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Author Topic:   Speed of Light Barrier
shalamabobbi
Member (Idle past 2848 days)
Posts: 397
Joined: 01-10-2009


Message 115 of 178 (503955)
03-23-2009 5:36 PM
Reply to: Message 112 by Sarawak
03-23-2009 3:13 PM


possible new topic here?
Interesting thread topic idea, interstellar travel and associated difficulties.
To keep it pertinent to the EvsC forum maybe it could include some thought about the problems posed by the evolution of man under those constraints and whether we would be suitable to re-inhabit a planet after traveling for that duration through space.
What would be the maximum reasonable speed, relative to c, that we could attain?
The issues are more technological than theoretical in nature.
quote:
OK, so the speed simply isn't there for a quick flight over 4.3 light years. But there is an even bigger problem than that. How would these interstellar spaceships be fueled? According to Brice N. Cassenti, an associate professor with the Department of Engineering and Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at least 100 times the total energy output of the entire world would be required for the voyage. "We just can't extract the resources from the Earth," Cassenti said during his conference presentation. "They just don't exist. We would need to mine the outer planets."
For mankind to extend its reach into the stars, we need to come up with a better plan. Even the most advanced forms of propulsion (even anti-matter engines) cannot make the gap seem any less massive.
Which, if it proves true, leaves us time until the sun expands or the earth's core cools enough for the magnetic field to disappear or maybe the stability of planet orbits will cease before that.
There is also the YEC problem that after traveling toward the stars for a period of time they may simply disappear as the light created in transit is all there ever was..
Which raises the question, with an expanded sun would some of the other moons of the solar system become habitable with the use of terraforming?
Maybe we should seed the appropriate lifeforms to start the process now..

This message is a reply to:
 Message 112 by Sarawak, posted 03-23-2009 3:13 PM Sarawak has not replied

  
shalamabobbi
Member (Idle past 2848 days)
Posts: 397
Joined: 01-10-2009


Message 122 of 178 (504687)
04-01-2009 3:26 PM
Reply to: Message 92 by DevilsAdvocate
03-04-2009 5:28 AM


Re: FTL
DA writes:
In essense, a spaceship would be stationary and would bend the space around itself using massive quantities of energy. This is similar to the effect that gravity has on the fabric of spacetime. Thus it is not really that you are travelling faster than the speed of light to get to the stars/galaxies/etc but rather you are shortening the space in between you and your destination.
Of course this is all hypothetical and the energy required would be enormous. However, possibly by harnessing the energy from antimatter and matter collisions this energy could be tapped. Also, the implications of how this effects the 'fabric' of spacetime and matter in between these two locations is unknown.
I am not very knowledgeable about cosmology. I haven't finished Greene's book yet, the fabric of the cosmos.
My question is about this idea of warping spacetime using energy. What advantage does energy have over matter to warp spacetime? Since gravity causes light paths to bend, energy must affect spacetime as well, but would an equivalent amount of energy affect spacetime any different than the original mass?
The only idea I can think of is if the energy were confined to a smaller volume than the original mass then maybe it might have a greater effect on the spacetime.
Please someone elaborate on this.
Thanks.

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 Message 92 by DevilsAdvocate, posted 03-04-2009 5:28 AM DevilsAdvocate has not replied

Replies to this message:
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shalamabobbi
Member (Idle past 2848 days)
Posts: 397
Joined: 01-10-2009


Message 130 of 178 (505283)
04-09-2009 7:08 PM
Reply to: Message 128 by onifre
04-08-2009 6:17 PM


photon frame?
onifire writes:
But, from the frame of reference of the photon, it is the Earth that is traveling toward it at (c).
I remember asking the professor about the frame of reference from the photon's POV and he remarked that special relativity doesn't work for that frame. But since in the limit distance would shrink to nothing, I would think that for the photon the universe is a pancake and it travels 'along' its axis no distance at all, it departs and arrives instantly from the same point(s) that overlap. There is separation of the point of departure and point of arrival in our frame, but I wouldn't think there would be in the photon's frame, if such a frame can even be discussed.
Maybe cave diver or son goku will chime in..

This message is a reply to:
 Message 128 by onifre, posted 04-08-2009 6:17 PM onifre has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 131 by onifre, posted 04-09-2009 8:33 PM shalamabobbi has not replied
 Message 135 by cavediver, posted 04-10-2009 12:35 PM shalamabobbi has not replied

  
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