If a spaceship had a flag, would it wave as the spaceship moved through space?
In: 407
Wave, no. And I think it would extend forward from the pole most of the time, when you are coasting.
Assume we have a traditional rocket and not the Millennium Falcon or something. The flag pole extends perpendicular to the directions the rockets generally fire. Rockets use a lot of fuel, so they only burn a small portion of the time. While the spacecraft is accelerating it will be dragging the flag, which will be taut behind the pole. The pole will be flexed backward just a tiny bit by the flag’s inertia. When the rocket engines turn off the flag’s inertia will be the same as the rockets, but the force on the flag poe will disappear and it will unfelt, straighten out, and thus impart just a tiny bit of inertia to the flat. The flag will thus be going a teeny, tiny bit faster than the rocket, and will thus swing out in front of the pole, bounce a bit, and come to rest, probably in a somewhat rumpled state, not taut.
Once its internal friction brings it to rest it will just float there alongside the rocket until there is more acceleration from the engines. Acceleration from gravity will affect the rocket and flag the same, so you should see any movement from entering or leaving orbit or swinging around a planet if those things are done without the engines.
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