact to the floor and thus enjoying the 'artificial gravity'.
--
@Conch: you would, if the strong force of friction (caused by earth's gravity) that "glues" the rest of your body to the ground wouldn't exist. Oh, and please, NEVER try this at home!
In order to experience the centrifugal force, you will have to couple two systems: yourself and the rotating station.
In a thought-experiment, let's start floating over the floor and have the "ground" rotate beneath us.
If the station would be filled (not filled?) with the vacuum of space, the coupling could only be done by grabbing a fixed station-part and letting you pull with it. The centrifugal force will kick in and press you towards the station wall, where the friction between you and the "ground" should be enough to keep you rotating with the station.
This isn't necessary with some sort of gas filling the station. The gas will be dragged by the station and rotate with the same speed. You, on the other hand, will 'float' in this gas and slowly be accelerated by it. This will cause your own rotation within the station, hence drift to the outside and finally causing the contact to the floor and thus enjoying the 'artificial gravity'.
--
@Conch: you would, if the strong force of friction (caused by earth's gravity) that "glues" the rest of your body to the ground wouldn't exist. Oh, and please, NEVER try this at home!
Last edited:
Nope, that's just inertia.that doesnt change the fact that the force is pulled outwarts in a straight line.
Deggial, I don't think you understand how artificial gravity works. The gravity comes from the fact that you are moving at the same speed as the station, but the station wall is curving up and away as it rotates while you don't. That different makes you fall down, or out rather. Because of maths I can't remember right now the effect is exactly the same as with real gravity, you will land in the same spot as you jumped from if you jump straight up. No atmosphere is required, no contact is required, I simply used my thrusters to give myself the same speed as the station walls.
Actually, the square faces only have correct gravity in their center as well, because the gravity effect is cylindrical out from the axis of rotation while those faces are flat.
Actually, the square faces only have correct gravity in their center as well, because the gravity effect is cylindrical out from the axis of rotation while those faces are flat.
The key there is if you 'jump'. When you are standing still in contact with the inner wall of the station, you are static relative to the station but you are spinning with a force acting on you relative to an outside point. This means if you jump, you land on the same spot relative to the station but a different point relative to the outside reference. I have a masters in engineering and almost a PhD, I understand these things mathematically since middle school too.
If you place yourself outside a station, rotate with it for a while and then let go, you'll start flying out in a straight line connecting you to the surface of the station. And you'll continue in this straight line until some other force acts on you. The station though, being constantly rotating will cause the spot you just left on the wall to drift away from you on an arc to which your trajectory vector is a tangent.
I can't explain this any clearer without drawing things and I don't want to bother with scanners and photos right now and my tablet isn't working.
Edit: Brainfart caused thinking tangent but writing normal, edited and corrected. Thanks Zieman!
Last edited:
Not normal, but tangent.
Something I whipped up a long time ago, with my extraordinarily sophisticated artistic skills...
Last edited:
Bambi, I think, I do understand artificial gravity well enough. Maybe I wasn't able to make my point due to my lacking English.
Of course you are right by stating that the artificial gravity is based on your rotation and the centrifugal force it results in - and obviously the station wall that counteracts this force.
My point simply was: how to achieve this rotation?
You could use your thrusters. This is what you did in your experiment. As there was no station wall to hold you back, you drifted away in a tangent (as Zieman pointed out). It was somehow hard to see as the station's rotation direction wasn't clearly visible to me, but I think, everything was correct.
But what, if you would have been inside the station and wouldn't have used your thrusters in order to allign tho the station's rotation? Without an atmosphere, you could happily drift for hours over a perpetually rotating "ground" (= the station walls).
But with an atmosphere filling the station, the gas would accelerate you, dragging you with it into its own rotation. You would "magically" fall towards the station walls without the need of any action of your own.
Regarding the jumping around in space stations (vertically, but also in or against the rotation direction) you have to consider the coriolis force and probably the station's radius as well (which ar of course correlated). I grant it open hearted - my understanding finally fails me here.
Of course you are right by stating that the artificial gravity is based on your rotation and the centrifugal force it results in - and obviously the station wall that counteracts this force.
My point simply was: how to achieve this rotation?
You could use your thrusters. This is what you did in your experiment. As there was no station wall to hold you back, you drifted away in a tangent (as Zieman pointed out). It was somehow hard to see as the station's rotation direction wasn't clearly visible to me, but I think, everything was correct.
But what, if you would have been inside the station and wouldn't have used your thrusters in order to allign tho the station's rotation? Without an atmosphere, you could happily drift for hours over a perpetually rotating "ground" (= the station walls).
But with an atmosphere filling the station, the gas would accelerate you, dragging you with it into its own rotation. You would "magically" fall towards the station walls without the need of any action of your own.
Regarding the jumping around in space stations (vertically, but also in or against the rotation direction) you have to consider the coriolis force and probably the station's radius as well (which ar of course correlated). I grant it open hearted - my understanding finally fails me here.
Last edited:
Nice, but it needs a small fix:
You fall directly outward, not in a tangent. That is the point of artificial gravity, if you didn't you have the situation in the middle pic above everywhere. The problem is that the triangle faces are not facing directly outward from the axis of rotation but at an angle. Do you see?
I admit defeat.
I you would magically elliminate the station, you would fall in a tangent of your previous circular movement, not the centrifugal vector.
As long as it is still present, the station's rotation equals your own and all is left is the outward centrifugal vector, resulting in the feeling of 'gravity', of course.
Now THIS is true and indeed funny...
I think, now I get where you are coming from!