So I was watching Star Trek last night and [spoiler] At the end they are trying to escape the gravitational pull of a super massive black hole, and they were traveling at the speed of light to escape the pull, well.. [/spoiler] it got me thinking. Einstein says that the faster something travels through space the slower time effects it relative to everything else, so any movie or tv show where the characters travel at the speed of light has a major physics flaw. Once they travel at the speed of light for about 1 minute, at least 100,000 years would have gone by for everything else in the Universe. But the bigger problem I see here is that, if we ever figure out how to travel at great speeds through space and travel far distances, how will we fix the problem with time passing so quickly, relative to us? I mean... effectively this means that when Han Solo took Obi Wan and Luke to Alderan, it would have been years and years passed, Princess Leia and Darth Vader would have died of old age.
That's why it's called sci-FI. Basically, you can't have anything set in space without some way to travel at extremely fast speeds, so you're going to have to write something in that doesn't mesh with real physics.
That's why it's called sci-FI. Basically, you can't have anything set in space without some way to travel at extremely fast speeds, so you're going to have to write something in that doesn't mesh with real physics.
theone86
Yeah, but I mean... how will we ever get past this problem if we ever want to travel great distances? We have to come up with some ideas!
That's why it's called sci-FI. Basically, you can't have anything set in space without some way to travel at extremely fast speeds, so you're going to have to write something in that doesn't mesh with real physics.
Franklinstein
Yeah, but I mean... how will we ever get past this problem if we ever want to travel great distances? We have to come up with some ideas! we wont
That's why it's called sci-FI. Basically, you can't have anything set in space without some way to travel at extremely fast speeds, so you're going to have to write something in that doesn't mesh with real physics.
Franklinstein
Yeah, but I mean... how will we ever get past this problem if we ever want to travel great distances? We have to come up with some ideas!
We won't travel great distances. Unless we can utilize cryogenic freezing reliably. Or our understanding of physics becomes extremely more advanced, assuming that such advancement could affect space travel.
That's why it's called sci-FI. Basically, you can't have anything set in space without some way to travel at extremely fast speeds, so you're going to have to write something in that doesn't mesh with real physics.
Franklinstein
Yeah, but I mean... how will we ever get past this problem if we ever want to travel great distances? We have to come up with some ideas!
It's really not a pressing matter, at all...
We are so very far away from being able to approach near light speed.
What if we could utilize worm holes or something of that nature one day; or if we figured out a way to teleport perhaps. Maybe we travel great distances then.
So I was watching Star Trek last night and [spoiler] At the end they are trying to escape the gravitational pull of a super massive black hole, and they were traveling at the speed of light to escape the pull, well.. [/spoiler] it got me thinking. Einstein says that the faster something travels through space the slower time effects it relative to everything else, so any movie or tv show where the characters travel at the speed of light has a major physics flaw. Once they travel at the speed of light for about 1 minute, at least 100,000 years would have gone by for everything else in the Universe. But the bigger problem I see here is that, if we ever figure out how to travel at great speeds through space and travel far distances, how will we fix the problem with time passing so quickly, relative to us? I mean... effectively this means that when Han Solo took Obi Wan and Luke to Alderan, it would have been years and years passed, Princess Leia and Darth Vader would have died of old age. Franklinstein
In stark trek they're using warp drives which means they are not moving at the speed of light but the space they are in are. So these time dilation effects doesn't apply that much.
[QUOTE="Franklinstein"]So I was watching Star Trek last night and [spoiler] At the end they are trying to escape the gravitational pull of a super massive black hole, and they were traveling at the speed of light to escape the pull, well.. [/spoiler] it got me thinking. Einstein says that the faster something travels through space the slower time effects it relative to everything else, so any movie or tv show where the characters travel at the speed of light has a major physics flaw. Once they travel at the speed of light for about 1 minute, at least 100,000 years would have gone by for everything else in the Universe. But the bigger problem I see here is that, if we ever figure out how to travel at great speeds through space and travel far distances, how will we fix the problem with time passing so quickly, relative to us? I mean... effectively this means that when Han Solo took Obi Wan and Luke to Alderan, it would have been years and years passed, Princess Leia and Darth Vader would have died of old age. themajormayor
In stark trek they're using warp drives which means they are not moving at the speed of light but the space they are in are. So these time dilation effects doesn't apply that much. That's interesting... so we just need to figure out warp drive...
[QUOTE="themajormayor"][QUOTE="Franklinstein"]So I was watching Star Trek last night and [spoiler] At the end they are trying to escape the gravitational pull of a super massive black hole, and they were traveling at the speed of light to escape the pull, well.. [/spoiler] it got me thinking. Einstein says that the faster something travels through space the slower time effects it relative to everything else, so any movie or tv show where the characters travel at the speed of light has a major physics flaw. Once they travel at the speed of light for about 1 minute, at least 100,000 years would have gone by for everything else in the Universe. But the bigger problem I see here is that, if we ever figure out how to travel at great speeds through space and travel far distances, how will we fix the problem with time passing so quickly, relative to us? I mean... effectively this means that when Han Solo took Obi Wan and Luke to Alderan, it would have been years and years passed, Princess Leia and Darth Vader would have died of old age. Franklinstein
In stark trek they're using warp drives which means they are not moving at the speed of light but the space they are in are. So these time dilation effects doesn't apply that much. That's interesting... so we just need to figure out warp drive... Theoretically it's possible. We just need very big and advanced engines. Maybe in tens of thousands of years. If you look at it optimistically...
[QUOTE="themajormayor"][QUOTE="Franklinstein"][QUOTE="themajormayor"] In stark trek they're using warp drives which means they are not moving at the speed of light but the space they are in are. So these time dilation effects doesn't apply that much. That's interesting... so we just need to figure out warp drive... Theoretically it's possible. We just need very big and advanced engines. Maybe in tens of thousands of years. If you look at it optimistically... I don't think that's an optimistic number. Look how far we've come in such little time. Our technology grows at exponential rates. I'd say in the next 1000 years at the latest we'll have these kinds of technologies.
I think Star Trek bypasses this issue with the bubble method.... Another issue with Star Wars is that running a galactic empire is virtually impossible because all comms signals would travel at the speed of light and so be irrelevant as soon as they arrived. Also if remember correctly only the Millenium Falcon could go faster than the speed of light which makes star destroyers practically useless as inter-system assault ships as it would take them years to get to another system, in a campaign of any scale all the troops would have died of old age after invading a few systems and would have aged beyond combat effectiveness after 1 or 2 systems..
[QUOTE="Franklinstein"][QUOTE="themajormayor"][QUOTE="Franklinstein"] That's interesting... so we just need to figure out warp drive... Theoretically it's possible. We just need very big and advanced engines. Maybe in tens of thousands of years. If you look at it optimistically... I don't think that's an optimistic number. Look how far we've come in such little time. Our technology grows at exponential rates. I'd say in the next 1000 years at the latest we'll have these kinds of technologies. I doubt it. Look how long it has been since we walked on the moon. We'll walk on mars in the 2030s. That's over 60 years just to go from the Moon to Mars. I like Michio Kaku's analysis. In 100 years we'll be a type I civilization, in 10,000 a type II civilization(Star Trek) and type III civilization in about 100,000 years. So when I think about it Michio Kaku agrees with you lol.
I think Star Trek bypasses this issue with the bubble method.... Another issue with Star Wars is that running a galactic empire is virtually impossible because all comms signals would travel at the speed of light and so be irrelevant as soon as they arrived. Also if remember correctly only the Millenium Falcon could go faster than the speed of light which makes star destroyers practically useless as inter-system assault ships as it would take them years to get to another system, in a campaign of any scale all the troops would have died of old age after invading a few systems and would have aged beyond combat effectiveness after 1 or 2 systems..markop2003
Quantum Entanglement Communication bro... And I'm sure lots of SW ships could move much FTL right? I mean come on, they're much more advanced than Star Trek.
[QUOTE="Franklinstein"] I don't think that's an optimistic number. Look how far we've come in such little time. Our technology grows at exponential rates. I'd say in the next 1000 years at the latest we'll have these kinds of technologies. I doubt we'll have warp tech by then. Considering what life was like a thousand years ago I think we'll have colonised our solar system to the extent of solar wide industry however it will take a while like sea travel back in the colonial era, the tech side of such an endeavour is relatively simple but it would require an enormous amount of business power behind it (I'm talking along the lines of everything which went into the cold war by both sides being required to send a single ship).
I think Star Trek bypasses this issue with the bubble method.... Another issue with Star Wars is that running a galactic empire is virtually impossible because all comms signals would travel at the speed of light and so be irrelevant as soon as they arrived. Also if remember correctly only the Millenium Falcon could go faster than the speed of light which makes star destroyers practically useless as inter-system assault ships as it would take them years to get to another system, in a campaign of any scale all the troops would have died of old age after invading a few systems and would have aged beyond combat effectiveness after 1 or 2 systems..markop2003
The only way we will get off of earth is now for money. It would require maybe trillions of dollars to send a few thousand people to another system that has an earth like planet and even then the people that went wouldnt even make it there. It would require generations of people to make it and there would be no return for the people on earth footing the bill. With the asteroid mining there is a chance of good profit with the precious metals they could harvest. Just need to find better propulsion tech than what we have no. Rockets just wont cut it anymore.
[QUOTE="Kurushio"]The only way we will get off of earth is now for money. It would require maybe trillions of dollars to send a few thousand people to another system that has an earth like planet and even then the people that went wouldnt even make it there. It would require generations of people to make it and there would be no return for the people on earth footing the bill. With the asteroid mining there is a chance of good profit with the precious metals they could harvest. Just need to find better propulsion tech than what we have no. Rockets just wont cut it anymore. How about dat VASIMR
[QUOTE="Franklinstein"] Yeah, but I mean... how will we ever get past this problem if we ever want to travel great distances? We won't. I hate to burst your bubble, but things like interstellar (never mind intergalactic) travel is probably always going to be pragmatically impossible.
Realistically speaking, space travel to other systems can be done, but it wont be like our little fantasy worlds where you can come and go as you please, communication is instant, etc.....assuming you get the chance to go to a new solar system, it would probably need a planet worth colonizing and be a one way trip for quite some time. The nearest system would take 5-6 years to reach at near lightspeed travel. And taking into account time dilation, you'd be in for a doozy if any of the colonists returned to Earth later on.
they achieve faster than light travel without suffering from time dilation effects or twin paradox issues because the warp drive creates a bubble of normal space for the ship but "warps" the space around it, causing it to achieve faster than light travel, the hypothetical Alcubierre Drive idea to do this is to create a wave that causes space behind the craft's path to expand and the space in front of its path to contract
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