Page 1 of 1 [ 2 posts ] 

digger1
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Sep 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,485

09 Dec 2009, 1:08 pm

just watching these shows about how they're going to try to figure out how to propel a spaceship through space at faster than light speeds, they keep saying stuff like they need to bend or fold space so that you don't move at all, you bring point B to point A. Everyone interviewed on the show seems to think that's how it works. They just don't seem to get that the ships in Star Trek create a field around the ship which makes the ship go into what's called subspace. This domain of space isn't governed my Newtonian physics or isn't subject to the theory of relativity evidenced by the fact that the ship will continue to move unless the warp field collapses and the ship drops out of warp. They just can't create the field. jump to warp and lower the field and expect to have inertia carry them the distance. Once in normal space, they can use sublight engines to propel them around and maneuver and the ship will continue to move unless acted upon by an equal or greater force.

In short: Star Trek isn't about folding space, it's about creating space around the ship to allow them to travel and that's not what this theoretical physicist host of the show seems to get.



DeaconBlues
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Apr 2007
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,661
Location: Earth, mostly

09 Dec 2009, 4:53 pm

Oh, they get it, Digger - but very few newspaper reporters do. The problem is, there is no theoretical basis for the multiple subspace domains discussed in Star Trek (specifically, in a couple of episodes of ST:TNG), so when theoretical physicists try to discuss ideas for which there are such bases, and mention the words "warping space", the reporters flash on Star Trek and try to explain it in that fashion. (Keep in mind that in the US at least, print-journalism students are instructed to maintain all stories at an eighth-grade vocabulary, as a sizable portion of the reading audience can't handle anything more complex.)

Hell, even Brin's idea for finding a way to collect enough virtual particles to form a micro-singularity, then letting them go (thus causing them to go away) and "surfing" the rebound effect in the space/time metric, was referred to as "like Star Trek's warp drive" in one news story...


_________________
Sodium is a metal that reacts explosively when exposed to water. Chlorine is a gas that'll kill you dead in moments. Together they make my fries taste good.