"moment arms for hydroponics and stores"? What the hell is this?

Question

I stayed home and worked on the spaceship, recalculating masses and moment arms for hydroponics and stores on the basis of the shielding change.

Just have no clue how to understand this sentence. Please help!

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I stayed home and worked on the spaceship, recalculating masses and moment arms for hydroponics and stores on the basis of the shielding change.

Just have no clue how to understand this sentence. Please help!

Aha! I can see that the problem is you have never built a spaceship. Let me explain some of the details of how we build one here at English Forums.

I stayed home and worked on the spaceship, Yes, we usually build our spaceships at home

recalculating masses We work out again the quantity of matter that our ship and all the objects in it contain

and moment arms 'Moment' is a term in physics that means the turning effect produced by a force acting at a distance on an object. An 'arm' in engineering refers to a part that moves but which is part of a larger machine. A car engine, for example, has a rotor arm. A clock has arms, although for clocks we rather confusingly call them 'hands'.

for hydroponics This is a method of growing plants without soil, often in water with added nutrients. Obviously a useful thing to do on our spaceship if we want salad for lunch.

and stores All the stuff that we store on our spaceship in case we need it during the voyage

on the basis of the shielding change. 'Shielding' is the protective outside layer of our spaceship, so-called because it shields (ie protects) us from the heat of takeoff as well as the harmful radiations in space.

In short, we made a change related to the shielding. Because of this change, we had to revise our calculations related to a lot of other equipment and systems on our spaceship. I had to stay home and do this, instead of going to the movies with my friends. Designing a spaceship is a lot of work!

Best wishes, Clive

Englishsz · Answer

Many thanks! Clive.

I can understand that 'masses' has something to do with hydroponic devices and store rooms because one should consider the size and weight of hydroponics and store room objects. But what relationship is it between moment arms and these objects?

I just can't figure it out.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Well, I suppose the arms have mass, but I can't give you a more detailed explanation because I'm just the pilot of our English Forums spaceship. I'll ask our engineering officer to give you a phone call. However, he's rather busy right now. Stay close to your phone and don't go out, in case you miss his call.[T]

Best wishes, Clive

Englishsz · Answer

I stayed by the phone all this morning waiting for your engineer's call but no call till now yet.

So I decided to turn to my friend who works for NASA, but he's very busy, too.

And I'm going to send a message to Steve Hopkins. Hope he's not too busy to give me an answer.

Marius Hancu · Answer

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2.4 Moment Arm

The perpendicular distance from the point of application of a force to the axis of rotation.
Synonym: lever arm

http://lob.incubadora.fapesp.br/portal/t/glossary#2-4
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"moment arms for hydroponics and stores"? What the hell is this?

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