MacRoscope by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony [Anthony, Piers]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf, sf_social, Fiction, Fantasy, General, Science Fiction, Science fiction; American
ISBN: 9780380002092
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1969-04-15T03:35:34+00:00

Ivo began to explain their intent to the women.

“The idea is to utilize the principle of gravitational collapse. We have obtained schematics for a rather sophisticated variant of the gravity focuser, though this resembles what we have here on Triton about the way a hydrogen bomb resembles a matchstick. Assembly of the generators alone will take months, even with a full crew of waldoes, and the related safeguards—”

“What do you mean by ‘gravitational collapse’?” Afra interjected.

“Oh. Well, simplified, it is the effect gravitational attraction has on matter when taken to the extreme. Any object of sufficient mass tends to compress itself by its own gravity, and the more dense it is the stronger this force becomes. Actually the other forces, electromagnetic and nuclear, are far stronger on a unit basis than—”

“May I?” Groton put in. “I think I can simplify this for the benefit of those who haven’t been exposed to a galactic education.” Suddenly Ivo realized that “those” meant Beatryx. He had become used to Afra’s almost instant comprehension, and tended to forget that the other woman was slower, though as vitally concerned. He had forgotten, also, that he was now talking in a manner he would not have comprehended himself, not so long ago; despite his care not to fathom galactic meanings too deeply, he had picked up a considerable amount.

And of course that was the reason Afra had asked her question. She knew astronomy and physics far better than he did, and was aware that the other woman was being left behind.

“You see,” Groton said, “Triton is smaller than Earth, so we weigh less there — I mean here — or did, before we started changing things. Schön is smaller yet, so on it we hardly weigh anything at all. But it isn’t just size that counts. If Schön were made of osmium instead of ice, it would have about twenty-five times its present mass, and therefore more gravity. We would then weigh more there than we do, though still very little.”

Beatryx nodded. Ivo was impressed; he had not really appreciated what a real talent teaching was. Comprehension was one thing; converting one’s knowledge into a clear explanation for others was another.

“But a planet isn’t just pulling at us,” Groton continued. “It is pulling at itself, too. It is much more tightly packed in the center than at the edge, because of its own gravity. And if we squeezed Triton down into a little ball about the size of Schön, and stood on that we’d weigh more than we do now, just because it was so dense and because we were so much closer to its center.

“And if we squeezed it down into a ball the size of a pea — why then the gravity would be very strong indeed. It might even begin to squeeze itself down farther, because its own attraction was so powerful. That’s what’s known as the gravitational radius — the point at which an object begins to collapse in upon itself as though it were a leaking tire.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.