My theoretical propulsion system

I remember watching a program on tv (daily planet) on how geckos climb. Basically what it said was that the tiny fibers on there bodies actually "become one" with the surrounding textures.

Think of it like walking in thick grass.


My theory will probably sound insane. Im no scientist.

Would it be possible that a propulsion system work by manipulating its surronding atomic structure at the smallest level?

Imagine this if you will. Your craft becomes one with the surronding particles in air for a micro second at a time, releasing and grabbing on over and over again.

I know everyone is going to say, well the elements of air are too light to support anything, but i wonder...

The mysteries of string theory have yet to be discovered.

Perhaps im insane.

As a propulsion system, I don't see any viability in this. I did, however see a project where they were developing a full body suit with the sort of fibers you describe, sort of like Spiderman has naturally.

www.sciencentral.com...
news.nationalgeographic.com...
www.berkeley.edu...

I ran the search www.google.ca... to get those

It's not quite what you were looking for, I think, but it's related enough I thought you would be interested. I don't think any of those are the source I originally read, where I seem to remember they had actually made a prototype 'spiderman' suit, but they are working on the same concept.

the only way it could be a system of propulsion is if you can control where it attaches to the atomic structure.

Image if you were to put a tennis ball in the air, and the ball became one with the surronding atomic structure of its surrondings. To move it would have to "attach" itself in the direction it wants to go.


Its a far off concept.

Im not thinking of a permanent attachment with the surronding atomic structure, im just thinking, for split micro moments attaching and releasing, attaching and releasing.

image an electromagnet attracting a piece of metal and then shutting off and then turning on again, never actually grabbing the piece of metal, only trying.

I cant explain whats in my own brain.

I like the initial concept. However, treating an entire vehicle in this manner seems a far stretch. So, lets take your concept and constrain it down a little into your theoretical engine.

1. We don't necessarily need attachment if we have attraction
2. We have to create attraction from the engine to particles in the desired direction to create movement
3. Changing the particles of air in the direction of travel somehow is required
4. The vehicle moves itself along by modifying particles directly in its path that it is attracted to and they pass through the engine to create forward momentum

well see what some others have to say.

i like the idea of the matter running through the engine.

perhaps the particles could be manipulated at the smallest level of the atomic structure.

like manipulating string theory or something.

I think for this to work the entire vehicle and everything in it would have to be used, not just an engine. The forces generated by particles attracting and repeling would be large relative to the particles, but small relative to the entire object. You would need every particle in the object to be attracted in unison.

If just the engine worked this way, I'd picture the engine shooting forward out of the vehicle. If the particles didn't all move at the exact same time and at the exact same distance, the object would be ripped apart.

That leads me to believe that this might be used for moving objects that are one particle thick, but not for anything thicker. Think of it this way. If the outside edge of particles moved forward, the next row of particles in line would be left where they are. If they attracted to the first row of particles, the first row would not move because it would have counter-balancing forces enacting on both sides of it. The first row would pull towards the particles in front of it, but would be pulled back by the second row. You couldn't allow 'air' to get in between the rows of particles that make up the moving object, or else once the particles move off on their own they risk the chance of bonding with the 'air' and creating new molecules.

It's an intersting concept none the less, but I don't think it's useful for propulsion.

the edges of the craft would be that part that everything "attaches" to.

Well if you're going by string theory then manipulating the smallest structure would be manipulating the strings themselves. The only way we could do that would be to alter their vibration to generate different particles. I think the best way would be the conversion to gravitons (if they exist).

Convert every single particle encountering the skin of the vessel into gravitons.
Would not be easy, but would produce an immense amount of gravitons per atom assuming such a conversion were even possible.
Easier to generate static using the skin and use that to generate gravitons. But your way would probably result in more acceleration and be better at space travel... static craft depend on air resistance.

good analysis there. its an interesting concept. i just wish i could explain my ideas better.

If you take your ideas further into strings it is possible that the very fabric of spacetime is comprised of strings. Strings spun up into tight little coils that particles (normal strings) pass through as they traverse the matrix. A few gravitons might get spat out in the process producing inertia. If you could find a way to generate a field which increased the gravitons emitted, you could essentially turn every single atom in the craft into a motor.

thats kind of what i was thinking initially, manipulating everything at the smallest level.


i think with time and more research done in string theory, things like space travel will change, like over night.

getting down to the smallest level of everything, and figuring out how its all constructed.

time will tell.

this (our) concept is far ahead of its time. There is no technology capable of such feats.

good posts apc.

It may be possible to generate gravitons using a static producing disk or sphere shaped craft spinning at very fast speed (in air) using present day technology. It would essentially be through the creation of highly focused magnetic fields and manipulating their interaction with the neighboring space on multiple dimensions. I briefly went into magnetic fields in this thread which would be the most basic level of understanding such a craft:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It would be confined to the atmosphere but would be able to shoot something out far enough to engage some other sort of propulsion before falling back.

Wouldn't disassociation with the surrounding medium be better? Afterall, that is what's causing the resistance/drag.

I remember there was some mystery about how dolphins were able to swim so fast underwater and create little interference in the surrounding water.

It came down to the shape of the dolphin, which decreased some of the drag, plus some special chemicals given off by the skin which caused disassociation with the sea water around the body.

I 'll Stick with unleaded. We don't completly undestand string theory and after all it is just a theory. Even it we could do you think it would be wise to tinker with the fabric of reality and or space time?

Why not? Planets do it all the time!

Originally posted by apc
Why not? Planets do it all the time!

Good call I think that something like this could be possible. But I think that it would be to hard of a task to make an entire vessel have this ability maybe just a smaller probe or something to see objects in space very far away. I don't know very much but what if you were to latch on to something like light? Since it is already going at a amazing speed you would merely need to hold on to it until you wanna get off.

Originally posted by apc
Why not? Planets do it all the time!

Indeed they do!

For real, are you people ready to fcuk with reality because there is a lot of potential among you guys, in this thread and on this board.

The problematic here, I mean a possible future I have problems with is the intention factor.
What are we going to do with such a technology? Do we share the same goals? What about your responsability. What others will do? Make money? Of course, but on which sacrifice? How far can you trust people with whom you share your information.
It would only be a matter of time before something comes after us, unless we receive protection from higher cycles.

Tell me, have you ever felt protected from bad lucks?


[edit on 17-4-2005 by Desmond]

My thought in this was that this idea could be put into drones or space probes not actualy vessels for humans since this would be to large. If you were to keep the surface areas smaller then you could go faster since you wouldn't have to drag as much stuff around not to mention apply less of this "hooking" material to the craft. Drones and space probes would be able to cross the galaxy at amazing rates and be able to bring back the information too. And if one of these probes were to be found be an alien race I doubt this would be cause to start trouble with us. If so couldn't we just move Earth using this technology Scoot away everytime we get into trouble.

String theory will be proven in the near future, it is only a matter of time money and current technology stopping us from getting inside the quarks and beyond.

There's no end to Knowledge.