Sci-fi or reality?
Discussion
I was just reading this quite interesting article on Wormholes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4564477.stm
I assumed these things were just figments of the sci-fi writer’s imagination. I didn’t realise they had any scientific basis and that people were actually considering the possibility of building them. How on earth do you go about that then? It’s not like you can get the materials from B&Q.
What about travelling at the speed of light and teleportation? Is there any scientific basis to suggest we might actually be able to do that at some point?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4564477.stm
I assumed these things were just figments of the sci-fi writer’s imagination. I didn’t realise they had any scientific basis and that people were actually considering the possibility of building them. How on earth do you go about that then? It’s not like you can get the materials from B&Q.
What about travelling at the speed of light and teleportation? Is there any scientific basis to suggest we might actually be able to do that at some point?
This whole area is one of my passions. However, it would take an awful long time to do your questions justice on here.
I strongly recommend you try the forums etc on www.space.com
They are excellent, with real experts posting from Nasa etc. If you do a search on the forums you will easily find what you want.
Have fun.
I strongly recommend you try the forums etc on www.space.com
They are excellent, with real experts posting from Nasa etc. If you do a search on the forums you will easily find what you want.
Have fun.
Wormholes have been considered to exist for a few years now, but they exist firmly at the sub-atomic level, and no way of predicting their "other end" has been discovered.
Theoretically there is a lot that could be done with them, however theory at this point is more a matter of conjecture than logical hypothesis, so don't go holding your breath.
Practically, as is said in the article, there are big obstacles to using them. The fact remains that our observational skills with regard to the universe around us are far in excess of our cognitive ability. And both are far in excess of our practical skills.
W.r.t. travelling at c - yes, again theoretically possible. It's just that modern theory predicts that any craft doing so will have infinite mass...which under said theory effectively makes it impossible...think asymptotes and limiting points!
Teleportation...falls into 2 categories - wormholes and matter-tranference projection. The first has been discussed, the second is firmly science fiction until our ability to fabricate matter from subatomic particles is perfected (we can hardly start right now!). And even then we'll only be able to project matter, not living beings - there's a whole host of further issues there!
Some interesting sci-fi on a variant of teleportation is by Richard Morgan - any of the Tak Kovacs novels, all make use of "Digitised Human Freight" - essentially your brain being transferred into a computer and broadcast a-la TV to a receiver, where it is uploaded into a waiting body! Fantastic concept.
Theoretically there is a lot that could be done with them, however theory at this point is more a matter of conjecture than logical hypothesis, so don't go holding your breath.
Practically, as is said in the article, there are big obstacles to using them. The fact remains that our observational skills with regard to the universe around us are far in excess of our cognitive ability. And both are far in excess of our practical skills.
W.r.t. travelling at c - yes, again theoretically possible. It's just that modern theory predicts that any craft doing so will have infinite mass...which under said theory effectively makes it impossible...think asymptotes and limiting points!
Teleportation...falls into 2 categories - wormholes and matter-tranference projection. The first has been discussed, the second is firmly science fiction until our ability to fabricate matter from subatomic particles is perfected (we can hardly start right now!). And even then we'll only be able to project matter, not living beings - there's a whole host of further issues there!
Some interesting sci-fi on a variant of teleportation is by Richard Morgan - any of the Tak Kovacs novels, all make use of "Digitised Human Freight" - essentially your brain being transferred into a computer and broadcast a-la TV to a receiver, where it is uploaded into a waiting body! Fantastic concept.
t1grm said:
What about travelling at the speed of light and teleportation? Is there any scientific basis to suggest we might actually be able to do that at some point?
As speed increases, so does mass. At c (the speed of light) I think mass becomes infinite. Hence you can't go any faster than c, as to accelerate an infinitely heavy object requires infinite power, which your ship won't have, even if it runs on Optimax.
That's why you need to distort space to bring your destination within easy hopping distance. To distort space you just need gravity, and plenty of it. So an artificial gravity machine - preferably emitting just a thin beam, or you'll get splatted - is what you need, I think.
Have you tried eBay?
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