Thread: Space movement
View Single Post
  #63 (permalink)  
Old 10-August-2007, 07:13 PM
mugaliens's Avatar
mugaliens mugaliens is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Germany
Posts: 7,880
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by antoniseb View Post
I presume that you are talking about an isolated system being able to propel itself without losing some of its mass. You're right that the conservation of momentum is quite an obstacle there.
The only known way is to open the system, either leveraging a planet's magnetic field, or using solar wind.

Otherwise, Antoniseb is correct - all means using a closed system suffers from the conservation of momentum. You can move the elements around relative to one another, but the center of mass of the system will go absolutely nowhere (gyroscopes or not).
__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. A human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.
Reply With Quote