You can't travel faster than light

[Zookajoe]

I say we use the "Impossible Drive" aka EM Resonance chamber, aka EM Drive, aka "It cannot possibly work, but does" drive, to accelerate us faster than the speed of light. Using this, we can nip over to Alpha Centuria and pick up some Alpha Pale Ale to drink on the way back to watch the Superbowl.

Just my thoughts.

 

[DarthMatter]

I say we use the "Impossible Drive" aka EM Resonance chamber, aka EM Drive, aka "It cannot possibly work, but does" drive, to accelerate us faster than the speed of light. Using this, we can nip over to Alpha Centuria and pick up some Alpha Pale Ale to drink on the way back to watch the Superbowl.

Just my thoughts.

The problem is that we don't know why it works, so we can't really use it in a efficient way.
And the fact that we so far haven't gotten it to work outside of Earths gravity or magnetic fields, which may imply that it is some outside force making it generate thrust rather than the engine itself.
And the fact that it generates so little thrust that we still need rockets/ion engines to accelerate up to a good speed, or we would just not get going anytime soon...

 

[Xist]

As several of you have stated, one of the beautiful things about science is that it is always subject to change. As we learn more, we better understand things that currently evade us, which gives us new ideas about how to do things and new ideas how to better solve old problems that sometimes yield new possibilities.

So...

Get sciencing folks! You young guys, you want to travel faster than light? Awesome! Go make it happen! Nobody else has been able to figure it out yet, but that doesn't mean you can't do it!

I for one would love to zip around the universe and see some other galaxies close up before I die. :)

As it stands, nobody has a good idea how to make it possible, much less plausible, and so we're stuck moving slower than light until some super genius comes along and figures out how to do things differently.

 

[Maxgerber5250]

Speed is the measure of distance over time. if you can change the value of ether time or distance you change the speed.

 

[DarthMatter]

As several of you have stated, one of the beautiful things about science is that it is always subject to change. As we learn more, we better understand things that currently evade us, which gives us new ideas about how to do things and new ideas how to better solve old problems that sometimes yield new possibilities.

So...

Get sciencing folks! You young guys, you want to travel faster than light? Awesome! Go make it happen! Nobody else has been able to figure it out yet, but that doesn't mean you can't do it!

I for one would love to zip around the universe and see some other galaxies close up before I die. :slight_smile:

As it stands, nobody has a good idea how to make it possible, much less plausible, and so we're stuck moving slower than light until some super genius comes along and figures out how to do things differently.

Isn't there theoretical/mathematical evidence that warp drives work?
The problem was just how to power it, as with all the really fun sci-fi things (like lightsabers, Deathstars, anti matter torpedoes). We have bad ways to generate power (fusion can solve this) and horrible ways to store power (nano-technology may be able to fix this), otherwise most of the technology we need to act out both Star Wars and Star Trek exists.

 

[Xist]

Could be. An invention that can't be powered is hard to use though. :)

 

[Thugari]

Now this is science!

when you get older, I will explain beer foam and bubbles.

 

[Zookajoe]

Isn't there theoretical/mathematical evidence that warp drives work?
The problem was just how to power it, as with all the really fun sci-fi things (like lightsabers, Deathstars, anti matter torpedoes). We have bad ways to generate power (fusion can solve this) and horrible ways to store power (nano-technology may be able to fix this), otherwise most of the technology we need to act out both Star Wars and Star Trek exists.

Actually, from what I understand, that is one of the things that the EM Drive did. When lasers were fired through the Em Drive’s resonance chamber, some of the beams appeared to travel faster than the speed of light. If that’s true, it would mean that the Em Drive is producing a warp field or bubble. This was with an experiment that took place in the vacuum of space.

So, it could be both a propulsion system AND a warp bubble generator. Think warp nacelles from Star Trek, they also did both.

Now, if we can just get the damned thing to have more than miniscule thrust output.

 

[DarthMatter]

Actually, from what I understand, that is one of the things that the EM Drive did. When lasers were fired through the Em Drive’s resonance chamber, some of the beams appeared to travel faster than the speed of light. If that’s true, it would mean that the Em Drive is producing a warp field or bubble. This was with an experiment that took place in the vacuum of space.

So, it could be both a propulsion system AND a warp bubble generator. Think warp nacelles from Star Trek, they also did both.

Now, if we can just get the damned thing to have more than miniscule thrust output.

You have a link to that? Both the beams going FTL and the space experiment. Would be really interesting to read. I thought there hadn't been any IRL space tests, just shielding it from the magnetic field (and having it in vacuum) while still on Earth...

And something going FTL is really weird, in general. Haven't heard or read anything about stuff going FTL in the experiments done on EM drive before...

EDIT:
I found a link to NASASpaceFlight.com that was mentioned in an other article, that in turn talked about breaking light speed. When going to NASASpaceFlight.com however there was no mention of FTL results. :confused:

 

[Anatoray]

...But, you can slow or speed up light by changing the substance it travels in. And different colors (=wavelength) of light travel a longer or shorter path whilst covering the same distance in the same time. Being such easily manipulable, I'm not sure if I'd call it a constant.

Wavelength isn't the same as speed, though, for the record.

Also, I don't think FTL will in the end come down to how "fast" you can go in the traditional way most humans think about it. There isn't enough energy in the universe to move anything with mass FTL. You need more fuel, which then also needs more energy to move, which needs more fuel, which... well, you see the problem.

Rather, I think it will evolve around a theoretical bosonic particle such as the graviton which (again, theoretically) has unlimited range and is mass-less, like the photon. As was said before, the more likely answer is bending the rules - more specifically, space - and moving an object at normal speeds through a distance of zero (read: wormhole). Perhaps bending the space around you to create a sort of gravitational wavefront not unlike surfing, but in this case on gravity instead of water.

Or some other batshit insane way noone has obviously thought of yet (like, say, a Bistromath)

Again, thinking in terms of hurling an object in a direction using some sort of thrust seems like a completely archaic way of looking at it.

 

[Plagueis]

Ive learned that we shouldnt say it can not be done because we have been wrong so many times. I always like to keep an open mind to everything.

 

[Blind Owl]

when you get older, I will explain beer foam and bubbles.

Jesus, I'll be 38 next Friday, how much older do I need to be Dad? Haha.

Anyone remember the Young Einstein movie from the 80's or 90's. That's all I need to know about beer foam and bubbles.

 

[Thugari]

Jesus, I'll be 38 next Friday, how much older do I need to be Dad? Haha.

Anyone remember the Young Einstein movie from the 80's or 90's. That's all I need to know about beer foam and bubbles.

Young Einstein was incomplete. When beer photons become unstable, they produce gas ( that's right they fart) creating the bubbles and foam. now you will remember that after anyone around you belches after drinking a beer.

 

[Maxgerber5250]

well we will never go FTL if we have to throw shit overboard. I`m thinking of an inertia drive that would be powered by a thorium reactor,

 

[Stubieroo]

When Light speed is too slow...

 

[Zookajoe]

You have a link to that? Both the beams going FTL and the space experiment. Would be really interesting to read. I thought there hadn't been any IRL space tests, just shielding it from the magnetic field (and having it in vacuum) while still on Earth...

And something going FTL is really weird, in general. Haven't heard or read anything about stuff going FTL in the experiments done on EM drive before...

EDIT:
I found a link to NASASpaceFlight.com that was mentioned in an other article, that in turn talked about breaking light speed. When going to NASASpaceFlight.com however there was no mention of FTL results. :confused:

Yeah, NASASpaceFlight.com (in the forums) is where I saw it mentioned. They hint at it here, but apparently from what I can find now, it seems the comment was made, then redacted on the faster than light, as the experiment is still ongoing.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/04/evaluating-nasas-futuristic-em-drive/

 

[Zookajoe]

well we will never go FTL if we have to throw shit overboard. I`m thinking of an inertia drive that would be powered by a thorium reactor,

That is basically what the EM Drive does, though it is a reactionless drive. It uses no fuel, it uses pure electricity to function. Taking into consideration that a useful EM Drive for space travel would need a nuclear power plant of 1.0 MW (Megawatts) to 100 MW and also take into account that the Navy uses 220 MW nuclear reactors in their Ohio class submarines, and I am thinking it might be closer than we know.

 

[Blind Owl]

Young Einstein was incomplete. When beer photons become unstable, they produce gas ( that's right they fart) creating the bubbles and foam. now you will remember that after anyone around you belches after drinking a beer.

The keg of knowledge has taught me something. Yay.

 

[Printimus]

So how many jigawatts we need to make this shit happen?

 

[Blind Owl]

So how many KEGS we need to make this shit happen?

FTFY