09 Jan 2009, 5:42 pm
09 Jan 2009, 8:03 pm
Relicanth7
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14 Jan 2009, 5:09 pm
The_Cucumber wrote:
Breaking the light barrier may very well be possible, but it can't be done simply by building a bigger rocket.
There are a few possible ways to pull it off. One is by utilizing wormholes, these tunnels can connect different places in space and time. The problem is that you'll need exotic matter with negative mass, and so far the only thing that comes close is dark energy and we've got no idea what that is exactly. Another potential issue is that you may need to warp the fabric of space time between you and your destination. This would require a tremendous amount of energy.
Another possibility involves creating a sort of mini-universe. The mini-universe can then freely exceed the speed of light. Unfortunately calculations show that in order to make one large enough to contain a vessel, you'd requier more energy then what seems to exist (but not an infinite amount).
Finally it may be possible to cause normal matter to behave like tachyons. Tachyons are a hypothetical particle with imaginary mass. And thereforth treat the speed of light as a minimum speed. Unfortunately we've never actually detected tachyons and were not sure if it's even possible (assuming they exist at all), then of course it's even tougher to get normal matter to take on their properties.
However it's possible that in many years science will figure out at least one of these methods actually works, and how to do it. It just might not be for a few million years.
There are a few possible ways to pull it off. One is by utilizing wormholes, these tunnels can connect different places in space and time. The problem is that you'll need exotic matter with negative mass, and so far the only thing that comes close is dark energy and we've got no idea what that is exactly. Another potential issue is that you may need to warp the fabric of space time between you and your destination. This would require a tremendous amount of energy.
Another possibility involves creating a sort of mini-universe. The mini-universe can then freely exceed the speed of light. Unfortunately calculations show that in order to make one large enough to contain a vessel, you'd requier more energy then what seems to exist (but not an infinite amount).
Finally it may be possible to cause normal matter to behave like tachyons. Tachyons are a hypothetical particle with imaginary mass. And thereforth treat the speed of light as a minimum speed. Unfortunately we've never actually detected tachyons and were not sure if it's even possible (assuming they exist at all), then of course it's even tougher to get normal matter to take on their properties.
However it's possible that in many years science will figure out at least one of these methods actually works, and how to do it. It just might not be for a few million years.
Wormholes dont acc faster then c... its just a fold in spacetime.
14 Jan 2009, 7:24 pm
14 Jan 2009, 7:33 pm
Relicanth7 wrote:
Wormholes dont acc faster then c... its just a fold in spacetime.
I am aware of that. However since the end result is still the same (you arrive at your destination before light traveling through normal spacetime can) I consider it a form of faster than light travel.
14 Jan 2009, 7:43 pm
14 Jan 2009, 8:01 pm
14 Jan 2009, 10:45 pm
Well, quantum entanglement has yet to have any practical uses, but it can be used to communicate information FTL, in that something done at one end affects the other instantaneously. For further reading I suggest The god Effect by Brian Clegg. Or you know, wikipedia 
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14 Jan 2009, 11:20 pm
Rafter613 wrote:
Well, quantum entanglement has yet to have any practical uses, but it can be used to communicate information FTL, in that something done at one end affects the other instantaneously. For further reading I suggest The god Effect by Brian Clegg. Or you know, wikipedia .
.But all of this comes with the caveat that no actual information can be transmitted.
By the way, are there any physicists still reading this thread? Can someone explain to me what they even mean by 'transmitting information "instantaneously"' in a relativistic framework?
15 Jan 2009, 7:55 am
Relicanth7
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19 Jan 2009, 3:29 pm
Lol i should have just changed the name to the FTL thread... 
