Cubes changing mass?

[Uber Kitty]

Does the wieghted cube become lighter when it is not on the button?
It has to be as heavy as you are, and a bunch of turrets cant wiegh the button down. Does the button make it wiegh more? How can you pick up over 100 lbs? Or does the button just react to the cubes and your paticular body?

 

[subject nameHere]

cubes don't change mass. cubes stay really heavy. you have to remember, the portal gun is picking up the cubes, much like the grav. gun. you don't pick up the cubes with your own muscles

 

[Mahalis]

cubes don't change mass. cubes stay really heavy. you have to remember, the portal gun is picking up the cubes, much like the grav. gun. you don't pick up the cubes with your own muscles

...except in the beginning when you don't have the portal gun yet.

I did wonder about that. They don't have to be that heavy; your weight is enough to trigger the buttons. The only thing in the game that's too light to push a button are the cameras on the walls and the turrets, and they don't look too massive.

 

[Ennui]

Bear in mind that Valve doesn't mind compromising realism for gameplay in situations where it's necessary, so I wouldn't think too hard about this particular issue.

 

[Zombine]

I noticed that turrets in the "turret map" can weight down a button, but they can't do it in the chamber 18. Woo!

 

[cyk]

Uh, the turrets look pretty damn lightweight to me. I could see them being ~2 pounds if they're made out of Aperture Science Magical Antimass Materials or whatever the **** they'd use.

 

[Druckles]

Bear in mind that Valve doesn't mind compromising realism for gameplay in situations where it's necessary, so I wouldn't think too hard about this particular issue.

Heh, qft.

 

[ríomhaire]

Maybe the first cube was lighter than the others?

 

[Cheomesh]

Bear in mind that Valve doesn't mind compromising realism for gameplay in situations where it's necessary, so I wouldn't think too hard about this particular issue.

QFT :|

 

[MJ12]

...except in the beginning when you don't have the portal gun yet.

I did wonder about that. They don't have to be that heavy; your weight is enough to trigger the buttons. The only thing in the game that's too light to push a button are the cameras on the walls and the turrets, and they don't look too massive.

The turrets work in the turret map.

Maybe the first cube was lighter than the others?

heh, maybe.

I think the cubes are lighter than you for sure.

 

[Cheomesh]

The turrets work in the turret map.



heh, maybe.

I think the cubes are lighter than you for sure.

Not if they're full of food and ammo like the song said

 

[Iron_cube]

Uh, the turrets look pretty damn lightweight to me. I could see them being ~2 pounds if they're made out of Aperture Science Magical Antimass Materials or whatever the **** they'd use.

Their own firepower would make them trip over :|

 

[Druckles]

Not if they're full of food and ammo like the song said

I believe that was just the companion cube.

 

[dal1978]

Some quick estimates:

Person: 60 kg
Weight a person can reasonably lift, and therefore possible weight of companion cube: 35 kg (approximately the weight of an old 19" CRT monitor)
Pressure required to activate a button: 30 kg
Turret: 10 to 20 kg
Mounted camera: 5 kg

The turrets don't have to be massively heavy to stop themselves falling over backwards under their own fire power. The rear leg is angled and sticks out backwards to give bracing.

 

[Tagaziel]

The turrets don't have to be massively heavy to stop themselves falling over backwards under their own fire power. The rear leg is angled and sticks out backwards to give bracing.

Not to mention they don't have an extreme ROF.

 

[Lord Nod]

Not to mention they don't have an extreme ROF.

This may seem like a stupid question, but do we know the calibur of the weapon? Something like a .22 cal or 9mm round would have very little kick. Even on fully automatic fire a small cartridge wouldn't be able to tip a sturdy turret.

 

[Scribble]

Also the little arm things they are mounted on could have some recoil dampening.

 

[Cheomesh]

They fire plasma bolts like the combine ones...there shouldn't be any recoil.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

They fire plasma bolts like the combine ones...there shouldn't be any recoil.

Plasma has mass.

 

[flamekiller]

Let's not forget that sustaining unsheilded fire will push you back, so there has to be a lot of momentum behind whatever it is the turrets are throwing at you. If you protect yourself with a cube, a majority of that energy is spent deforming the cube's side in the creation of bullet holes.

Regarding the buttons, remember, they're super colliders. Does particle acceleration have anything to do with affecting mass?

 

[Cheomesh]

Plasma has mass.

Yes, but if it is magnetically accelerated the recoil would be non-existent or negligible to my understanding.

 

[Hamsocks]

"If it weren't for that horse, I never would have spent that year in college."

 

[Cthrag Yaska]

Why doesnt someone use Garys mod to move the cubes between levels and test which cubes work on which buttons (nice project for someone although i doubt it would prove much)

 

[ríomhaire]

They fire plasma bolts like the combine ones...there shouldn't be any recoil.

IIRC the AR2 has recoil.

 

[Cheomesh]

IIRC the AR2 has recoil.

Yep, and it shouldn't.

 

[ríomhaire]

You don't even know how it opperates.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

Yes, but if it is magnetically accelerated the recoil would be non-existent or negligible to my understanding.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So if coils in the turret exert a magnetic force on the plasma, the plasma will in turn exert a magnetic force on the turret. Hence, recoil.

Also,

 

[Cheomesh]

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So if coils in the turret exert a magnetic force on the plasma, the plasma will in turn exert a magnetic force on the turret. Hence, recoil.

Also,

The reaction is the plasma being fired from the barrel. There is no action on the weapon.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

The reaction is the plasma being fired from the barrel. There is no action on the weapon.

Oh dear. I sense a physics argument ensuing D :

If the reaction is the plasma being fired from the barrel, then what is the action? What forces are involved here?

I don't think you get it.

Let me explain it:
Let's say the action is the plasma slug or whatever it is being accelerated foward. There must be a force behind this acceleration. This force doesn't come from just anywhere. Some other object must be exerting a force on the slug. In fact, I would venture so far to guess that this object is within the turret itself. Perhaps this object is some sort of magnetic coil.

So we have two objects, the coil, and the slug. The coil exerts a force on the slug. That's what makes the slug change its momentum. This is the action.

But, by Newton's third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So if object B exerts a force on object A, then object A in turn exerts a force on object B. But we just said that the coil exerts a force on the slug. This means that by Newtons third law the slug must exert an equal and opposite force on the coil.

The coil is obviously part of the turret and thus is connected to it. So the coil in turn exerts a force on the other parts of the turret, and maybe the turret rocks back a little bit. This is recoil.

Kapeesh?

 

[Acepilotf14]

Physics suck.

 

[flamekiller]

Yet it's the basis of ... everything.

To put it in simple terms, take two stick magnets, and push same pole of one into the other. Feel the magnet pushing back against your hand? That's the same principle of the recoil exerted by a magnetically propelled projectile. The only difference between a conventionally fired projectile and a magnetically fired projectile is that there would be no escaping gases, propellant, and propellant byproduct to add to the equation.

 

[Eejit]

The turrets don't have to be massively heavy to stop themselves falling over backwards under their own fire power. The rear leg is angled and sticks out backwards to give bracing.

But would that suffice when the gun is shooting at an angle, not straight ahead?

 

[Druckles]

Every force has an equal or opposite reaction. As has already been stated.

If there is no recoil, then there is no force on the gun, thus it cannot be producing a force.

Didn't add much, but it seems to have summed up alot. I don't really check for recoil on the turrets because I'm generally trying not to be killed