29th September 2010, 9:54 PM
29th September 2010, 10:22 PM
Newton? Newton never had any laws about maximum speed limits.
This guy isn't the first to come up with a "warp drive" that seems like it wouldn't violate relativity.
Ya know what I don't get, I don't get why they always have to interview these sorts of people in bizarre settings, like an escalator, let alone an escalator with millions of weird lights. Seriously, what was the point of that? It's not like it was just a coincidence, they both had to drive out there intentionally and set up the camera, then set up the interview so that it was short enough to do on a single escalator ride, and do RETAKES. It's so pointless.
As to the formula itself, it looks very simple, just basic algebra, but I have no idea what the variables represent because the show didn't bother to explain that. What I can say, without taking the time to look up this guy's name online yet, is that the "wordy" version of it isn't new, and was used in a few Star Trek Next Generation episodes among others already to "explain" warp drive. The math does work out in others I've seen and had explained to me, but there's a difference between math and practical reality. For one thing, in all the versions I've heard of, to "expand" space behind a ship requires negative mass of some kind, some as of yet undiscovered but not currently "forbidden" form of matter or exotic energies that actually expand space instead of contract it. As of yet, no such thing has been discovered at all. It MAY exist, but I could say the same about bigfoot, who isn't "forbidden" at all by anything currently known in biology, but that's no reason to expect an imminent discovery.
The other is the sheer amount of energy these sorts of solutions require. Massive chunks of Earth would need to be consumed and burnt up just to get to some of the nearest stars. Even these "warp drive" ideas don't get us around that basic energy limitation. On the cynical side, this may be why with all the planets being discovered we still haven't been discovered by any aliens. It may just be impossible to ever get the energy needed. That said, it's a good deal more likely to get the energy than violate the light speed barrier. If some weird and exotic matter that had inverted mass was discovered, it could change everything, but as of yet, I wouldn't hold my breath. The best bet is still a generational ship that gets up to a certain speed and "coasts" the rest of the way before using remaining energy to slow back down. Such a ship would need some sort of energy to keep everyone alive though, and being so far from the Sun, the question comes up, could distant starlight from an endless night sky actually do the trick? Maybe a long term nuclear power plant onboard would be a better option, or long-term "sleep", but the first brings up the question of developing a long term nuclear reactor and getting it's mass up into space, and the latter requires getting over basic biology, that is, that people "frozen" are shredded at the cellular level by ice through and through, as in freezer burn, and no level of medical cures can restore lost memories due to such severe and absolute brain damage.
This guy isn't the first to come up with a "warp drive" that seems like it wouldn't violate relativity.
Ya know what I don't get, I don't get why they always have to interview these sorts of people in bizarre settings, like an escalator, let alone an escalator with millions of weird lights. Seriously, what was the point of that? It's not like it was just a coincidence, they both had to drive out there intentionally and set up the camera, then set up the interview so that it was short enough to do on a single escalator ride, and do RETAKES. It's so pointless.
As to the formula itself, it looks very simple, just basic algebra, but I have no idea what the variables represent because the show didn't bother to explain that. What I can say, without taking the time to look up this guy's name online yet, is that the "wordy" version of it isn't new, and was used in a few Star Trek Next Generation episodes among others already to "explain" warp drive. The math does work out in others I've seen and had explained to me, but there's a difference between math and practical reality. For one thing, in all the versions I've heard of, to "expand" space behind a ship requires negative mass of some kind, some as of yet undiscovered but not currently "forbidden" form of matter or exotic energies that actually expand space instead of contract it. As of yet, no such thing has been discovered at all. It MAY exist, but I could say the same about bigfoot, who isn't "forbidden" at all by anything currently known in biology, but that's no reason to expect an imminent discovery.
The other is the sheer amount of energy these sorts of solutions require. Massive chunks of Earth would need to be consumed and burnt up just to get to some of the nearest stars. Even these "warp drive" ideas don't get us around that basic energy limitation. On the cynical side, this may be why with all the planets being discovered we still haven't been discovered by any aliens. It may just be impossible to ever get the energy needed. That said, it's a good deal more likely to get the energy than violate the light speed barrier. If some weird and exotic matter that had inverted mass was discovered, it could change everything, but as of yet, I wouldn't hold my breath. The best bet is still a generational ship that gets up to a certain speed and "coasts" the rest of the way before using remaining energy to slow back down. Such a ship would need some sort of energy to keep everyone alive though, and being so far from the Sun, the question comes up, could distant starlight from an endless night sky actually do the trick? Maybe a long term nuclear power plant onboard would be a better option, or long-term "sleep", but the first brings up the question of developing a long term nuclear reactor and getting it's mass up into space, and the latter requires getting over basic biology, that is, that people "frozen" are shredded at the cellular level by ice through and through, as in freezer burn, and no level of medical cures can restore lost memories due to such severe and absolute brain damage.
30th September 2010, 8:58 AM
etoven Wrote:This formula proves faster than light travel is possible without violating Newton's law..
Link
There is the space folding concept like in Babylon 5