Talk-Polywell.org

Propellant mass is wet mass or total mass - dry mass where dry mass includes the rocket and the payload.

ISP/standard gravity has units of m/s so you should be just fine there. If you have Imperial units, you can just drop them, replace them with seconds and treat the same way.

Regarding the rocket formula, I think the form you're looking for is Total mass = Wet Mass * e^(Delta V *9.8 / Isp) Assuming wikipedia is right, total delta V for a one way trip to mars is about 21 km/s If you're using effective exhaust velocity, Delta V /Veff is what you need. Make sure your units ...

Stupid crap was not directed at you. Fair enough. You can combine date when it is the same source (as I suspect it may be, and already stated so.) No, you can't. Unless they used very similar methods of data collection, it's a good bit of work to actually combine two data sets. The national survey ...

And yet if it is legitimate I would strongly suspect some variation on my "Bank of Mars" is probably calculated into the cost/benefit equation behind the scenes. http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3383&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 You should pitch the idea to them. I bet the overla...

A Great theory, and like Shylock's "Pound of flesh" it overlooks the "not a drop of blood" retort. In other words, the theory bumps up against the reality that individual acts often adversely affect people other than the individual. (such as nine children who didn't ask to be born, and the state ta...

The quality or validity of the study is not being discussed, simply a means of discovering its location or existence for further review. Ok, if you insist on going through multiple levels of indirection instead of straight to the source, that's your prerogative. I don't understand it, and I don't i...

Funny thing is that it took me 45 years to realize that value really, really is 100% subjective and the profound significance of that. I blame that stultifying dumbness on having started out with Ayn Rand, but this is not a race. Don't hold out. What is the significance? Particularly, what is the s...

Would have to say I agree with just about all of this. My views on welfare/foodstamps go like this: http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3327&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 I would add that if he has kids out of wedlock by different women his wages will be progressively garnished for t...

Wait, I don't want to discourage anyone from participating in a thread. I hope that you will continue to do so. I am not an expert in any field of economics or anything else (for purposes of this forum, I don't even claim to be an expert in the field I work as an expert in. :) ) so please regard my ...

The world is so complex and people are so varied that it is impossible to centrally plan anything. See, if that were true, it would be impossible to plan anything. Again, virtually every business employs central planning! What is impossible is centrally planning something as complex as an economy f...

To most of you libertarian types, the notion that someone wants to "control" other people is like a religious mantra. It's more of an observation. You completely overlook/discount the idea that people want their neighbors to act responsibly because irresponsible behavior by their neighbors ends up ...

Blankbeard, "but I'm not convinced this is right." It is at the heart of Austrian economics. Theory of value being subjective does not mean arbitrary. Rather than poorly reinventing the wheel, here is a fairy good and short article on value: http://mises.org/daily/6001/The-Measurement-Chimera Best ...

BB, there is a more fundamental problem and that is all value is subjective (valuation varies with time place, person, circumstances, etc), there is no objective value. We reveal our valuations by the choices we make ourselves. If we are not the ones making the choices then how can anyone know what...

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/10/paternalism-can-be-kind-just-not-to-present-you.html I see where he's coming from. I think that argument has a few problems. kurt9 has pointed out the elephant in the room. Most who seek power over others do so because exercising power fulfill their own needs. E...

Not quite to nuclear and antimatter yet. I actually posted a short powerpoint I put on youtube a few months ago, but it was extremely crude. I'm trying to refine the numbers--probably make them a good bit bigger--so I have a better grasp on the mass budget, which is the main driver of cost right no...