Re: {mluni} (was Re: TEXT: le gunse ku joi le lorxu)

[Mark A Biggar <mab@wdl.loral.com>]

>From: "Dylan P. Thurston" <DPT%HUMA1.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu>
> > What is ballistic flight? Is it movement in a centripetal force field?
> > I thought it was movement in a constant field, as gravity appears to be
> > near the surface of the Earth. At least that's the field bullets
> > experience. I doubt that we need a basic gismu for movement in a
> > centripetal field.
>The distinction I had in mind was that between self-powered motion
>(the fox walks around the oven) and that from an external force (as
>the force on a sattelite or ball).  "Ballistic" is doubtless not the
>right word.  (And the distinction seems fuzzy.  I can imagine running
>into difficulties.)

Ballistic is exactly the right word for what you are taking about.  It
means "like a cannon ball" and is typically used to describe the motion
though space of an object that is being influenced only by gravity.  So
orbiting and falling objects are all traveling Ballistically.
Technically "orbit" is the correct word for the path of any ballistic
object (even if the path just happens to intersect the ground), although
informally it is usually used for closed paths that don't intersect the
ground.  So the gismu could easily taken to include all forms of
ballistic motion not just closed orbits.

--
Mark Biggar
mab@wdl.loral.com