Posted on 11/11/2020 11:09:18 AM PST by BenLurkin
The "EmDrive" claims to make the impossible possible: a method of pushing spacecraft around without the need for — well, pushing. No propulsion. No exhaust.
But the EmDrive doesn't just violate our fundamental understanding of the universe; the experiments that claim to measure an effect haven't been replicated.
[A]ll forms of rocketry (and indeed, all forms of motion across the entire universe) require conservation of momentum. In order to set yourself in motion, you have to push off of something. Your feet push off of the ground, airplanes push themselves off of the air, and rockets push parts of themselves (e.g., an exhaust gas) out the back end to make them go forward.
But the EmDrive doesn't. It's just a box with microwaves inside it, bouncing around. And supposedly it is able to move itself.
Let's talk about the momentum part. Conservation of momentum is pretty straightforward: in a closed system, you can add up the momenta of all the objects in that system. Then they interact. Then you add up the momenta of all the objects again. The total momentum at the beginning must equal the total momentum at the end: momentum is conserved.
So, if the EmDrive demonstrates a violation of momentum conservation (which it claims to do), then this fundamental symmetry of nature must be broken.
But almost every single physical theory, from Newton's laws to quantum field theory, expresses space symmetry (and momentum conservation) in their base equations. Indeed, most modern theories of physics are simply complicated restatements of momentum conservation. To find a breaking in this symmetry wouldn't just be an extension of known physics — it would completely upend centuries of understanding of how the universe works.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Then you would move basically at the speed of light.
Personally, I think the Infinite Improbability Drive is more interesting.
If you like that, then Bistromathic Drive is even more fascinating.
A rocket in vacuum doesn’t “push” off of anything. The directed expansion of gases causes the system to expand linearly in both directions. The rocket goes one direction and the gases o the opposite direction. In days of old when there was no concept of vacuum and it was supposed that space beyond the atmosphere was filled with a substance termed ether then it was believed that push was the operating force.
Good thing Slartibartfast doesn’t have to worry about that.
The Em Drive will work if and when it is understood and demonstrated how it maintains conservation of energy. Changing the laws of nature may not be necessary, just understanding how something works pursuant to those laws of nature. I don’t count on this thing actually working. The reasoning for it sounds like the reasoning of yore that showed scientists how to build perpetual motion machines or that posited ether.
So why is this even being considered or discussed?
Thrust? Vehicles? Really?
It’s SPACE-TIME manipulation that will get in touch with green, three-breasted babes.
I knew you had a Heart of Gold
” green, three-breasted babes.”
sweeeet!
Ole’ J.Tiberius ain’t got nothin’ on us now!!!
If you have AOC doing the sums, you can go to Hell at light speed, and when you get there, you'll discover someone stole your tips...
I lost most of my respect for the science community when I started looking into the state of the theory, results and the vast quantities of cash thrown at these people for little return. Much of it is smoke and mirrors. But they've learned that if you use fancy terminology you can bamboozle politicians (who are for the most part morons) into throwing money around.
This is why they hate Trump. He can detect BS miles away.
You prefer a living in ignorance of a refined model that enables new technologies?
Where do you want to live?
Before germ theory replaced evil spirits as the cause of disease?
Back in the day when phlogiston was the cat's meow for explaining fire? No oxygen for you!
But I’m checking my restaurant receipts!
Not really because the EM Drive generates only a small force.
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