Thread: Warp Speed....
View Single Post
Old 04-28-2004, 11:24 PM   #25 (permalink)
Johnny Rotten
lost and found
 
Johnny Rotten's Avatar
 
Location: Berkeley
Quote:
Originally posted by stingc
A common misunderstanding of special relativity is that you can't go faster than light.
Actually, relativity does not disallow FTL travel. It dictates that a mass travelling at sublight cannot reach the speed of light, as it would theoretically eventually acheive infinite density and require an infinite amount of energy to perpetuate momentum when it reaches C. Light is (theoretically) both a particle and a wave, so that's how it achieves its speed.

Wormholes, however, sidestep the momentum issue by simply bringing Point A and Point B closer together in spacetime, rather than making the object move at extreme speeds. The energy requirements (both in sheer amount and amount of transfer within a given block of time) of punching a hole through the fabric of spacetime and keeping it both physically stable and safe for transportation, however, is also just as theoretical as the possibility that a wormhole could exist in the first place. It's like trying to determine how much money to charge for a toll road when you don't know where the road is going to be built or how big you will need it to be.

Edit: typo
__________________
"The idea that money doesn't buy you happiness is a lie put about by the rich, to stop the poor from killing them." -- Michael Caine

Last edited by Johnny Rotten; 04-29-2004 at 09:19 AM..
Johnny Rotten is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73