Warp Drive Engine Could Suck Earth Into Black Hole

Discovery News ^ | June 11, 2009 | Eric Bland

[SunkenCiv]

"Star Trek" makes faster-than-light travel look easy, but according to new calculations by Italian physicists, a warp drive could easily create a black hole that would incinerate any passengers on a space craft and then suck Earth into a black hole. "Warp drives are so far the best case scenario to attain faster-than-light travel," said Stefano Finazzi of Italy's International School for Advanced Studies. This paper "makes it much harder to realize, if not almost impossible, warp drives." ...Other physicists agree with the Italians' calculations, up to a point. "It's a good paper; their results are sound," said Gerald Cleaver, a professor of physics at Baylor University who reviewed the work. The results make sense, at least, when creating warp drive using exotic matter in a universe where 1 plus 1 equals 2. In a universe where 1 plus 1 equals 3, a possibility with string theory instead of the semi classical physics used by the Italians, a stable warp drive is viable. Last year Cleaver and co-author Richard Obousy detailed a string theory-based warp drive that creates a bubble of space time by expanding one of the tiny, rolled-up dimensions (instead of a bubble of dark energy) predicted by string theory. The biggest sticking point to a extra dimension-based warp drive? The entire mass of Jupiter would have to be converted into pure energy to power it.

[Ditter]

Ya know what? I am not gonna worry about this either!

[calex59]

what happened for real is some dude from Tralfamadore was experimenting with a new rocket fuel and poof....the whole universe disappeared...but that was in the future....

I always thought the earth was destroyed to put in a new space way? Wasn't that how it happened in the future, or was that an alternate future?

[Reeses]

When matter is converted into energy does it lose its gravity effect? I would think if some process inside a black hole converted enough of its mass temporarily into gravity-free energy, the black hole would explode in a big bang.

[Vaquero]

Douglas Adams is a whore and he stole the idea for Hitchhikers Guide.

read the story that it was ripped off from, Venus on the Halfshell by Kilgore Trout(Philip José Farmer).

[colorado tanker]

Maybe I'm like Bones, but I've always been skeptical of string theory. I know the mathematics work, but it has something to do with Occam's Razor.

Still, it would be way cool to travel to the other side of the galaxy, even if you'd have to vaporize a planet to do it.

Whoa, dude, I'm starting to think like the Crystalline Entity.

[anymouse]

Apparently you didn’t see “Buckaroo Banzai” in college with a bunch of drunk nerds. It made perfect sense in that setting. ;) The John Bigbooty character was worth it alone. :)

[Ramius]

Heathen!

Buckaroo Banzai: Best. Movie. Ever. :-)

Hey... hey... don’t be mean. Just remember: Where ever you go... there you are.

[SunkenCiv]

Would we really miss Jupiter anyway? Honestly... ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

The theoretical black hole still has nuclear processes going on, it's just too massive for light to escape. X-ray emissions come from (it sez here) about three times the distance of the event horizon. The type and amount of matter-to-energy conversion probably has something to do with (in theory) whether and when a black hole goes kablooey. Fission reactions (on the heavy side) and fusion reactions (on the lighter side) all converge on Iron, which is the eventual (theoretical) destination of all matter.

[SunkenCiv]

[insert 2008 election joke here]

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

You heartless person you. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[colorado tanker]

LOL!

Nah, Saturn is much more fun for amateur astronomy.

[CaptRon]

Tnen we’ll just have to find those Alderson points.

[SunkenCiv]

There’s still time. The entire Earth will wind up getting pushed into an earlier time period when this warp drive gizmo gets switched on. I’m saving my lists of winning lottery numbers against just that eventuality.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

"Since you knew I'd be coming aboard, you should have pimped my ride."

[SunkenCiv]

Google

[SunkenCiv]

I shell have to check that out out. Oh wait, there something about an article, uh, I tortoise out of a magazine...

[ModelBreaker]

“Warp drives are so far the best case scenario to attain faster-than-light travel, . . .”

Well, duh.

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, we won’t be needin’ amateur astronomy after we get sucked into that black hole.