Physicists: My theory of obtaining lightspeed!

yer_averagejoe · 26 Oct 2006 at 01:53

MasterMike said:
Drink a pint of water, then go to bed

OKAYS!

locutus12 · 26 Oct 2006 at 02:10

Minto said:
its really not. The first of those articles is virtually nonsense. They just found a way to speed up the group velocity so fast it can't carry information. The second is a vague dig at relativity at best.

and light slowing down the closer it gets to a black whole ??

Edinho · 26 Oct 2006 at 02:38

Have photons known to move objects? Presumably in space if you fired up a torch, by what your saying the torch should move. Makes sense to assume that the photons would push the torch in the other direction. Has this been done?

locutus12 · 26 Oct 2006 at 03:03

Edinho said:
Have photons known to move objects? Presumably in space if you fired up a torch, by what your saying the torch should move. Makes sense to assume that the photons would push the torch in the other direction. Has this been done?

depends on how much mass photons have i presume

benneh · 26 Oct 2006 at 03:12

fonzee said:
so this is VTEC... ahhhhhh

Nearly. As has been mentioned you need infinate energy to move infinate mass. There is however a v-tec resistor mod on ebay that could see to this.

Minto · 26 Oct 2006 at 10:12

locutus12 said:
and light slowing down the closer it gets to a black whole ??

You didn't link to any article about that, you could have just made it up.

Edinho said:
Have photons known to move objects? Presumably in space if you fired up a torch, by what your saying the torch should move. Makes sense to assume that the photons would push the torch in the other direction. Has this been done?

yes, it has been done, and no, photons dont have mass but they do have momentum. They do push the torch.

Psyk · 26 Oct 2006 at 10:41

depends on how much mass photons have i presume

They have none but as Minto says they do have momentum. That doesn't seem to make sense but you have to remember that Netwon wasn't completely right.

momentum = mass * velocity works well for nearly all everyday purposes but it doesn't work when things are traveling very fast, including photons.

I have to laugh at eXSBass's idea

It's quite flawed but at least it shows an interest in the subject. I used to (still do sometimes) think up stuff like that all the time.

Welshy · 26 Oct 2006 at 10:44

Following your theory, shouldnt the sun be jumping around space?

Psyk · 26 Oct 2006 at 10:50

Welshy said:
Following your theory, shouldnt the sun be jumping around space?

But it's emitting roughly the same amount of light in all directions. The part about using light to propel something is actually right. It does happen but I don't think it would be a very efficient method of space travel.

nero120 · 26 Oct 2006 at 10:56

Travelling at lightspeed is pointless unless you have the following:

1.) A way of manipulating mavity so that you can clear debris out of your path. Even a few particles would cause immense damage to your ship at relativistic speeds.

2.) A means of harnessing fuel on your journey to sustain your speed and ship operations, rather than taking fuel with you. Even anti matter fuel wouldnt last long if you had to take it with you, and you'd need a lot of it to start with.

These two issues will likely be solved before the question of travelling at relativistic speeds.

Blue Cypher · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:06

Not to mention some kind of inertial dampners, unless you want to be a smear on the back of your space craft from the G forces

Personally i tkhink the only way to get to light speed would be to manipulate time, so you wouldnt really be going light speed at all, but from the perspective of everything else you would be.

The clever people on here will know what i mean

kaiowas · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:10

I think you've all missed the biggest flaw in this proposal.

One of the engines has fallen off his space craft..

Visage · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:13

Blue Cypher said:
Not to mention some kind of inertial dampners, unless you want to be a smear on the back of your space craft from the G forces

Personally i tkhink the only way to get to light speed would be to manipulate time, so you wouldnt really be going light speed at all, but from the perspective of everything else you would be.

The clever people on here will know what i mean

The clever people on here will know that what you've said doesnt make much sense.

Pug · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:27

the infinite mass problem can be overcome using helium inside the ships tho...

Haircut · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:37

Edinho said:
Have photons known to move objects? Presumably in space if you fired up a torch, by what your saying the torch should move. Makes sense to assume that the photons would push the torch in the other direction. Has this been done?

http://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail1.htm

Blue Cypher · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:45

course it does, if you can manipulate time you can take as long as you want , you could say throw a ball at a wall, once you have trown it you could manipulate the time surrounding the mass to speed it up so to speak, so to you the ball would get there instantly from your perspective (if you spped it up enough) but the ball isnt actually going any faster at all, it still takes the same amount of time to get there, just the perspectives are different, now you understand?

MasterMike · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:59

Blue Cypher said:
course it does, if you can manipulate time you can take as long as you want , you could say throw a ball at a wall, once you have trown it you could manipulate the time surrounding the mass to speed it up so to speak, so to you the ball would get there instantly from your perspective (if you spped it up enough) but the ball isnt actually going any faster at all, it still takes the same amount of time to get there, just the perspectives are different, now you understand?

So you manipulate time so that from the point of view of planet A and B, you've warped instantly, but from your POV, you've actually spent millions of years travelling and are now dead. Great.

Wormholes are the way forward - but to open up a quantum wormhole big enough to get a person through would require availing roughly the mass of Jupiter to energy. Not exactly practical.

Blue Cypher · 26 Oct 2006 at 12:02

I never said it was perfect lol, but surely if you canminipulate time you arent far off manipulating space

you would need stasis pods of some sort if you went my way

Visage · 26 Oct 2006 at 12:24

Blue Cypher said:
course it does, if you can manipulate time you can take as long as you want , you could say throw a ball at a wall, once you have trown it you could manipulate the time surrounding the mass to speed it up so to speak, so to you the ball would get there instantly from your perspective (if you spped it up enough) but the ball isnt actually going any faster at all, it still takes the same amount of time to get there, just the perspectives are different, now you understand?

Except that time isnt absolute. Are you talking about freezing time in the balls intertial frame, or the observers?

Mr-White · 26 Oct 2006 at 12:26

i think its an Einstein theory that the faster you go the more thrust is needed so the closer you get to light speed the harder its gets to increase speed

theres a hyperthetical theory that a tachyon particle can travel faster that light speed (superluminal velocity).

for us to travel at these kinds of speeds (670 616 629 mph) , its not going to happen for quite some time

MW