Bending Spacetime

I've heard about this theory a little here and there, but I've always thought of it as pure fantasy. But do you really think it would be possible to bend spacetime and sort of dig yourself through it? I mean, how else are we going to explore our universe? Creating crafts that can travel at the speed of light? I don't think so.

There are many reasons why, and I'm sure all of you are aware of them. First of all, right now it's practically impossible. Second of all, you'd be sort of fast forwarding time if you were to travel at the speed of light, so once you get back to earth (supposing you do get back) hundreds of our family's generations will have died. Second of all, our human bodies can't cope with this type of speed. I mean, it's impossible. How would the craft stop, turn etc without the people aboard turning into mutilated body parts? Oh, and THIRDLY, not even speed of light is enough. I mean, spending years in a damn craft, I don't think anyone would do that.

Anyways, is it possible do you think? Will we be able to do something similar in the future? 10 years from now? 20? 50? 100? 1000?

[edit on 24-5-2007 by ZikhaN]

Originally posted by ZikhaN
I've heard about this theory a little here and there, but I've always thought of it as pure fantasy. But do you really think it would be possible to bend spacetime and sort of dig yourself through it? I mean, how else are we going to explore our universe? Creating crafts that can travel at the speed of light? I don't think so.

Do you mean wormholes, because that's the only thing I can think of that bending space-time
would create.

As for near light speed travel, well I'm wiling to bet that some of our first interstellar probes
and ships built will only travel at at most 50% the speed of light, it may not get you to
Alpha Centauri in a few days, but you have to start off somewhere.

Second of all, you'd be sort of fast forwarding time if you were to travel at the speed of light, so once you get back to earth (supposing you do get back) hundreds of our family's generations will have died.

Well it depends, from an observers stand point time in the space craft would be going
very, very slow, but from someone on-board the craft it would be going extremely fast in
the rest of the Universe.

It would depend to, time dilation effects don't become to terribly noticeable until
you start going at somewhere around 70+PSL, so you could take a trip to alpha centauri
that would take you maybe six years ship-time but the full eight years (assuming the ship's
traveling at 50PSL) will have passed for the rest of the Universe, you really don't have to
take in account multiple generations of your family dieing unless you are traveling hundreds
or more light-years back and forth at a considerable percent of the speed of light.

On a side note, that's why many plans for STL (Slower Than Light) star ships are either
comprised of total family units, generation ships or artificial genetic recombination birthing.

Second of all, our human bodies can't cope with this type of speed. I mean, it's impossible. How would the craft stop, turn etc without the people aboard turning into mutilated body parts? Oh, and THIRDLY, not even speed of light is enough. I mean, spending years in a damn craft, I don't think anyone would do that.

You're both right and wrong here.

Yes, the Human body could not survive going from relative rest to an increase to say
40PSL within a few seconds, however if the ship is slowly and gradually speeding up,
you would'nt notice it at all, sort of like with planes, they don't go from 0-540 instantly,
they gradually speed up until they hit there cruising speed.

Obviously a craft traveling at 50PSL could not just all the sudden start accelerating in
another direction or stop instantly, however just with the speeding up to the cruising speed,
such changes would be gradual.

For instance a ship traveling at 50PSL from Sol to Alpha Centauri would gradually speed
up to it's cruising speed over a period of about 3.6 years(guesstimate), now it would only
travel at that speed for a short amount of time, once it had hit it's 4.2 year mark traveling,
it would slowly (probably within a day or two at the most) flip itself around so it was traveling
in reverse and would start slowly and gradually decelerating, so by the time it reached
Alpha Centauri it would be traveling slow enough to maneuver into orbit of a planet.

As for time aboard, well because of time dilation effects, only a few weeks would pass aboard
the ship while in transit, so you would'nt have an incredibly long trip, unless you were
going very slow.

Anyways, is it possible do you think? Will we be able to do something similar in the future? 10 years from now? 20? 50? 100? 1000?

Will we be able to create wormholes?
I think in the future we will, probably not for another 100-500 years though.

My moneys on some sort of HyperDrive or Alcubierre based design, though I think
our first interstellar ships will be slower than light vessels.

Do you mean wormholes, because that's the only thing I can think of that bending space-time would create.

As for near light speed travel, well I'm wiling to bet that some of our first interstellar probes and ships built will only travel at at most 50% the speed of light, it may not get you to Alpha Centauri in a few days, but you have to start off somewhere.

I totally agree. I know we're going to achieve high speeds somewhere in the near future for our instellar crafts, but I'm talking about speed of light. Right now, it's impossible. I mean, we even have to struggle for the speed of sound.

Well it depends, from an observers stand point time in the space craft would be going very, very slow, but from someone on-board the craft it would be going extremely fast in the rest of the Universe.

It would depend to, time dilation effects don't become to terribly noticeable until you start going at somewhere around 70+PSL, so you could take a trip to alpha centauri that would take you maybe six years ship-time but the full eight years (assuming the ship's traveling at 50PSL) will have passed for the rest of the Universe, you really don't have to take in account multiple generations of your family dieing unless you are traveling hundreds or more light-years back and forth at a considerable percent of the speed of light.

On a side note, that's why many plans for STL (Slower Than Light) star ships are either comprised of total family units, generation ships or artificial genetic recombination birthing.

Well as far as I know, there's some kind of time effect when you're travelling at the speed of light. My memory isn't too awesome, so what I wrote might have been false.

I remember watching a video on youtube where a guy mentions what the side-effects of travelling at the speed of light are. I can't seem to find it though.

You're both right and wrong here. Yes, the Human body could not survive going from relative rest to an increase to say 40PSL within a few seconds, however if the ship is slowly and gradually speeding up, you would'nt notice it at all, sort of like with planes, they don't go from 0-540 instantly,
they gradually speed up until they hit there cruising speed.

Obviously a craft traveling at 50PSL could not just all the sudden start accelerating in another direction or stop instantly, however just with the speeding up to the cruising speed, such changes would be gradual.

For instance a ship traveling at 50PSL from Sol to Alpha Centauri would gradually speed up to it's cruising speed over a period of about 3.6 years(guesstimate), now it would only travel at that speed for a short amount of time, once it had hit it's 4.2 year mark traveling, it would slowly (probably within a day or two at the most) flip itself around so it was traveling in reverse and would start slowly and gradually decelerating, so by the time it reached Alpha Centauri it would be traveling slow enough to maneuver into orbit of a planet.

As for time aboard, well because of time dilation effects, only a few weeks would pass aboard the ship while in transit, so you would'nt have an incredibly long trip, unless you were going very slow.

You're right. But now that I think of it, this procedure would require a high amount of precision if you have a destination landing point. If you slow down too early, it'll just jeperdize the landing because you'll have to increase the speed agian, and when you do, you might miss your opportunity to land if you slow down too late. The rest you can probably figure out yourself.

Will we be able to create wormholes?
I think in the future we will, probably not for another 100-500 years though.

My moneys on some sort of HyperDrive or Alcubierre based

That's one theory Too bad I probably won't be there to witness it (thinking way ahead of time, hehe;P).

Thanks for clearing a lot of things up.

[edit on 25-5-2007 by ZikhaN]

Originally posted by ZikhaN
I mean, we even have to struggle for the speed of sound.

Well, to be technical we can travel faster than sound relatively easy, the real problem is
the sonic booms, and for Hyper Sonic (MACH 5+) you have the whole material and
fuel problem.

Probes and things ins pace travel much, much faster than the speed of sound,
but that's because there is very little causing drag to slow them down.

Well as far as I know, there's some kind of time effect when you're traveling at the speed of light. My memory isn't too awesome, so what I wrote might have been false.

Yes, time dilation, it is present as something speeds up, though it's not noticeable until
you start approaching the speed of light.

As for traveling at the speed of light, well you can't, you can travel at very close to it,
but nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light, since you would need infinite
energy to do so because mass becomes infinitely at the speed of light.

There are more than a few loopholes that get around this dilemma though, wormholes,
Hyper Drives, Alcubierre drives and even possibly quantum entanglement.

You're right. But now that I think of it, this procedure would require a high amount of precision if you have a destination landing point.

Starships most likely would not land, they would position themselves into a parking orbit
around the destination planet and send smaller craft down to it.

If you slow down too early...you'll have to increase the speed again, and when you do, you might miss your opportunity to land if you slow down too late. The rest you can probably figure out yourself.

That's why we ave computers, it's doubtful that any person would be manually doing
all the maneuvers to slow down, speed-up turn etc, not only are there so many it would
be nearly impossible to do, naturally the human brain can not handle the mathematic
computations involved.

Thanks for clearing a lot of things up.

No problem, I'm glad I could be of help.