Light Years and Warp Speed.
Light Years and Warp Speed.
Author
Discussion

groucho

Original Poster:

12,134 posts

276 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
I've just been watching star trek :hehe: I'm not a trekky before anybody starts.
Anyway, Somebody said "There are enemy vessels approaching, they are 60 light years away and will intercept us in 4 hours"
Now, I know if something is a light year away, then it takes something travelling at the speed of light or light itself one year to get there.
Warp 1 as in Start Trek, I thought was light speed and warp 9 was 9 times the speed of light.
So, even if the ship was going warp 10 which is meant to be max speed, in my calculations it should take 6 years to intercept them and not 4 hours.
So, what's going on?

I need a beer.

simpo two

92,849 posts

295 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Logarithmic?

Eric Mc

125,708 posts

295 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Scientific inconsistencies are rife in TV and film science fiction. Just watch the show and chill

srebbe64

13,021 posts

267 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
It's not real - it's imaginary.

groucho

Original Poster:

12,134 posts

276 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
srebbe64 said:
It's not real - it's imaginary.


Am I real? - That's what my missus asks me sometimes.

Jaglover

46,786 posts

265 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
simpo two said:
Logarithmic?


Yes, I believe it is on a Logarithmic scale

andy_s

19,855 posts

289 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
'ye can'nay break the laws o' physics cap'n'....

It's beer Jim, but not as we know it.

Scoobz

6,578 posts

278 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Careful.. Your geek is showing.


Shirley it depends how fast the other feckers are travelling?

cotty

42,244 posts

314 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
Scientific inconsistencies are rife in TV and film science fiction.


Like why hasnt anyone tried to get Seven of Nine into bed.

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

285 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Pondering this fascinating concept, I think I can say that I would.......


























Probably spill me coffee......

dilbert

7,741 posts

261 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Well I guess you could have waited four years for them to arrive. Would have been a bit of a naff story though.

Edited to add;
(Sorry it's six years!)

>> Edited by dilbert on Friday 7th October 21:39

simpo two

92,849 posts

295 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
groucho said:
Somebody said "There are enemy vessels approaching, they are 60 light years away and will intercept us in 4 hours"


Just a thought - if they were that far away, how did they know the other ship was there? All electromagnetic waves travel at 'c', so nothing would have reached them...

Simpo concludes: There is a Hyper-c wave....

judas

6,239 posts

289 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
cotty said:

Eric Mc said:
Scientific inconsistencies are rife in TV and film science fiction.



Like why hasnt anyone tried to get Seven of Nine into bed.

[geek]Didn't she get it on with Harry Kim?[/geek]

ErnestM

11,621 posts

297 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
When it comes to Star Trek, google is your best friend...

www.star-fleet.com/ed/warp-chart.html


ErnestM

groucho

Original Poster:

12,134 posts

276 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Jaglover said:

simpo two said:
Logarithmic?



Yes, I believe it is on a Logarithmic scale


Explain.

cotty said:
Like why hasnt anyone tried to get Seven of Nine into bed.


Absolutely, it would take a bit more than a few nano probes to frighten me off.

groucho

Original Poster:

12,134 posts

276 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
ErnestM said:
When it comes to Star Trek, google is your best friend...

www.star-fleet.com/ed/warp-chart.html


ErnestM


Now it's becoming clearer. But even using that chart, at warp 10 it would still take them just under 22 days to reach them and not 4 hours.

simpo two

92,849 posts

295 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
groucho said:
Explain.

It means that Warp 2 is not 2x but 10x faster than Warp 1, Warp 3 is 100x faster, and so on. Plot it on a graph and you get a curve as opposed to a straight line. That's a 'logarithmic' curve.

The most common example is the Richter scale, so a '7' earthquake is 10 times stromger than a '6'.

8Pack

5,182 posts

270 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
Oh well! It's all relative anyway!...........

Marquis_Rex

7,377 posts

269 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
groucho said:

Jaglover said:


simpo two said:
Logarithmic?




Yes, I believe it is on a Logarithmic scale



Explain.


cotty said:
Like why hasnt anyone tried to get Seven of Nine into bed.



Absolutely, it would take a bit more than a few nano probes to frighten me off.


In the original series Warp 1 was defined as

1 x 1 x 1 or 1 ^3 times the speed of light.
Warp 2 was therefore 8 times the speed of light.
In TOS it was also possible (allegedly) to go faster than warp 10, (The Andromedans got the ship to warp 25 for instance)- in TNG era the warp scale was redefined where warp 3, say, was 3 ^ 5 or 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 times the speed of light.
I'm not a trekkie honest

andy_s

19,855 posts

289 months

Friday 7th October 2005
quotequote all
quite quick then.