Faster than light travel
Poll: Faster than light travel
Total Members Polled: 70
Discussion
xjay1337 said:
Eh?
Surely if you travelled at 99.99999999999999% the speed of light, and back again (assuming you could) you'd end up 8 hours ahead from where you started?
(having since read your math is wrong, but the question remains the same?)
Nope - time dilation is invariant to the direction of travel.Surely if you travelled at 99.99999999999999% the speed of light, and back again (assuming you could) you'd end up 8 hours ahead from where you started?
(having since read your math is wrong, but the question remains the same?)
From the point of view of an observer on earth your trip would take 2.5 million years each way.
How about a hypothetical taut piece of string from here to Jupiter. When I pull it then the tug will be felt instantly thus beating the Speed of light.
How about tachyons? Don't they travel faster than light? In fact if you fired one from a gun then you would witness the particle hitting the target before you've pressed the trigger.
How about tachyons? Don't they travel faster than light? In fact if you fired one from a gun then you would witness the particle hitting the target before you've pressed the trigger.
HaiKarate said:
How about a hypothetical taut piece of string from here to Jupiter. When I pull it then the tug will be felt instantly thus beating the Speed of light.
How about tachyons? Don't they travel faster than light? In fact if you fired one from a gun then you would witness the particle hitting the target before you've pressed the trigger.
You'll find that your "tug" travels at the speed of sound in string, much slower than c. Tachyons are a theoretical concept that may or may not exist.How about tachyons? Don't they travel faster than light? In fact if you fired one from a gun then you would witness the particle hitting the target before you've pressed the trigger.
Einion Yrth said:
You might find this useful.
I understand the science behind it but this is all assuming the fact that you can in effect fast forward time by travelling at (or very very near to) the speed of light and you as the one travelling at the speed of light age more slightly.It just is a very hard concept for me to get my head around - in my head you would surely be ageing at the same rate because we are physical beings. As I said I understand the science but hope one day before my passing we can get some actual scientific evidence eg an experiment!
HaiKarate said:
Einion Yrth said:
You'll find that your "tug" travels at the speed of sound in string, much slower than c. Tachyons are a theoretical concept that may or may not exist.
Speed of sound? Are you crazy?xjay1337 said:
Einion Yrth said:
You might find this useful.
I understand the science behind it but this is all assuming the fact that you can in effect fast forward time by travelling at (or very very near to) the speed of light and you as the one travelling at the speed of light age more slightly.It just is a very hard concept for me to get my head around - in my head you would surely be ageing at the same rate because we are physical beings. As I said I understand the science but hope one day before my passing we can get some actual scientific evidence eg an experiment!
xjay1337 said:
I understand the science behind it but this is all assuming the fact that you can in effect fast forward time by travelling at (or very very near to) the speed of light and you as the one travelling at the speed of light age more slightly.
It just is a very hard concept for me to get my head around - in my head you would surely be ageing at the same rate because we are physical beings. As I said I understand the science but hope one day before my passing we can get some actual scientific evidence eg an experiment!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafele%E2%80%93Keati...It just is a very hard concept for me to get my head around - in my head you would surely be ageing at the same rate because we are physical beings. As I said I understand the science but hope one day before my passing we can get some actual scientific evidence eg an experiment!
budgie smuggler said:
That's cool! Interesting reading.Einion Yrth said:
Time dilation has been experimentally verified many times.
Yep - the GPS system has as an inbuilt system to continually correct for relativistic time dilation effects.http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/...
It's a brilliant demonstration of advanced theoretical physics having an everyday practical application that impacts and befits a large number of people.
Edited by Moonhawk on Friday 19th May 17:27
Einion Yrth said:
HaiKarate said:
Einion Yrth said:
You'll find that your "tug" travels at the speed of sound in string, much slower than c. Tachyons are a theoretical concept that may or may not exist.
Speed of sound? Are you crazy?Einion Yrth said:
Yipper said:
It will defo be possible to go faster than light.
Really? I'll not rule it out at this point, despite issues that would necessarily be seen with respect to causality; but "defo"?, really? Bwaah Haa Haaaaa!!!!!
Oops.
Sorry.
xjay1337 said:
Moonhawk said:
Do we actually need to achieve faster than light travel to make interstellar travel possible (for the passengers at least)
As you approach the speed of light - time dilation effects take hold and distances shrink in the direction of movement.
If you were to travel to a star 10 light years away at 99% the speed of light - the journey would only take 1.4 years as measured from your frame of reference. At 99.999999% the speed of light - the journey would take about 12 hours.
At 99.99999999999999% the speed of light you could travel to the Andromeda galaxy in 4 hours.
Of course, if you did travel to the Andromeda galaxy and back - a round trip of 8 hours from your frame of reference, the Earth would have aged 5 million years from it's frame of reference.
Eh?As you approach the speed of light - time dilation effects take hold and distances shrink in the direction of movement.
If you were to travel to a star 10 light years away at 99% the speed of light - the journey would only take 1.4 years as measured from your frame of reference. At 99.999999% the speed of light - the journey would take about 12 hours.
At 99.99999999999999% the speed of light you could travel to the Andromeda galaxy in 4 hours.
Of course, if you did travel to the Andromeda galaxy and back - a round trip of 8 hours from your frame of reference, the Earth would have aged 5 million years from it's frame of reference.
Edited by Moonhawk on Thursday 18th May 16:18
Surely if you travelled at 99.99999999999999% the speed of light, and back again (assuming you could) you'd end up 8 hours ahead from where you started?
(having since read your math is wrong, but the question remains the same?)
Vipers said:
But not 8 hours older though I think. Something g like if you travel at the speed of light for a year, you return to earth a year after you left, but your not a year older. Didn't they carry out an experiment with two clocks on one of the moon landings, calculating the speed v time.
I think they did prove time dilation with atomic clocks in humble airliners vs the same on the ground.Going back to faster than or as fast as light travel, it still wouldn't be fast enough and as many have pointed out useless as elapsed time at departure and destination points would be a bit squiffy.
I love the concept though and would hope that it will be possible at some point in the future.
Betelgeuse could have gone supernova over 600 years ago for all we know.
"Of course the universe would probably be quite hostile to anything with rest-mass travelling that quickly; a grain of dust, or even a molecule of hydrogen could be quite energetic."
This is quite relevant.
Another issue to overcome is : humans can't sustain acceleration of more than just a few G & it takes rather a while at (say 6-10 G ) to reach anywhere near C. Energy needed is also large, as pointed out above, by another poster.
The result of a collision with a 1 gram space pebble might be interesting too.
This is quite relevant.
Another issue to overcome is : humans can't sustain acceleration of more than just a few G & it takes rather a while at (say 6-10 G ) to reach anywhere near C. Energy needed is also large, as pointed out above, by another poster.
The result of a collision with a 1 gram space pebble might be interesting too.
paua said:
"Of course the universe would probably be quite hostile to anything with rest-mass travelling that quickly; a grain of dust, or even a molecule of hydrogen could be quite energetic."
This is quite relevant.
Another issue to overcome is : humans can't sustain acceleration of more than just a few G & it takes rather a while at (say 6-10 G ) to reach anywhere near C. Energy needed is also large, as pointed out above, by another poster.
The result of a collision with a 1 gram space pebble might be interesting too.
Light itself would become harmful as the faster you travel - the more 'blue shifted' it becomes. Ordinary visible light would become x-rays and gamma rays.This is quite relevant.
Another issue to overcome is : humans can't sustain acceleration of more than just a few G & it takes rather a while at (say 6-10 G ) to reach anywhere near C. Energy needed is also large, as pointed out above, by another poster.
The result of a collision with a 1 gram space pebble might be interesting too.
Moonhawk said:
Do we actually need to achieve faster than light travel to make interstellar travel possible (for the passengers at least)
As you approach the speed of light - time dilation effects take hold and distances shrink in the direction of movement.
If you were to travel to a star 10 light years away at 99% the speed of light - the journey would only take 1.4 years as measured from your frame of reference. At 99.999999% the speed of light - the journey would take about 12 hours.
At 99.99999999999999% the speed of light you could travel to the Andromeda galaxy in 4 hours.
Of course, if you did travel to the Andromeda galaxy and back - a round trip of 8 hours from your frame of reference, the Earth would have aged 5 million years from it's frame of reference.
How would you slow down when you got there?As you approach the speed of light - time dilation effects take hold and distances shrink in the direction of movement.
If you were to travel to a star 10 light years away at 99% the speed of light - the journey would only take 1.4 years as measured from your frame of reference. At 99.999999% the speed of light - the journey would take about 12 hours.
At 99.99999999999999% the speed of light you could travel to the Andromeda galaxy in 4 hours.
Of course, if you did travel to the Andromeda galaxy and back - a round trip of 8 hours from your frame of reference, the Earth would have aged 5 million years from it's frame of reference.
Edited by Moonhawk on Thursday 18th May 16:18
Moonhawk said:
Do we actually need to achieve faster than light travel to make interstellar travel possible (for the passengers at least)
Yes.Because whilst (for the passengers) the time might work out, getting them and a half decent spacecraft accelerated to those speeds requires insane amounts of energy (like entire gas giant mass directly converted to energy amounts). And you have to hope that fuel doesnt weigh anything
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