Posted on 08/14/2008 5:51:05 AM PDT by BloodOrFreedom
Travel by bubble might seem more appropriate for witches in Oz, but two physicists suggest that a future spaceship could fold a space-time bubble around itself to travel faster than the speed of light.
We're talking about the very distant future, of course.
The idea involves manipulating dark energy — the mysterious force behind the universe's ongoing expansion — to propel a spaceship forward without breaking the laws of physics.
"Think of it like a surfer riding a wave," said Gerald Cleaver, a physicist at Baylor University. "The ship would be pushed by the spatial bubble and the bubble would be traveling faster than the speed of light."
In theory, the universe grew faster than the speed of light for a very short time after the Big Bang, driven by the dark energy that represents about 74 percent of the total mass-energy budget in the universe.
Dark matter constitutes 22 percent of the budget, and normal matter (stars, planets and everything you see) makes up the remaining 4 percent or so.
Strange as it sounds, current evidence supports the notion that the fabric of space-time can expand faster than the speed of light, because the reality in which light travels is itself expanding.
Cleaver and Richard Obousy, a Baylor graduate student, tapped the latest idea in string theory to devise how to manipulate dark energy and accelerate a spaceship.
Their notion is based on the Alcubierre drive, which proposes expanding space-time behind the spaceship while also shrinking space-time in front.
String theorists had believed that a total of 10 dimensions exist, including height, width, length and time.
The other six dimensions exist largely as unknowns, but everything is based on hypothetical one-dimensional strings.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Anybody who watched Star Trek TNG with any regularity already has a pretty firm grasp of the concept.
Awesome! I just wish I could comprehend what they’re talking about.
Why can’t we run our cars on Dark Energy?.................damned enviros!..............
It’s gonna take oodles and oodles of energy. By the time we get the capability to generate that much, the libs will have made sure that we each are allowed the use of one AAA battery per week. Can’t warp far on that. :)
Never watched ‘Trek’ too much I was always more of a ‘Wars’ fan
Speed doesn’t kill. Acceleration (and deceleration) does.
If you were a ‘Wars’ fan, you’d know they utilize hyperspace for their FTL, which does not use the idea of a ‘bubble’ (warp) drive.
There are ten dimensions? Holy cow. There is so much that we don’t know.
My questions is this: If the speed of light is what 187000 miles per second, what is the velocity of which these people speak?
This new spaceship, or whatever form it would take, sounds like a great vehicle to be late in!
It is of course completely refuted by Einstein. The speed of light is the same regardless of the reference frame. These guys are just fantasizing about what could be if Special Relativity weren't true.
Sometimes you are the bug, sometimes you are the windshield.
So, if it travels faster than light, what happens if they flick the headlights on? ;)
When the surfer gains forward speed because of the wave, he turns 90 degree or a bit less. This means he is now gaining sideward momentum from the wave in addition to the forward momentum he already got. There is a net gain at 45 degrees (or a bit less due to friction) of relative air/ground velocity.
If the univers expansion is the wave and light propulsed by it, a ship turning 90 degrees to it could ride it faster. It’s a conjecture theory of sorts.
Pelosi says it will take at least 10 years before we can get even a drop of dark matter and we should buy stock in her wind company instead.
Haha. they get blinded?
Maybe we'll have particle lasers fueled by red mercury.
Yes, I think FTL is possible using a field theory as they describe. It just makes my teeth ache every time they mention "dark" anything. The whole science of dark energy/matter is based off of sketchy suppositions and guesses IMO.
The numbers look pretty, but they are basing a lot of it off of some seriously flawed assumptions. Again, in my undereducated opinion only.
True...the theory is still too new to give full credibility. We’ll have to see how it all plays out in the next decade
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.