Warp Speed

[SizzleSquid]

Please don't laugh at me, but up until yesterday i thought warp speed was real, i always watch Star Trek and thought it was a common thing. I was dismayed that it wasn't real..is warp speed faster than light then, and will it be possible to have it in future, is it an actual theory or just a fictional Star Trek thing?

How about trilithuim, is that a real chemical? Someone tell me!

[Loosehead]

It's all fictional, now beam me up Scotty!

[Kaeroll]

Faster than light is, according to relativity, impossible. As you travel faster, your mass increases. You therefore need more energy to accelerate further. Approaching light speed, your mass increases infinitely - meaning you require infinite energy to accelerate. Massless particles such as photons (particles of light) can travel at light speed, and I believe there are theoretical particles called tachyons which actually travel faster than light - and actually backwards in time.

If you're interested in this kind of thing, pick up a copy of The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. It's written at a non-technical level, and gives you a good overview of much of modern physics. Very interesting =)

Trilithium and dilithium are, according to a quick check on Google, entirely fictional. Sorry.

[Loosehead]

Ya cannee change the laws o physics Jim!

[Space]

Klingons, however, are real.
So are wookies.

[kempie]

The fictional warp speed (based upon the theory of folding or warping space - in effect moving two points closer together) would enable you to reach your destination faster than light would.

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

[qapmoc]

Hi Space, well considering how many stars with planets there must be in the multiverse then the odds are pretty good that an exact copy of Klingons and Wookies probably exists somewhere, Scotty on the other hand just can't have a double somewhere, it would be too awful to even think about it!!

[THECORBYLOON]

Warp speed is half as fast as weft speed......

[kempie]

...but since you warp space, shouldn't that be 'wonkey years'.

[rojash]

Don't worry SizzleSquid, I spent years trying to teach my dog to talk before I found out that Huckleberry Hound wasn't real.

[pagey]

kaeroll, I thought photons had mass (albiet negligable) hence solar wind?!

[mrbatfink]

Not a scientist but i believe they changed there opinion on photons to say they have no mass, but in turn give them a 'relative mass' which is not real... this is done so that it still works with current scientific laws!

Just admit scientists, you dont really know!

[CT]

Photons can't have mass, otherwise relativity wouldn't apply. ie If they have mass, then they can't travel at the speed of light (which they do).
They do however have energy, which can be equated to mass through E=mc^2

[jake-the-peg]

There is a bit of confusion about photons.

They have no mass, they do however have momentum. This seems to be a contradiction because at basic level we are taught that momenum is "mass times velocity"

However if you hit an graphite crystal with gamma rays you can knock electrons out. You can use this to see the momemtum that the incoming photon must have had.

See here: http://online.cctt.org/physicslab/content/PhyAPB/lessonnotes/dualnature/Compton.asp

There is still (and has been for at theast 30 years) speculation that neutrinos may have a tiny amount of mass - but that's another story!

[CT]

Hey Jake, I think recently there was some new evidende on that. If I find it again, i'll post a link.

[kepla]

The above, in turn, proves that photons do indeed have a mass - and that mass can be calculated. That their momentum can be used to displace graphite electrons shows that they have kinetic energy, which can be calculated from the resultant speed of the displaced electron and its mass. We know that the photon was travelling at the speed of light, therefore we only need to substitute the values of speed and energy into E=mc2 to find the mass of the photon while it was in existance.

[funkymoped]

the laws of physics can be changed... since the days of early science, it was believed light could only travel in a striaght line. not counting reflecting between mirrors and the like. but it has now been proved beyond doubt that light can be distorted. (bent) it was proven during a total solar eclipse. stars that were known to be behind the moon, became visable to scientists. therefore light was bent around the moons atmosphere.

[Zevon]

Warp speed is possible as it does not travel faster than light but it does cheat relativity, a body cannot move faster than light but a vacuum can. Space can move faster than light and by creating a warp bubble around a ship you can move faster than light but not travel faster than it. Yes there is a difference. these warp bubbles are theoretically possible but practically would require huge amounts of energy and would be impsooible to control due to the fact that they are travelling too fast to do anything to. Also photons don't need mass to have momentum. Newtonian mechancis says momentum=mass multiplied by vrelocity but relativistically the equation is different.

[Kaeroll]

RoaldoM - human? Good sir, you do insult me!