Is Warp Speed Possible?

[nova18]

So, basically, we need to build the TARDIS

I'll get right on that then, not like my ArchGate is going any faster

Then make it so.

Hahaha its so sad that I read through all the posts to find one where that phrase would work.

On topic though, when warp speed and terraforming get sorted out, Im going to colonize my own planet. Then clone myself repeatedly. Then sell my clones as mercenaries.
Kind of like Jango Fett.

 

[Doug]

One of the more interesting theories I heard was the idea that if you can't go faster than the speed of light, you just change the speed of light in the space around yourself. How the hell they planned to do that escapes me at the moment, but it was an interesting article.

The "speed of light" is more accurately called "the speed of light in a vacuum". The speed of light changes according to the medium it's in; if we could create a meta-material with properties that allow light to travel faster than in a vacuum.... or something like that. Supervacuum?

I still fine that concept mad - how can they make light move faster?! Is madness I say, MADNESS!

There's a theory that roughly says "Light travels as fast as it possibly can for the medium it's in, and vacuum is NOT the optimal medium for it." I have no idea either, that's as far as my entire (entirely anecdotal and casual) knowledge of FTL physics goes.

But...but... its a vacuum! Nothing can interfer with its path....*head explodes*

 

[dragonblade629]

The latest theory to come about seems to throw out the idea of engines altogether and asks, if you can't move the ship that fast, why not move the space around the ship?

That's not science! Thats a futurama episode!

I know!

 

[Landslide]

Maybe intelligent life exists in the universe, but we are the most advanced. Think about it.. In films there's always the alien species that turns up with unbelievable technology and conquers our little defenseless planet until they die of human infection, or turn out to be allergic to seawater.

Maybe WE are those aliens, and when we discover space travel we'll be waltzing through the darkness conquering everything.

Or alternatively, perhaps intelligent life existed already, but was worse than us, and ended up wiping itself out.

People assume too much that intelligent life instantly means they have radio towers and weapons and space travel and are super strong or something. Could be we'll find a planet of giant ducks that lay chocolate eggs and worship grass.

I want to live on that planet.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

Maybe intelligent life exists in the universe, but we are the most advanced. Think about it.. In films there's always the alien species that turns up with unbelievable technology and conquers our little defenseless planet until they die of human infection, or turn out to be allergic to seawater.

Maybe WE are those aliens, and when we discover space travel we'll be waltzing through the darkness conquering everything.

Or alternatively, perhaps intelligent life existed already, but was worse than us, and ended up wiping itself out.

People assume too much that intelligent life instantly means they have radio towers and weapons and space travel and are super strong or something. Could be we'll find a planet of giant ducks that lay chocolate eggs and worship grass.

Amen.

 

[Macgyvercas]

travelling the speed of light...harness a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of 36.7 recurring

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

One of the more interesting theories I heard was the idea that if you can't go faster than the speed of light, you just change the speed of light in the space around yourself. How the hell they planned to do that escapes me at the moment, but it was an interesting article.

The "speed of light" is more accurately called "the speed of light in a vacuum". The speed of light changes according to the medium it's in; if we could create a meta-material with properties that allow light to travel faster than in a vacuum.... or something like that. Supervacuum?

Nods, I left that in there especially. One of the ideas portrayed would use a geometric shield, like the proposed invisibility shield [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87767], to alter the speed of light.

That's not science! Thats a futurama episode!

Well, mobile phones are meant to have come from Star Trek's communicators...

And many thanks to Landslide for such a detailed hypothesis

The earliest reference to traveling through space appeared in "Somnium," a book published in 1634 by Johannes Kepler, where he describes traveling to the moon via demons.

The first account of space travel appears in the works Lucian, in the 2nd century AD. In True Story [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_History] the heroes reach the moon by means of a flying ship, while further transportation between the moon, sun and morning star are done by means of various space-creatures and flying insects, if memory serves correctly.

Space travel crops up in one of his other works, too, Icaromenippus [http://sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl3/wl309.htm], where Menippus flies to the moon and then to Olympus on an eagle's and a vulture's wing.

Nice, you learn something new everyday, I'll have to try and look that up later.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

It's actually pretty easy once you have the dimensional technoligy and the energy source to bend space. No need for wierd theories or dark matter or worm holes.

 

[ThaBenMan]

The earliest reference to traveling through space appeared in "Somnium," a book published in 1634 by Johannes Kepler, where he describes traveling to the moon via demons.

I ride a demon to work every day - works pretty well for me (I get 25 miles per baby I feed it). Therefore, I believe the key to interstellar travel is binding bigger and better demons to tow our starships.

Or discover Prothean ruins on Mars and build a Mass Relay.

 

[KaiusCormere]

Isn't there a subatomic connection between electrons, in some cases where the change of state of one instantaneously produces change in the other? I recall reading something to this effect, though I may be mistaken.

By a use of this principle, faster than light travel - indeed, intergalactic teleportation would be achievable.

 

[XJ-0461]

I reckon it will happen, but, pessimist that I am, I don't think it'll be here any time soon.

 

[mtk2a]

Sure. By using powerful magnetic fields to contract the space in front of the ship, and expand the space behind. It would be like surfing on a 4-dimensional wave of space-time. Of course it would require the harnessed power of several stars to accomplish, but leave that to the engineer.

In a sense, by doing this, you don't really move faster, you just bring your destination closer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Gigwp_0lQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBXGSLCAFcA

 

[Beetlejooce]

Maybe intelligent life exists in the universe, but we are the most advanced. Think about it.. In films there's always the alien species that turns up with unbelievable technology and conquers our little defenseless planet until they die of human infection, or turn out to be allergic to seawater.

Maybe WE are those aliens, and when we discover space travel we'll be waltzing through the darkness conquering everything.

Or alternatively, perhaps intelligent life existed already, but was worse than us, and ended up wiping itself out.

People assume too much that intelligent life instantly means they have radio towers and weapons and space travel and are super strong or something. Could be we'll find a planet of giant ducks that lay chocolate eggs and worship grass.

I want to live on that planet.

You'll have to invent warp speed first.

 

[massau]

Don't forget that when mass becomes infinite it will produce a huge gravity field which in turn becomes a black hole.

If this is for space travel, the speed of light is still a incredibly slow speed, since the nearest star to us is 4.5 light years away. And the planets there are useless, mostly gas giants from what I heard. The best possible solution for space travel is the wormhole(folding space), which is only a theory. I'm not going to think about cause it will probably be hundreds of years before the technology is available.

Also, call me a capitalist pig, but there is no economic reasoning to going into space, yet.

its 4.5 light years away k but if you go at a high speed the time in the rocket will go slower so you will be on the planet if you are 2 years older

That is true, but two years is still a long time to wait for nothing. It also depends how fast exactly you are going as well it could actually be shorter than two years.

If you're travelling extremely close to c then you may only need to bring a packed lunch.

only one problem you cant go really fast if the ship is to large and our body cant stand the high force of that speed. maybe we need to find a way to get high gravety that we can survive and high speed so the time go even slower.



one question if i would manipulate space so it go like 80% of the speed of light and than i travel with mine ship at 80% of the speed of light in the opposite way what will happen than. will we go faster than light would be collide with a light barrier of a time barrier

like this -» «-

 

[massau]

Maybe intelligent life exists in the universe, but we are the most advanced. Think about it.. In films there's always the alien species that turns up with unbelievable technology and conquers our little defenseless planet until they die of human infection, or turn out to be allergic to seawater.

Maybe WE are those aliens, and when we discover space travel we'll be waltzing through the darkness conquering everything.

Or alternatively, perhaps intelligent life existed already, but was worse than us, and ended up wiping itself out.

People assume too much that intelligent life instantly means they have radio towers and weapons and space travel and are super strong or something. Could be we'll find a planet of giant ducks that lay chocolate eggs and worship grass.

I want to live on that planet.

You'll have to invent warp speed first.

maybe it is but will shall conquer for energy and maybe the aliens that gone come to us are we but like million years later and than they will conquer them self and if they kill every body there race dies too

 

[arkwright]

most great discoverys are made by men in sheds, ergo we put loads of blokes in sheds and interstella travel will be here in no time.

 

[Time Sync]

... Well, this appears to be the only thread I will ever be able to explain my theories on spacetime distortions. So buckle up, were going to warp.

Alright theory one-
As an object approaches the speed of light its mass increases. This is widely accept because of E=MC squared. However, for some reason people don't realize that as your mass increases so does your gravitational field and therefore your curving of spacetime. So, in my opinion if you travel around 50% the speed of light your mass would increase proportionally (i think). Therefore, as you travel faster and gravity waves become stronger and your spacetime bends you will theoretically travel fast enough to hit faster than light travel.

Theory two-
By harnessing a form of dark matter using an antimagnetic field you can bend space in an opposite way. Therefore you can bend space and accelerate using a sort of wave affect.

Theory three-
Create a stable wormhole by creating a large increase of energy in a region of space. Then destabilizing the energy that keeps atoms together. By doing this you can accelerate into the rift in space, without anything in your way you will actually increase in speed with no energy. The gravity field forming in front of the ship will supply a constant increase in speed.

I know these theories have some holes and I can not explain to you how I would do this. I can also not tell you how I arrived at these theories. Good luck on space travel.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Don't forget that when mass becomes infinite it will produce a huge gravity field which in turn becomes a black hole.

If this is for space travel, the speed of light is still a incredibly slow speed, since the nearest star to us is 4.5 light years away. And the planets there are useless, mostly gas giants from what I heard. The best possible solution for space travel is the wormhole(folding space), which is only a theory. I'm not going to think about cause it will probably be hundreds of years before the technology is available.

Also, call me a capitalist pig, but there is no economic reasoning to going into space, yet.

its 4.5 light years away k but if you go at a high speed the time in the rocket will go slower so you will be on the planet if you are 2 years older

That is true, but two years is still a long time to wait for nothing. It also depends how fast exactly you are going as well it could actually be shorter than two years.

If you're travelling extremely close to c then you may only need to bring a packed lunch.

only one problem you cant go really fast if the ship is to large and our body cant stand the high force of that speed. maybe we need to find a way to get high gravety that we can survive and high speed so the time go even slower.



one question if i would manipulate space so it go like 80% of the speed of light and than i travel with mine ship at 80% of the speed of light in the opposite way what will happen than. will we go faster than light would be collide with a light barrier of a time barrier

like this -» «-

So if the earth was moving 80% c and you drove at 80% c on the earth so your total speed would be 160% c? Is that what you mean? Because we know the answer to that. If you travel at 99% c (c is shorthand for the speed of light in a vacum BTW) and shine a flashlight infront of you how fast will the light seem to go to you? will it move really slowly? No it will move at it's normal speed as Relitivity shows that time will move differently for you. It is complicated, but it means that you cannot reach light peed because if you do time will stop.