Why We Will Never Travel At Light Speed Or Anywhere Near To It.

originally posted by: alldaylong
Two solid bodies coming into contact with each other at high speed.
Result. Ouch

Maybe just getting your ship up to nearly lightspeed will do something to time such that the two objects might "de-phase" from each other and just pass through each other in some way. As long as we're fantasizing.

We'll travel at light speed and perhaps beyond (in terms of distance not actual speed), but it won't be through open interstellar space.

It will be at the quantum level where matter (presumably you) is de-materialized into a particle beam of some form and then reassembled (including the electrical fingerprint of your mind) at your final destination.

Kind of like the "transporter" in Star Trek...

If exploring the Universe is the goal, simply travelling at the speed of light in a fixed craft with Human passengers won't get us very far.

originally posted by: SBMcG
If exploring the Universe is the goal, simply travelling at the speed of light in a fixed craft with Human passengers won't get us very far.

Agreed. Maybe someday in the not-to-distant future our intelligent robots will make it, because they can just go into cold storage for 100,000 years or more until they get somewhere. Not us, though. We haven't even been in our current form for 50,000 years yet.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: SBMcG
If exploring the Universe is the goal, simply travelling at the speed of light in a fixed craft with Human passengers won't get us very far.

Agreed. Maybe someday in the not-to-distant future our intelligent robots will make it, because they can just go into cold storage for 100,000 years or more until they get somewhere. Not us, though. We haven't even been in our current form for 50,000 years yet.

Agreed, unless somehow we come up with a solution to that problem, if we managed to get a craft to light speed I'm sure the scientists can solve that problem, although not in our life time.

originally posted by: DarkvsLight29
Agreed, unless somehow we come up with a solution to that problem, if we managed to get a craft to light speed I'm sure the scientists can solve that problem, although not in our life time.

Scientists can't solve everything. Maybe this is one of those things they'll never solve.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: DarkvsLight29
Agreed, unless somehow we come up with a solution to that problem, if we managed to get a craft to light speed I'm sure the scientists can solve that problem, although not in our life time.

Scientists can't solve everything. Maybe this is one of those things they'll never solve.

We might never know, they could solve that before solving the riddle of light speed, I'm thinking it will be solved within​ the deceleration process at whap speed, only a guess.

I suspect the only way to breach the light barrier is through the control of gravity. If we control gravity, repulser fields would be child's play. We have a long way to go.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: SBMcG
If exploring the Universe is the goal, simply travelling at the speed of light in a fixed craft with Human passengers won't get us very far.

Agreed. Maybe someday in the not-to-distant future our intelligent robots will make it, because they can just go into cold storage for 100,000 years or more until they get somewhere. Not us, though. We haven't even been in our current form for 50,000 years yet.

The problem with sending out probes or robots is time. If you sent one at the nearest galaxy to ours it would still take 2.5 million years at the SOL.

Well in Star wars they have maps. I'm pretty sure you have to map the system into the ship in order to prevent crashing into the planet. That is kind of hard as we don't have any of that developed yet. Maybe only for Mars or planets in our solar system but other Solar systems is going to take years to developed without the planet already been colonized.

There is also jump gates from Mass effect or Stargate, but building a giant gate to jump to the other side of the Universe. Pff. We don't even have that tech to begin with and the dangerous of making the planet and moons to use the jump gate by accident. Also you don't know where your jumping to begin with unless another one was built on the other side.

originally posted by: SBMcG

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: SBMcG
If exploring the Universe is the goal, simply travelling at the speed of light in a fixed craft with Human passengers won't get us very far.

Agreed. Maybe someday in the not-to-distant future our intelligent robots will make it, because they can just go into cold storage for 100,000 years or more until they get somewhere. Not us, though. We haven't even been in our current form for 50,000 years yet.

The problem with sending out probes or robots is time. If you sent one at the nearest galaxy to ours it would still take 2.5 million years at the SOL.

And the only way to solve that problem with robots is to send a human along side, now at 2.5 million years is going to be suspended animation for a human and no way our earth will look the same.

Ie, one way trip.

originally posted by: schuyler
I think the concept of light speed travel is a red herring. According to the equations, it's impossible. This is not something you can explain away with science fiction concepts such as warp drive. There are no equations that explain warp drive. Saying that we simply haven't invented it yet is not an answer. But like a lot of things in science, thinking in terms of light speed may very well be akin to wanting to walk through walls when there is a convenient door nearby. In other words, we may have to re-think how reality is organized. We know, for example, that Quantum Entanglement, or "spooky action at a distance" works, but we don't know why. There may be an answer that starts there, and if there is, it may make the concept of light speed travel moot. We don't have to answer OP's issue because the problem will never come up.

Acceleration of a photon: 0 to 600 million mph in 1 nanosecond.

There are many equation: E = m.c^2 related to the equation for kinetic energy F = 1/2 m.v^2

The amount of force required is proportional to the mass of the object x the velocity squared. We can't do anything about the velocity, but changing the mass is an interesting concept. Since a photon is massless it can skitter across the quantum foam without being slowed down.

The photons and neutrons get bogged down by the Higgs field, gluons and all that other strange stuff related to where exactly any particle stores the information related to its velocity and direction. The only ways we know of changing these are either a large gravitational object (gravity), an electromagnetic field (affecting electrons) and being pushed along by another object (more electron interaction).

originally posted by: stormcell

originally posted by: schuyler
I think the concept of light speed travel is a red herring. According to the equations, it's impossible. This is not something you can explain away with science fiction concepts such as warp drive. There are no equations that explain warp drive. Saying that we simply haven't invented it yet is not an answer. But like a lot of things in science, thinking in terms of light speed may very well be akin to wanting to walk through walls when there is a convenient door nearby. In other words, we may have to re-think how reality is organized. We know, for example, that Quantum Entanglement, or "spooky action at a distance" works, but we don't know why. There may be an answer that starts there, and if there is, it may make the concept of light speed travel moot. We don't have to answer OP's issue because the problem will never come up.

Acceleration of a photon: 0 to 600 million mph in 1 nanosecond.

There are many equation: E = m.c^2 related to the equation for kinetic energy F = 1/2 m.v^2

The amount of force required is proportional to the mass of the object x the velocity squared. We can't do anything about the velocity, but changing the mass is an interesting concept. Since a photon is massless it can skitter across the quantum foam without being slowed down.

The photons and neutrons get bogged down by the Higgs field, gluons and all that other strange stuff related to where exactly any particle stores the information related to its velocity and direction. The only ways we know of changing these are either a large gravitational object (gravity), an electromagnetic field (affecting electrons) and being pushed along by another object (more electron interaction).

Using an EM field or gravity to pull the universe towards us.

originally posted by: stormcell

originally posted by: schuyler
I think the concept of light speed travel is a red herring. According to the equations, it's impossible. This is not something you can explain away with science fiction concepts such as warp drive. There are no equations that explain warp drive. Saying that we simply haven't invented it yet is not an answer. But like a lot of things in science, thinking in terms of light speed may very well be akin to wanting to walk through walls when there is a convenient door nearby. In other words, we may have to re-think how reality is organized. We know, for example, that Quantum Entanglement, or "spooky action at a distance" works, but we don't know why. There may be an answer that starts there, and if there is, it may make the concept of light speed travel moot. We don't have to answer OP's issue because the problem will never come up.

The photons and neutrons get bogged down by the Higgs field, gluons and all that other strange stuff related to where exactly any particle stores the information related to its velocity and direction. The only ways we know of changing these are either a large gravitational object (gravity), an electromagnetic field (affecting electrons) and being pushed along by another object (more electron interaction).

I suspect we're bogged down by still thinking in terms of photons, neutrons, and all that stuff. But that "stores the information related to its velocity and direction" quote above reminds me of Gregg Bear's "Moving Mars." What else "stores information"? A database. Leaving the advanced concepts inherent in a relational database aside for the moment (because it's too damned complicated) a database stores information about an object in fields and all the information in fields about a single object is in a record. (Note to object-oriented purists and other nerds: I know this is outmoded terminology. Just bear with me for a sec. I don't want to be splitting hairs. I'm an old dBase programmer. Forgive me.) In Moving Mars an Einstein-type genius in the future figures out just what particles store the position and time of an object, an object such as Mars. To "move Mars" all you need to do is edit the position field of the "Mars Record," save & exit, and Mars is in a new place, in this case in another solar system altogether, away from Earth's malevolent eyes. (Now you see why I opted for fields instead of rows?) So there's no reason to tackle or mess with light speed travel. You just "edit the record" whether it is a spacecraft or a planet, and voila; you're there! No danger of hitting asteroids. If you have to, edit the asteroid's record anyway. Yes, this explanation is much simplified. At least I didn't mention pointer files! But the practical implications of this possibility mean only one thing:

We're digging in the wrong place.

OP. been there doen that already,but you and I will not be able to profit from it unless we live 1000 more years.

See the whole problem with infinite mass is easily dealt with in reality. Simple remove the force and or block it pull on the object you wish to send fast as light. Rendering th eobject"massless" as far as gravity is concerned. This includes all fuel and cargo inside of this craft being insulated from this force.

Can this be done? yeah but its only been done on small scale so far.(in the white world) with shielding a atom from the weak force to cancel its mass temporarily if i remember.

When you are using a warp field or reflector, does it take into account for possible reactions to the matter left in its wake? Imagine if your joyride, resulted in the change of orbit of a ele sized asteroid?

There was a time, that doctors/scientists thought man would die if he traveled over 30 mph. That the human body just couldn't take. At one point in history, they thought Man going to the Moon was just far flung science fiction. That Man would never fly.
Now, we have fighter aircraft that far ourstrip the speed of sound and Man has walked on the Moon.

Never say Never.

a reply to: alldaylong

I think you suggest an excellent question. We always assume ... that we'll have X technology along with Y, but often it has not been so, if we look at what was predicted, say, 100 years ago.

A wormhole presupposes that it will manifest through all masses, it being more dimensional in nature than classically physical. Is that true? Maybe something worth talking about. I tend to think of a wormhole as a series of cross-sections of reality, caterpillared together forward and backward from a specific moment, a folding of that spacetimeline into a junction. What if one of those cross-sections resulted in a collision?

My circular "understanding" of String Theory, suggests that the above shouldn't occur, given the fluid nature of the dimensional interactions.

Either I misunderstand String Theory, or I don't think it works.

originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: alldaylong

If you can fold space then you wouldn't have to worry about that.

I just removed the phase shift 'thing'

Traveling faster tgan light would force you to travel in space-time, not space, nor time. You wouldnt be on the same plane as any other bodies traveling at much less speed. Traveling through tine means dt/dt

Every object is theoretically traveling at the speed of light. (Google that). Traveling beyong that is the 'special theory' of relativity and displacement.

a reply to: carewemust

Like an ice breaker on the ocean. Just Plowright through them

a reply to: alldaylong

You post reminds me of this scene:



You might get Andorian shingles.