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| menace64 |
 Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:48 am |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 836
Location: Wichita, Kansas
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Okay, so I’ve been digging a bit deeper into quantum mechanics and faster-than-light (FTL) theory.
Now, in the world of science fiction, there’s basicly one form of popular FTL travel - and that’s hyperspace (or something like it). Star Wars, Star Trek, and everybody else.
I, frankly, would like to do something different in the sci-fi books I end up writing in the future. And this morning things started falling into place.
See, there’s this theory called the Casimir effect, which - in essence - is a way to speed up light. Now, according to Einstein, it is not possible to travel faster than light.
What the Casimir effect does is create a "tunnel" (more accurately, a "vacuum") and in that space light is a variable to be tampered with. All you need is the ability to do it.
That was neat enough, I decided, but I wanted more. There was still the problem of the infinite energy required to break the light barrier (infinite energy = not possible in modern interpretations). So after more sleuthing, I discovered a plausible way to forego acceleration completely. All you need to do is "convince" particles to move faster than light. Doing so would skip acceration, as the object would skip from not moving to light speed instantly.
And here’s where I started injecting it all into a starship situation.
You’ve got a "reactor" (for lack of a better word) with anything inside of it. Doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as it has particles. I imagine some object would work better than others. This reactor’s job would be to tell the object’s particles to flip into light speed.
Now, another machine on the ship would generate the Casimir tunnel and then push light’s speed way, way, way up (as high as you want it to be). Then, when you skip into "light" speed, you’re actually going much faster than the light of our normal universe.
And when you want to stop, just turn the machines off. You won’t deccelerate, because there was no acceleration to begin with.
Eliminates: Fuel, big engines, SPACE.
How do you like it? I know it still needs a lot of in-depth research and design, but I’d say it’s pretty neat for an hour’s work. |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:54 am |
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And how do you plan to do this? I dont understand how you could convince particles to move FTL, it just doesn’t make sense to me. Could you explain how this is going to happen more, I looked up the Casamir effect, but couldn’t be bothered to read it all....  |
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| sickofpalantirs |
| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:07 pm |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 7750
Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
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| I take it you like SF. it would be good for a book but i don’t think it would be pratical for real life |
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| bobtheorc |
| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:25 pm |
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| bibfortuna25 |
| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:28 pm |
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Joined: 05 Apr 2006
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Location: Springfield, OR
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As I understand it, hyperspace in Star Wars is an alternate dimension that is a faint copy of the real galaxy. Large objects, such as planets and stars, cast "mass shadows" in hyperspace that must be navigated around.
While you are in hyperspace, you can only go in the direction you were going when your ship entered. If there is a mass shadow in your path, you must emerge from hyperspace and go in a different direction to get around the obstacle.
There are a few hyperspace highways, such as the Perlemian Trade Route, the Hydian Way, the Corellian Run, the Corellian Trade Spine and the Rimma Trade Route that provide a nearly obstacle-free journey from the Core to the Outer Rim. |
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| menace64 |
| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:26 am |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 836
Location: Wichita, Kansas
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sickofpalantirs wrote: I take it you like SF. it would be good for a book but i don’t think it would be pratical for real life
Oh, absolutely. I know for a fact this will never actually work, but for a sci-fi story I’m starting to work on, it’ll be perfect.
And just to clarify something else, I’d say that this system of FTL travel would be so fast that it would "skip over" the gravity wells of stars, planets, and even black holes. You’d be going so fast that you wouldn’t get pulled around.
Pretty neat, I think. |
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| sickofpalantirs |
| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 7:35 am |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
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Location: somwhere, over the rainbow way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
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| if you finish this book and cobracards is still running post it here that would be cool or every time you finished a chapter you could post it. |
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(mm)"SoP: you will always be the Official CC Spammer in my heart"
"DáinIronfoot"
Spammers really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month. And yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you. |
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| menace64 |
| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:05 am |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
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Location: Wichita, Kansas
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sickofpalantirs wrote: if you finish this book and cobracards is still running post it here that would be cool or every time you finished a chapter you could post it.
Oh, I seriously doubt that I’ll start writing it for a long, long time. I’m already ankle deep in another book, with several more in line.
I reckon it’ll be at least a decade before this one is started. |
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| fingolfin |
| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:42 am |
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Joined: 30 Mar 2006
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Location: it's getting hotter in Iowa every day
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| you can go the speed of light, if you have a huge pair of scissors and close them the rate at which it is closing would be close if not at the speed of light, or you could run quickly? |
Soldier: why'd you do that captain?
John Wayne: Because I hate your guts!!
Exerpt from "Iwo Jima." |
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| menace64 |
| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:11 pm |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
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Location: Wichita, Kansas
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fingolfin wrote: you can go the speed of light, if you have a huge pair of scissors and close them the rate at which it is closing would be close if not at the speed of light, or you could run quickly?
Hope you’re joking...
You’re joking, aren’t you? |
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