So, why aren't we travelling at light speed yet ?

[Sisyphus]

Interesting. Light itself travels at the speed of light. Are you saying that our sun itself, sol is an infinite energy source?

 

For that matter a light source such as a flashlight moves light at the speed of light and this can be done with a 1 volt battery.

 

Perhaps what it really has to do with is the size and type of mass you are trying to move through space. How big are light particles? ( photons right?)

 

What properties of light particles make them able to travel at these speeds? If you had a light particle the size and mass of let say a human how fast would it move through space?

 

Something with mass moving at C would have/would need to get there infinite kinetic energy. Light, however, has zero mass (and don't have a size or shape in the conventional sense). They possess finite energy. If a photon ("light particle") were the size and mass of a human, it wouldn't be a photon.

[insane_alien]

i wouldn't take any physics advice from sananda s/he has not shown anything resembling even basic knowledge.

[John Phoenix]

So it would be true to say photons have no mass right? Then how do we study them outside of observations.. or do we?

 

Light particles.. " don't have a size or shape in the conventional sense" yet they do posses a type of " finite energy "

 

They must be some of the most awesome things ever discovered.

 

How about a lil speculation on you guys part.. If not light speeds whats the closest humans or spaceships can get?

[insane_alien]

photons are massless. this odes not mean that are undetectable as they still have energy and momentum.

[Mr Skeptic]

Photons have zero rest mass but non-zero relativistic mass (ie, all their mass is due to their kinetic energy). As far as I know, nothing with non-zero rest mass can travel at c, and everything that has zero rest mass must travel at c (at least, if it has energy).

 

You could say that photons have a size, their wavelenth. There is no known limit to the size of a photon, simply that the smallest ones must have more energy and the larger ones less.

[mooeypoo]

It's only a matter of time (geddit) before quantum physics and relativity are combined.

 

That might be, but not in their current form. In their current form, they're incompatible.

 

And yet, each of them explains its own realm almost perfectly. So, the only way to produce a unified theory is to find one that explains *BOTH* at the same time.

 

Yours doesn't explain both, it just claims to be a single theory. That's insufficient. You're missing the biggest part of science, sanandra. You're missing the part where you convince us by providing evidence and basis for your claims.

 

~moo

[ajb]

If it's massless then how come I can see it ? Mass is just a quantity of something isn't it ?

 

If I turn on a torch (A) and face it towards a wall (B) then the beam travels from A to B doesn't it ? Why can't something travel on it or in it ?

 

It acts electromagnetically with the receptors in your eyes. This does not require the photon to be massive.

[Gasparri]

What's missing ? How come we haven't worked out how to do this yet ?

 

It's just a 'matter' of 'time'.

 

And then there's the Boaz Einstein Condensates...

 

Light can be slowed down and even brought to a stop.

 

Not much practical use there though and you'd have to

wear thermal underwear to get a close look.

 

Some theorize a BEC analogy for space. Should an analog

BEC 'ether' exist (The Higgs field?) with similar properties it

might be wise to put a sticker on telescopes... "Objects

viewed with this instrument may be much closer than they appear."

[bascule]

It's not an engineering barrier.

 

That's debatable. If we are able to transfer the human mind into a computer, then we could transmit ourselves as information, and that information could take the form of light. Once people are just information, it will be easy to move about at the speed of light.

[swansont]

Light can be slowed down and even brought to a stop.

 

Light can be slowed down, photons cannot. "Stopped light" is absorption, albeit under specially crafted circumstances.

[Peron]

This might help; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlipString_Drive

 

"This method uses gravity waves created by stable superheavy elements to gravitationally isolate a spacecraft in a "bubble" of isolated space-time. This "bubble" is then distorted into an egg shape and the external pressure of spacetime propels it. This doesn't violate relativity because the spacecraft wouldn't pass through the space between the point where it becomes gravitationally isolated and the point where it emerges from its isolated region of space-time."

Edited September 5, 2009 by swansont
changed allbold to quotation marks

[swansont]

This might help; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlipString_Drive

 

"This method uses gravity waves created by stable superheavy elements to gravitationally isolate a spacecraft in a "bubble" of isolated space-time. This "bubble" is then distorted into an egg shape and the external pressure of spacetime propels it. This doesn't violate relativity because the spacecraft wouldn't pass through the space between the point where it becomes gravitationally isolated and the point where it emerges from its isolated region of space-time."

 

 

You forgot the part (emphasis added) in the beginning that says

"Slipstring Drive is a hypothetical method of travelling faster than the speed of light without violating Einsteins theory of relativity.[clarification needed] It was proposed by the astronomer Andrew L.Bender who believes it could be possible within 50 years (2008). So far there is no experimental confirmation of the theory behind it and the theory hasn't been peer reviewed."

[Peron]

Yet we can not sit around and do nothing.

 

It's either we start experimenting now, or we never get off the ground.

 

I for one want to explore space.

So why not?

[Mr Skeptic]

Yet we can not sit around and do nothing.

 

It's either we start experimenting now, or we never get off the ground.

 

I for one want to explore space.

So why not?

 

Then start flapping your arms, maybe you can fly. And if you flap really really hard, maybe you can fly in space! It might seem unlikely, but it's better than just sitting around!

[Peron]

Your statement is nonsense. The slipstring drive is based on actual physics.

Although Gravity waves have never been detected, I'm thinking they will be.

So if they are, then that opens a new door to possibility.

[mooeypoo]

Your statement is nonsense. The slipstring drive is based on actual physics.

Although Gravity waves have never been detected, I'm thinking they will be.

So if they are, then that opens a new door to possibility.

Where is this actual physics, Peron?

[D H]

This might help; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlipString_Drive

You had better find a way to cache that page because, from the discussion page,

Moving towards deletion

I hate to be a curmudgeon, but I am tending towards proposing this article for deletion. I would be delighted to be shown wrong, but until a loophole is found and accepted in the refereed literature, I have to regard Bender's proposal as self-published fantasy. I wish I were competent to pass judgment on it with a reasonable investment of time and labor. But it does seem clear to me that the ratio of "The conceivable" to "The real" is very large, maybe infinite.

 

Using a wiki page as a scientific reference is bad enough. Using one that the wiki maintainers think is dubious fantasy is, well, dubious.

[Peron]

General Relativity has been proven, yet gravity waves haven't, their is no reason why they shouldn't exist. We could one day use them to our advantage.

Using super heavy isotopes to create gravity waves, isolating yourself from the rest of the universe. Circumventing the known laws of physics.

 

This isn't, dubious or outlandish, this is base don real science and real research.

LIGO is out their right now looking for gravity waves, and everyday we smash atoms creating new particles.

So, it's not that outlandish to say I want to explore the universe.

[mooeypoo]

General Relativity has been proven, yet gravity waves haven't, their is no reason why they shouldn't exist. We could one day use them to our advantage.

Using super heavy isotopes to create gravity waves, isolating yourself from the rest of the universe. Circumventing the known laws of physics.

Peron, you cannot put forth a claim that is totally unproven and then base an entire hypothesis on it, and expect people to accept that hypothesis.

 

You need to start giving us references and evidence of *why* you think "there's no reason they shouldn't exist". There's no reason why the pink unicorn shouldn't exist either, and yet until I can prove its existence or show some merit as to why I have reason to assume its existence, relying on it for any sort of hypothesis is moot.

 

Stop putting up empty claims. You already know this, you're not new to the forum - this is a science forum that requires scientific evidence and methodology. You have the burden of proof because you are the one suggesting a hypothesis.

 

in other words:

This isn't, dubious or outlandish, this is base don real science and real research.

LIGO is out their right now looking for gravity waves, and everyday we smash atoms creating new particles.

So, it's not that outlandish to say I want to explore the universe.

Where are these real science and real research, Peron? Look it up, post it. Give us something substantial to debate.

 

 

We're waiting for some relevant claims, Peron. So far all you have is empty imaginative excuses. Those don't count as science.

 

~moo

[ajb]

General Relativity has been proven, yet gravity waves haven't, their is no reason why they shouldn't exist.

 

The best evidence for gravitation waves comes indirectly from double pulsars observed via radio waves. The energy loss of the binary system agrees with theoretical predictions via gravitational waves.

[Peron]

Well, almost everything Einstein predicted using the General theory of relativity has been validated.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tests_of_general_relativity

 

Although, Gravity waves haven't been detected in a direct way I think they will since the General theory of relativity has been so successful in predicting other observable phenomena.

 

Another point about particle synthesis, is that we have made new molecules, to produce exotic material.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muonium

 

We are not that far from creating suer heavy isotopes which, theoretically would produce gravity waves.

Using these waves we would isolate ourselves from the rest of the universe, and travel faster than light.

[ydoaPs]

What's missing ? How come we haven't worked out how to do this yet ?

 

klaynos broke the warp coils, so we're stuck at impulse until we can get some new dilithium crystals.

[swansont]

Another point about particle synthesis, is that we have made new molecules, to produce exotic material.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muonium

 

We are not that far from creating suer heavy isotopes which, theoretically would produce gravity waves.

Using these waves we would isolate ourselves from the rest of the universe, and travel faster than light.

 

"Be more explicit in step two"

 

There's a huge leap from making muonium to super-heavy isotopes making gravity waves, and then a another huge gap to superluminal travel.

 

LIGO and accelerators are looking to confirm specific predictions made by theory. You offer nothing here but the waving of hands.

---

Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

klaynos broke the warp coils, so we're stuck at impulse until we can get some new dilithium crystals.

 

That's so original series.

 

A tachyon field resonance in the power couplers has overloaded the isolinear chips and caused the phase inverters to destabilized the warp field. Run a level-3 diagnostic.

[insane_alien]

swansont, you forgot to reverse the polarity. thats essential in fixing everything.

[swansont]

swansont, you forgot to reverse the polarity. thats essential in fixing everything.

 

I was awaiting the results of the diagnostic.