jj (04/07/83)
Gee! You guys (and gals, if any) seem to forget that you are watching SCIENCE FICTION! Let us suppose that rather than merely providing a thrust vector, the Warp Engines (Which, according to the 'common knowledge', actually affect the fabric of space) can also provide a TORQUE that keeps the enterprise in the right attitude and so on. <While that's certainly a violation of Newton's laws, specific relativity, and the like, this IS fiction, and a little more violation really doesn't matter.> Why don't we all just accept the idea that we are talking about creative fiction, and stop trying to figure out how the damnfool Enterprise works in the first place. If you accept the fact that the Enterprise will tumble because of the misplaced thrust of the warp engines, then you also have to accept the fact that the Enterprise can't even move through space since it's a plastic model. At that point, you'dd be better off watching "Laverne and Shirley" since they are at most improbable, rather than impossible. Me? I'll stick to my stereo. At least I can enforce some order on that. All comments except gestures of support or fiduciary largesse should be sent to /dev/null. Save your phone bill for something important. If you've got to take yourself so seriously that you can't just relax and enjoy entertainment<which is all that ST is>, don't bother me.
kar (04/09/83)
Why doesn't the ship tumble? I don't know about the early episodes, but in the later adventures, there was a large counterbalancing mass positioned at an angle to the center of gravity that was symmetrical with the angle of the engines. You guessed it: Kirk on the bridge.
lingas (04/26/83)
The warp engines, a has been stated before, are warp 'generators' that affect the fabric of space and operate in hyper or warp space, and are therefore unaffected by newtonian physics. It should also be noted that the impulse engines drive the ship in normal space,and that they are also more centrally located (behind the disk). The ENTERPRISE also has many attitude control jets or thrusters (they were referred to in ST,TMP as the Enterprise was leaving 'drydock') to counteract any spinning force. Sasha Ivanovich Lingas Reed College (talk about space cases)