People will disagree with me, but I have a theory on why they bank:Inertia.
Its the same reason racecar tracks are tilted slightly – otherwise the fast-moving cars will slide sideways right off the track (Sure, they sometimes do anyways, but the tilt allows them to ‘bank into’ the turn)
As well since Starships that bank rarely have things like Seat Belts to keep the crew in place, this also allows the inertia to keep them in their seats, othewrise they’d all slide sideways on the turns.
Inertia ‘dampners’ can only go so far, otherwise they wouldnt be tossed all over when the ship is hit hard by something.
The problem with this theory is that it’s based on an understanding of how things move in an atmosphere, under a strong gravitational pull. In space, the concept of “turning” as we know it becomes meaningless, because any object in space is, from a certain point of view, simultaneously at rest and in motion.
First off, the concept of a “turn” is meaningless in space. All objects in space follow ballistic trajectories *unless* they are actively accelerating. And their direction of motion has absolutely nothing to do with the direction they are facing at any given moment.
To put it this way: if you were in a spaceship and cut the engines, you would just be in orbit around the most dominant nearby mass (probably a planet or star). Thrusting in any direction would only be changing the radius and eccentricity of your orbit. In fact, if you wanted to move in a straight line (relative to said dominant mass) you would have to continuously thrust in a direction that is *not* the one you’re moving in.
On a related note, a spaceship only has to worry about acceleration from one direction: that of the primary drive system. It will never experience any sort of significant acceleration from any direction other than that one, unless it is acted upon by an outside source.
Which is why “banking” just by itself is a meaningless concept. There is absolutely no change in the direction of acceleration (and its accompanying g-forces) with regards to roll, assuming the engines are mounted in the back of course.
Gravity has nothing to do with it. If the space shuttle abruptly changed direction, everything inside (which was still going the original direction) would continue moving in that direction until it hit the side of the shuttle and was pushed into the new direction with the ship.
Banking serves the purpose of ensuring you dont slide out of your seat due to MOMENTUM, by using said momentum to keep you in the seat by banking – thus pressing you DOWN into the seat instead of across it.
And no, there’s more than just the drive’s momentum to work with. How many times in movies do people in STar Trek, etc, get thrown out of their seats cause the ship just got hit by something?
People will disagree with me, but I have a theory on why they bank:Inertia.
Its the same reason racecar tracks are tilted slightly – otherwise the fast-moving cars will slide sideways right off the track (Sure, they sometimes do anyways, but the tilt allows them to ‘bank into’ the turn)
As well since Starships that bank rarely have things like Seat Belts to keep the crew in place, this also allows the inertia to keep them in their seats, othewrise they’d all slide sideways on the turns.
Inertia ‘dampners’ can only go so far, otherwise they wouldnt be tossed all over when the ship is hit hard by something.
The problem with this theory is that it’s based on an understanding of how things move in an atmosphere, under a strong gravitational pull. In space, the concept of “turning” as we know it becomes meaningless, because any object in space is, from a certain point of view, simultaneously at rest and in motion.
First off, the concept of a “turn” is meaningless in space. All objects in space follow ballistic trajectories *unless* they are actively accelerating. And their direction of motion has absolutely nothing to do with the direction they are facing at any given moment.
To put it this way: if you were in a spaceship and cut the engines, you would just be in orbit around the most dominant nearby mass (probably a planet or star). Thrusting in any direction would only be changing the radius and eccentricity of your orbit. In fact, if you wanted to move in a straight line (relative to said dominant mass) you would have to continuously thrust in a direction that is *not* the one you’re moving in.
On a related note, a spaceship only has to worry about acceleration from one direction: that of the primary drive system. It will never experience any sort of significant acceleration from any direction other than that one, unless it is acted upon by an outside source.
Which is why “banking” just by itself is a meaningless concept. There is absolutely no change in the direction of acceleration (and its accompanying g-forces) with regards to roll, assuming the engines are mounted in the back of course.
Gravity has nothing to do with it. If the space shuttle abruptly changed direction, everything inside (which was still going the original direction) would continue moving in that direction until it hit the side of the shuttle and was pushed into the new direction with the ship.
Banking serves the purpose of ensuring you dont slide out of your seat due to MOMENTUM, by using said momentum to keep you in the seat by banking – thus pressing you DOWN into the seat instead of across it.
And no, there’s more than just the drive’s momentum to work with. How many times in movies do people in STar Trek, etc, get thrown out of their seats cause the ship just got hit by something?