Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
I suppose I could have been more clear. What I mean to say is that when hips meet in thrust, unless you've got computers and servos in place to ensure that there's equilibrium in place, you're really going to need to brace yourself well, much better than you might on earth. I can just imagine a thrust simply kocking two naked astronauts towards opposite directions of the "mating pod". The newton's third law thing was more about colorful language than anything else.
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I'm assuming here that you can manage to cling onto your partner, that your wild-ass thrusting doesn't overpower your ability to use your arms and legs to keep from being pushed apart. That doesn't happen in normal sex even when the direction of thrust is perpendicular to gravity, or for that matter underwater (ask me how I know!), so I think it can be factored out. Obviously if you're not hanging on, a pelvis is just as good as a hand for pushing away from somebody.
There are really only three things a mass can do to accelerate itself in zero g. One is to push some of its mass away from itself like a rocket does, or like our two lovers pushing off against each other. Another is to have a force act on it from outside, like some external mass hitting you. The third is to apply resistance against a gyroscope, which can impart rotational acceleration.
There's literally no way that reconfiguring the mass of a space ship (which is what we're talking about here) can make any change to the orientation or velocity of the ship.
This is why the IIS is designed so you're never more than an arm's length away from a hand-hold. If you could get yourself stranded out in the middle of a module, you'd be boned (if you'll pardon) until somebody comes and hauls you back to a wall. No gyrations you could perform could even change your orientation--you could twist your arms around to the right and get your torso facing slightly to the left, but then reaching back around to the left to grab whatever hand-hold you're trying to reach would just re-orient you back how you were first facing. The 3rd Law giveth, and the 3rd Law taketh away.
So... If you had enough room, could you go nuts in space without straps and restraints? Hypothetically, sure. I actually think the SEX part would be physically very easy. Problem is, you're almost never without some drift. And nothing kills the mood like banging your head into something (as we know from earthly mating!). Or, say, accidentally floating out of your private room into a common area. Embarrassing! So I suspect that in practice, velcro is your friend. But not because the motions of sex will propel you around, just because station-keeping is damn near impossible under these circumstances.
/sci fi reader