Traveling the speed of light (or greater) ... and why it won't be done.

[dud]

Pretty interesting video:


http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170228-why-cant-we-go-faster-than-light

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Just wait til we discover the mass relays. Then IN YOUR FACE SCIENCE.

 

[dainthomas]

Obviously we can't accelerate mass to the speed of light. But we can bend/fold space. We can also teleport, although that wouldn't really be practical for interstellar travel.

We just need to perfect fusion and quantum computing to really get going on this stuff.

 

[bigi]

Lol. There are already many things traveling faster than light.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Lol. There are already many things traveling faster than light.

Like your momma running to the buffet when she hears they are running out of meatloaf...

 

[dud]

Like your momma running to the buffet when she hears they are running out of meatloaf...

Funny ...

 

[OutHouse]

Videos broken, and i really wanted to learn more about fur seals raping King Penguins in the Antarctic.

poor little feller.

 

[SKORPI0]

But we can bend/fold space. We can also teleport,

Since when?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

But we can bend/fold space. We can also teleport,

We can? Damn, I must have missed a memo.

 

[dainthomas]

Since when?

Obviously I meant space CAN be bent. The rest is an engineering problem.

And I believe a proton (or some other small particle) has been teleported in a lab setting. I'd have to dig up an article on it.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Videos broken, and i really wanted to learn more about fur seals raping King Penguins in the Antarctic.

poor little feller.

"AWK!" means "AWK!"

 

[Eug]

Since when?

Teleportation was accomplished several years ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...at-teleportation-possible-transfer-atoms.html

Granted, it's on a very, very small scale, but regardless, it's already been done.

 

[SKORPI0]

Teleportation was accomplished several years ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...at-teleportation-possible-transfer-atoms.html

Granted, it's on a very, very small scale, but regardless, it's already been done.

This looks "real"... https://www.army.mil/article/164802/breaking_army_scientists_successfully_teleport_soldiers

 

[deustroop]

This looks "real"... https://www.army.mil/article/164802/breaking_army_scientists_successfully_teleport_soldiers

dated NATICK, Mass. (April 1, 2016)

 

[HumblePie]

Since when?

Bending space? Easy.. Just breathe and be "here"

Mass bends space regardless. The more mass, the more bent the space is which creates gravity in the first place. So we've been bending space since we've existed.

Now as far as using that capability to travel faster than the speed of light, not so much.

Now the video is funny because it uses "Star Trek" for it's example of traveling faster than light and explains why it can't be done by acceleration. However, Star Trek was about warp speed for faster than light travel. Warp speed isn't about acceleration through space, but creating infinite expansion of space behind an object while making infinite compression of space in front. The expansion is seen and can be mathematically computed, however... The compression is basically a black hole, but not since it would be inverted mass and not a collapse of mass. Otherwise negative mass to make happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

It's funny because Star Trek was the inspiration for even coming up with the idea that made trying to figure out a potential way to faster than light travel, in terms of a mere academic equation, possible.

 

[DigDog]

we cannot bend space. get it out of your mind. folding space is about as realistic as FTL and time travel. folding space INCREASES gravity, which makes travel harder, not easier. the opposite of folding space, is ... space. there is no way to travel faster than C and you need to be massless for that. this is easily demonstrable by .. you know, travelling in space next to a very large body. there is more distance to travel because the gravitational effect ADDS space to travel.

interplanetary travel is not the holy grail, even though we may think it is. the future lies in our intelligence, not in natural resources. free energy, for example, is far more realistic than interstellar travel.

 

[DigDog]

and no, wormholes dont work either.

 

[HumblePie]

we cannot bend space. get it out of your mind.

As I said above, we bend space all the time. Just being matter and having mass means we bend space. Now as far as making that into something that can be used to travel faster than light... As you said, not so much.

That is with the assumption that General Relativity is mostly correct. Which mathematically is the closest we've come to explaining gravity in the first place.

 

[Paratus]

Bending space? Easy.. Just breathe and be "here"

Mass bends space regardless. The more mass, the more bent the space is which creates gravity in the first place. So we've been bending space since we've existed.

Now as far as using that capability to travel faster than the speed of light, not so much.

Now the video is funny because it uses "Star Trek" for it's example of traveling faster than light and explains why it can't be done by acceleration. However, Star Trek was about warp speed for faster than light travel. Warp speed isn't about acceleration through space, but creating infinite expansion of space behind an object while making infinite compression of space in front. The expansion is seen and can be mathematically computed, however... The compression is basically a black hole, but not since it would be inverted mass and not a collapse of mass. Otherwise negative mass to make happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

It's funny because Star Trek was the inspiration for even coming up with the idea that made trying to figure out a potential way to faster than light travel, in terms of a mere academic equation, possible.

The Alcubierre warp drive is interesting in that it conforms to general relativity.

Mass warps space one way (compresses), and dark energy/inflation theory warps the other (expands). In fact the edge of the observable universe is receding from us faster than light. So the universe can do it, the question is can we.

Anyway NASA was spending a very small amount to look at the Alcubierre drive. They did some mathematics that show the original requirements for Jupiter sized amounts of energy and "exotic" matter maynot be necessary.

They are currently doing some small scale experiments looking for possible FTL warping of space using a modified laser interferometer similar to LIGO, (but lab sized).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White–Juday_warp-field_interferometer

 

[DigDog]

that is interesting, if anything, because i have long since speculated that the only way to "travel faster than light" would be to "fall" through space, without any propulsion.

as for the practical aspect of expanding space .. and its consequences .. hmm, that's not gonna be easy.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Bending space may at some point become possible, but that is not travelling at a speed faster than light. It's like having a huge wall which, if you'd walk around it, would mean you'd have to walk a thousand miles. Instead you open a door in it, walk through in seconds, and you're at the other side already. You didn't suddenly go a lot faster, but the moment the door is closed again the only way is around that wall. Unless you can also open that door of course.

And the quantum teleportation tests that were done copied the state of a particle to one elsewhere. The original particle is still there, so it's more like making copies than it is teleporting when it comes to matter. The information regarding the state is 'teleported', but not the matter itself.

 

[MongGrel]

Qauntuum entanglement in it's own right an odd concept, it occurs instantly, and there are many things that have not been unraveled.

Dark matter is still unexplained, nanotech is still in it's infancy, etc.

Saying light speed is a limit is akin to saying man will never fly at the moment.

The sound barrier was an obstacle once upon a time also.

 

[MongGrel]

redacted, some things I'm not bothering with a conversation about in some instances.

 

[feralkid]

Like most of life's problems, this one can be solved with bending.

 

[Fritzo]

Obviously we can't accelerate mass to the speed of light. But we can bend/fold space. We can also teleport, although that wouldn't really be practical for interstellar travel.

We just need to perfect fusion and quantum computing to really get going on this stuff.

Well, there's nothing saying we CAN'T bend or fold space, but we can't do it. This type of technology would require exotic matter, which would display a negative mass. If we were able to find exotic matter, it would open up a lot of Star Trek/Star Wars technologies, including warp drive and levitation.

Teleportation is a lot less likely. We can do it on a sub-atomic scale, but the energy required to teleport a human would destroy a country the size of Mexico. Not to mention the computing data that would need to be processed to reassemble a person (imagine a stack of hard drives that spanned 1/2 the length of the galaxy), and the ethical question "Did I just kill a person and reassemble a completely different person?"