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Inertial Dampening: Difference between revisions
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Inertial Dampening is generally ''not'' [[Tim Taylor Technology]]. An overloading IDF [Inertial Dampening Field] has the opposite effect of most [[Applied Phlebotinum]], causing a greater inertial effect, usually culminating in a [[Star Trek Shake]]. Generally, however, the [[Star Trek Shake]] has no relation to the ''direction'' of inertia; i.e., the ship is traveling forward, but the crew feels a right-to-left effect.
Though often left unmentioned, [[Inertial Dampening]] is a [[Required Secondary Powers|requisite side-technology]] to any spaceship that can turn or accelerate faster than an ocean liner. It's the reason why [[The Bridge]] has [[No Seat Belts]]. Note that the physical [[Hand Wave]] that accompanies many forms of [[Faster
In hard [[Sci Fi]], especially written but occasionally not, a more realistic method is used to cushion acceleration shock. Immersion in a fluid equal in density to the body would theoretically cause buoyancy forces to act counter to any accelerations; this is sometimes coupled with [[Human Popsicle|cryonics]]. Some method to allow the subject to continue to breathe in the fluid would be required, be it oxygenated liquids or a circulatory gas-exchange system. Since people riding around in bathtubs are not interesting on-screen (except from a voyeur's point-of-view) this has only rarely trickled down to the big and small screens; the exploration ship in ''[[Event Horizon]]'' and presumably the cryonics pods in the ''[[Alien (Film)|Alien]]'' series are the exceptions.
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** Perhaps the most interesting consequence is that the technology does not remove inertia, but rather suspends it. When the inertialess drive is shut down you have exactly the same inertia you had when you turned it on. If you neglect to shut off your inertialess drive and match velocities with your destination, heaven help you. Your restored inertia will either fling you into space at thousands of miles an hour, or fling you into the GROUND at thousands of miles an hour.
** Moreover, inertialess drive technology allows Doc Smith to Justify using [[Space Friction]]. If an inertialess ship collides with a particle of interstellar hydrogen it comes to a screeching halt because the hydrogen ion has inertia and the ship doesn't. Therefore, Doc Smith spacecraft must keep up continuous thrust to move while inertialess, and their speed is directly related to the power of their engines because the faster they go the more friction they encounter from interstellar dust and gas. Speeds eventually reach the point where the fastest ships have to be teardrop shaped for streamlining.
** Reducing your space ship's inertial mass to 0 also means you no longer have to worry about it becoming infinite as you approach light speed. This is, in fact, how ships in the Lensmen universe accomplish [[Faster
** Spoofed in ''Backstage Lensmen'', a parody by [[Randall Garrett (Creator)|Randall Garrett]].
{{quote| Unfortunately, the Bergenholm, while it could completely neutralize inertial mass, never quite knew what to do with gravitational mass, which seems to come and go as the circumstances require.}}
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* In the ''[[Halo]]'' novel ''Ghosts of Onyx'' this is actually a plot point at one point. Dr. Halsey takes and unconscious Kelly (a SPARTAN) and commandeers a ship for them. Unfortunately, Halsey does not have armor like Kelly and ends up nearly dying from the effects of their taking off since she didn't have time to reinstall the ship's inertia dampening system. Halsey is fine, but in rough shape for a while.
* In [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[Sphere]]'' (At least the book, possibly the movie too) the spaceship discovered at the bottom of the ocean features water-filled chair systems to help counteract high g-forces.
* [[Justified Trope]] in [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' series by the unique method of [[Faster
* [[Hyperion|Endymion]] plays with this in the most [[Squick|Squicky]] way possible. A ship is developed that can go at extreme speeds without the use of the, now lost, hyperspace gates. As a result the acceleration kills the pilot and copilot instantly then collects their liquefied remains in a little dish to be rebuilt later. {{spoiler|The whole thing is a lie, but knowledge of this trope is why people buy it}}.
* This is standard (and indeed essential) technology in the ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'' universe, where starships routinely feature acceleration rates of hundreds of kilometers per second squared (or in other words, tens of thousands of Gs). A portable device is installed on the protagonists' original rocketship as early as their impending return to Earth from the moon, in order to protect the ill alien scientist that they're also taking along.
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* ''[[Andromeda]]'' has "GFG Lenses" (Gravity Field Generator) that reduce the ship's ''effective'' mass down to about 1 kg. This helps to explain the quick flip-abouts that the rather large ''Andromeda Ascendant'' seems capable of.
** One episode has the ''Eureka Maru'' stuck in a mine shaft of sorts. They end up literally getting out and pushing the ship after reducing the ship's effective mass to almost nothing.
* In a rare non-spaceship example from ''[[
* ''[[UFO]]''. The [[Little Green Men]] palor of the alien attackers is due to the green liquid filling their spacesuits, which cushions their bodies during months of faster-than-light travel.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' Minbari and Centauri combine this with ([[Reactionless Drive]]). Their gravitic drives move ships around without thrusters and generate artificial gravity and Inertial dampening while they are at it. Humans have to use rotating ship sections which make ship quite crumbersome and provide weak point to shoot at. Narn in the other hand just strap themselves on their cockpits.
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[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Inertial Dampening]]
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