Physicist to Present New Exact Solution of Einstein's Gravitational Field Equation [Anti-Gravity!]

PhysOrg.com ^ | 11 February 2006 | Staff

[farlander]

Age and treachery always beats youth and idealism. :)

[grey_whiskers]

The gravitational effects of a subatomic particle are not of any measurable size. Doesn't matter if you're talking gravitational, or anti-gravitational. You need a planetary-size mass moving at close to the speed of light

LOL. Talk about your SSC...maybe the entire solar system is acting as a resevoir for the greys to run "planet-smashing" experiments ? ;-)

Cheers!

...and then he remembered the r**2 dependence

[farlander]

Large, as in dust particles.

[PatrickHenry]

... even a small mass gravitationally repels a payload.

What's going on here?

[farlander]

Technically, it won't be a millenia for you. Closer you get to C, slower the time for you.

[O Neill]

I hit bugs going 70mph and I can't imagine hitting a rock getting up to .57c.

I think that's where the Felber Effect comes in. I was just out on the patio & was struck by several moonbeams. Didn't hurt a bit...they simply reflected or refracted, due the strength of their 'anti-gravity' forward fields...no trauma whatsoever!

[grey_whiskers]

Any word yet on the deceleration techniques? .99c, even if you live almost forever might get boring after a millennia or two

Don't PANIC!...

"The first ten million years were the worst. The second ten million? They were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline."

Cheers! [...if you can manage them ;-) ]

[longshadow]

*****"... even a small mass gravitationally repels a payload."*****

What's going on here?

Whatever it is, it doesn't pass the smell test, IMHO.

[Marius3188]

Right, but the Felber Effect is only when you eclipse .57, right?

So, until we it hit that point we are in a vulnerable position.

[longshadow]

BTW, did you notice in the abstract where the 57.7 c figure comes from?

"3^-1/2"

[bobdsmith]

Even .99c isn't going to do it for you. Time has slowed down on your ship to only 14% of earth time, which will seem like you're living a long span (to the folks back home), and you'll live long enough for an otherwise impossible journey; but to you, subjectively, everything will seem quite normal.

Here is where I get confused. The spaceship is travelling .99c relative to the earth. But that means also the Earth is travelling .99c relative to the spaceship. So why doesn't that mean time on the earth slows down to only 14% of spaceship time, rather than the otherway round? What decides which body gets the "time bonus" when both are actually moving the same speed relative to one another? Where is the object of reference?

[RightWhale]

The ones who stay home also are seen as living slow, as seen from the ship.

[Physicist]

Sounds like B.S. to me. "Near lightspeed"? Relative to what? "Holy moly, that planet's repelling our spaceship! We and it must be moving 'near lightspeed'! Woah, and here I thought we were 'at rest'!"

But if he can make it work, it won't matter whether I or anyone else understands it or believes it or not, so I'm not sure why a press release is warranted. Just get it past peer review and/or build it, and the buzz will take care of itself.

[NicknamedBob]

None of this will be particularly useful unless it can be harnessed in the controlled environment of a ship.

If anti-gravity effects can be produced by masses moving at close to the speed of light, what abour masses circulating in a large toroidal field, with acceleration driving them past the point where they would generate anti-gravity effects, and then allowing their circliing around again to be boosted again?

Something like a bootsrap drive, even if it is only for the utility of reducing acceleration stresses.

Clearly we will need to learn a great deal more about the behavior of large amounts of plasma brought near to the speed of light, as we would most likely be doing if we learn to control fusion using a Tokamak-like design.

It does have a faint whiff of serendipity, but I love it when a plan comes together.

That's why I'm investing in Fusion.

[VadeRetro]

The "Physics Division of Starmark Inc.?" I don't know.

[bobdsmith]

So if the ship arrived back on earth they would have both been gone for the same period of time? I thought that if you went on a year long lightspeed trip around the solar system and returned back home you would find a whole century had gone by on earth.

[PatrickHenry]

We've had threads on the "twin paradox," and why the universe "knows" which twin stays young. Basically (the limit of my recollection) it's because the traveling twin is the one who's experiencing all the acceleration, both in leaving earth and then in returning. I'll leave it to others to explain it better.

[grey_whiskers]

What decides which body gets the "time bonus" when both are actually moving the same speed relative to one another? Where is the object of reference?

Can you say "Twins Paradox" ??

The problem is that there is NO preferred reference frame for things moving at constant velocity...

Supposedly it can be resolved by going to General (not Special) Relativity.

Cheers!

[O Neill]

Right, but the Felber Effect is only when you eclipse .57, right? So, until we it hit that point we are in a vulnerable position.

Yes, that's what I make of it. Felber merely begins to appear at .57c, then strengthens. Thus, we'd be 100% vulnerable below .57c and not reach full immunity until we actually became light at c...

QED...

[PatrickHenry]

BTW, did you notice in the abstract where the 57.7 c figure comes from? "3^-1/2"

Yeah, but what's the significance of the square root of three?