Difference between revisions of "Center of Mass"

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(Created page with " right|frame|The HUD display of the center of mass for the default fighter small ship. {{stub}} The '''Center of Mass''' (alternatively the "cen...")
 
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The '''Center of Mass''' (alternatively the "center of gravity") is the point which can objectively be called the "center" of any ship or station. The center of mass can be shown by opening up the Terminal (default 'K'), then going to the Info tab at the top and checking the "Show center of mass" option. This will place a crosshair on your HUD that marks the center of mass of every ship within about 30 meters.
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The '''Center of Mass''' is the average position of every mass attached to a system. This point can be loosely defined as the 'real' center of any mass. From the center of mass it would appear like a collection of masses were all the same object. The center of mass can be shown by opening up the Terminal (default 'K'), then going to the Info tab at the top and checking the "Show center of mass" option. This will place a crosshair on your HUD that marks the center of mass of every ship within about 30 meters.
  
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The center of mass does not currently have a mechanical use, but in the future this may change. Currently thrusters use linear acceleration while firing, so they are completely unaffected by the center of mass. There is information floating about that claims that the position of a gyroscope relative to the center of mass affects the effectiveness of the gyro, but there is no evidence to support this.
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The center of mass does not affect thrusters which only control the linear acceleration of a grid but, the center of mass does affect gyroscopes because it is needed to calculate the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia#Inertia_tensor Inertia Tensor] of a grid, which depends on how much and how far masses are from the center of mass.

Latest revision as of 23:48, 19 May 2020


The HUD display of the center of mass for the default fighter small ship.



The Center of Mass is the average position of every mass attached to a system. This point can be loosely defined as the 'real' center of any mass. From the center of mass it would appear like a collection of masses were all the same object. The center of mass can be shown by opening up the Terminal (default 'K'), then going to the Info tab at the top and checking the "Show center of mass" option. This will place a crosshair on your HUD that marks the center of mass of every ship within about 30 meters.

The center of mass does not affect thrusters which only control the linear acceleration of a grid but, the center of mass does affect gyroscopes because it is needed to calculate the Inertia Tensor of a grid, which depends on how much and how far masses are from the center of mass.

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