Mass effect technology
Mass effect technology exploits the properties of the rare material element zero. Through controlled electrical currents, element zero can alter the mass of other objects. Mass effect technology can also generate gravitational force fields that can be used to accelerate objects in arbitrary directions.
Mass effect technology scales extremely easily, so it is a core technology with many applications in the Mass Effect setting.
- Transportation: Many vehicles use mass effect technology to achieve flight. The technology is inexpensive enough to be widely used for civilian vehicles.
- Space travel: Starships have mass effect drive systems that reduce the mass of the ship. A gravitational field is then used to accelerate the ship. Since the ship is effectively in free fall in the desired direction, the crew does not experience acceleration force from the mass effect drive. The reduction of mass allows a ship to achieve FTL speeds. Mass effect fields also provide artificial gravity for ship crews.
- Mass Relay: Mass relays are enormous mass accelerators designed to fling ships from one star cluster to another at FTL speeds. They are the keys to rapid interstellar travel in the Mass Effect setting, enabling leaps of tens of thousands of light years in seconds.
- Weaponry: Mass-altered projectiles can be accelerated to high velocities. Mass accelerator weapons range from handguns to starship weapons.
- Defenses: Mass effect force fields (known as "kinetic barriers") can stop or deflect inbound projectiles traveling at dangerous speeds.
- Biotics: Prenatal exposure to element zero allows living beings to develop "biotic" abilities to create mass effect fields by manipulating element zero with their own bioelectricity.
Realism
Mass effect technology is routinely used for applications that appear to violate the laws of thermodynamics. For example, it is possible to reduce an object's mass, accelerate it to high velocity, and then restore its mass without it losing any speed, effectively getting free kinetic energy. There is no explanation for this behavior, although we can presume that the power source for the mass effect generator somehow supplies the energy transferred to the projectile. Mass effect technology is known to conserve momentum, as recoil is an issue for mass effect small arms.
Biotics are a more blatant realism problem, as there is no explanation for how a biotic humanoid generates the energy needed for some biotic effects or applies hundreds of Newtons of force to other bodies without experiencing noticeable reaction force.