Need help on B5 station size

You can answer this from the show.

In the episode 'And Now for a Word', there is a caption at one point that tells you the specifications of the station. We find out that it is 8.0645 km long.

Hope that helps.

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Ironically, it didn't even seem to slow them down.

The "statute mile" is the standard distance definition for "mile" that would be used by the Standard TV Writers Association, should such an organization exist.

You can answer this from the show.

In the episode 'And Now for a Word', there is a caption at one point that tells you the specifications of the station. We find out that it is 8.0645 km long.

Hope that helps.

Click to expand...

Actually, if the station is 5.00000 miles long, the correct length is 8.04675 km, which is 17.75 m shorter than what's stated in the caption.

/Nitpicker

Actually, if the station is 5.00000 miles long, the correct length is 8.04675 km, which is 17.75 m shorter than what's stated in the caption.

/Nitpicker

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Is that when it is in the sun or in the shade. Objects change length when they get hot. This makes life hard for bridge builders.

I would argue that the nautical mile is not the "aeronautical way". It is the "navigation way". When you are specifying the size of a particular manmade object you aren't talking about navigation.

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I understand. I did not make myself clear. Let see if I can explain in a different way.

I assume that NASA measures distances (besides light year) in space using the metric system because that is exact and cientific. The "mile" measure, NASA would choose, I bet, NAUTICAL miles measures instead of land mile. Therefore if they want to calculate the size of an object in space it would be in NAUTICAL miles.

But, ok. Enough about this matter. It is clear to me that JMS did not think about NAUTICAL mile even though it is the technical measure. So, B5 has 8 Kilometers long.

From the Bablyon 5 station entry on B5Tech.com the length of the station is 8,064.5 meter with a weight/mass of 9.1 billion metric tons.

A slight bit off-topic, but...

One of the coolest things I liked about Andromeda was the noticable use of lightseconds and lightminutes in stating where other nearby ships and such were in relation to Andromeda herself. Until hearing it used there, despite having heard of lightyears and knowing what they are for a long time, I had never conceptualized in my own mind that lightseconds and lightminutes could be presented in such a useful way.

I assume that NASA measures distances (besides light year) in space using the metric system because that is exact and cientific.

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Nautical miles are not part of the metric system, and the metric system is no more "exact and scientific" than any other system of measurement. All are based on arbitrary units and relationships. The metric system does relate different types of measurement in convenient ways (mass, volume, distance), but some of that is accidental. It also uses base 10, which is easy for calculating things in one's head, but which is less useful for many scientific applications. Ask a mathmetician sometime to explain the advantages of base 12 or 16 which "break up into neater pieces."

Lots of Americans use the metric system every day, especially those in scientific, engineering, or military fields. But most of them still tend to "think" in standard American measurements. An artillery officer or naval gunnery officer might report the distance to an enemy target to his gun-crew down to the meter, then turn to the guy next to him and say, "They're still a mile out of range." And folks rarely whip out laser measuring tools to check things to the milimeter in real life. In fact, given that absolute accuracy is rarely needed and given our fondness for nice, round, numbers, we rarely express any quantity exactly. Saying the station is "five miles long" doesn't mean "five miles exactly down to the inch", so your metric conversion would be an approximation in any event - even if the show didn't already give you the information you were looking to derive. (And I'll bet even the ISN graphic is rounded off.) Go measure any city's "Miracle Mile" or look up the actual duration of "The Hundred Year's War" or check the start and ending years for "The War of 1812" if you want to get an idea of mankind's devotion to absolute accuracy.

Regards,

Joe