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Recent articles in Scientific American have talked about traveling faster than light.
Scientific American ^ | 03/20/05 | Jorge

Posted on 03/20/2005 8:31:45 PM PST by KevinDavis

Einstein's special theory of relativity predicts that nothing can exceed the speed of light. But special relativity applies when spacetime is flat. When spacetime is curved, the theory applies only "locally"--that is, over regions of spacetime small enough to be considered flat. Consider the analogy of a plane that is tangent to a sphere. The flat geometry of the plane is a good approximation to the geometry of the sphere when the size of the plane is very small compared to the sphere's radius of curvature.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciam.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: fasterthanlight; justtodamnfast; physics; podkletnov; science; space; warp; wasntspeedingofficer
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To: lepton
Diamonds reduce light to about 60% of lights speed in a vaccuum. That's why its refraction raating is so high.

Speaking of diamonds, have you heard about research in light based computers using artifical diamonds as light based CPUs.

61 posted on 03/20/2005 9:47:38 PM PST by Paul C. Jesup
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To: adx

I was thinking of sending them into a convenient black hole. Who said anything about installing manual controls on the ships?


62 posted on 03/20/2005 9:52:42 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Bouchart

What if speed is only relative to where you are actually are and you can continue to accelerate to a unlimited speed. For example, you are actually sitting still in an automobile or airplane, but the automobile or airplane is moving as is the earth.


63 posted on 03/20/2005 10:10:36 PM PST by U S Army EOD (John Kerry, the mother of all flip floppers.I)
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To: noutopia

"What is the Space Time thing?"

A guy on a moving spaceship shoots gun once and again at a later time.

All observers will measure a distance and time between shots where the change in distance squared minus the change in time squared equals a number that is the same for all observers.


64 posted on 03/20/2005 10:43:14 PM PST by staytrue
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To: staytrue

That clears that up.WOW what a chowderhead I am.Stupid me!!!


65 posted on 03/20/2005 10:53:26 PM PST by noutopia (Home of the brave,not the spineless.)
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To: KevinDavis
Please add me to the Space ping list..
Thanx..
66 posted on 03/20/2005 11:07:50 PM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: KevinDavis

So I says, if one can see, perchance, back through time via the Hubble telescope, the epicenter of the big bang, and if stronger resolution affords me the ability to see the other side of the epicenter of the big bang, do I see time from the beginning to the past?

Is then time travel capable to the future?

Just a barnacle on my hull through life.


67 posted on 03/20/2005 11:18:39 PM PST by Puckster
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To: KevinDavis

ping


68 posted on 03/20/2005 11:31:28 PM PST by Maynerd
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To: BearWash

Bookmark


69 posted on 03/20/2005 11:41:29 PM PST by steve86
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To: noutopia
Einstein (or somebody) explained the "space time thing" like this...

You got these twin brothers, see...
One takes off on a space ship, going to point A.. and he then will return..
The round trip, at the speed of light, will take say, 10 years..
Space twin returns to earth in what, to him, was 10 years..

Space twin finds his earth twin has aged say, 50 years, and is now 40 years older than brother space twin..

As you approach the speed of light, time itself is changed.. or how we (travellers) experience time..
The "basic" explanation is that time slows down..
I'm sure that's not accurate, but for the non-physicist layman, it's close enough..
The idea is, when at say, 60 % of light speed, it takes you 200 years to take a sip of your coffee.. to you, it's only 5 seconds.. for anyone observing you from outside of your rapidly moving craft, it's 200 years..

That's where the controversy comes in concerning faster-than-light travel...
Some (sci-fi authors especially) have postulated that travelling FTL would or could result in "time travel", actually reversing time..
Whether time would reverse within the traveller's ship, causing them to get younger is a problem... but, at any rate, travelling to another solar system, or even another galaxy would then be "theoretically" possible..
Simply "time" your round trip FTL travel to bring you back within say, a year of your departure..
All sorts of rules concerning time paradox says this is extremely dangerous, if not impossible..

More than you ever wanted to know about relativity and the space time thing.

70 posted on 03/20/2005 11:51:38 PM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Puckster
Let's say the universe that we know is 15 billion years old..
And let's say that Earth is 10 billion light years away from the epicenter of the universe, the site of the Big Bang..

When we look at the center we see what happened 10 billion years ago..
In order to see the Big Bang actually happen, you would have to go more than 15 billion light years away from the center of the universe..
You would also have to travel faster-than-light to get there in order to see the BB happening..
Travelling at light-speed, you would always be 5 billion years too late to see the BB happen..

71 posted on 03/20/2005 11:59:39 PM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Moral Hazard
Trans.....of your 'screen' name?

...... Moral Hazard (I'm an atheist gamer. I don't believe in God Mode.)

......Morale Hazard (I'm an relativist gambler. I absolutely do NOT communicate in Moral Mode.)?

naw,....

Sorry, I'm sure I totally missed your 'point'.....

Colossians 1:16,17

72 posted on 03/21/2005 4:41:19 AM PST by maestro
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To: Drammach

It be like flying from Atlanta to Birmingham in one of dem fast jets, dat thing is so fast, it get der before it take off.


73 posted on 03/21/2005 6:17:06 AM PST by U S Army EOD (John Kerry, the mother of all flip floppers.I)
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To: Spktyr
I was thinking a one-way trip to the galactic core

When you leave, don't forget to turn out the light.

74 posted on 03/21/2005 6:45:47 AM PST by hgro
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To: maestro
Wikipedia is our friend....

"In law and economics, moral hazard is the name given to the risk that one party to a contract can change their behavior to the detriment of the other party once the contract has been concluded."

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

"God mode is a video gaming term that refers to invulnerability."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_mode
75 posted on 03/21/2005 7:24:00 AM PST by Moral Hazard (I'm an atheist gamer. I don't believe in God Mode.)
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To: Moral Hazard

He was multitalented and did more than one thing.


76 posted on 03/21/2005 9:03:27 AM PST by RightWhale (Please correct if cosmic balance requires.)
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Comment #77 Removed by Moderator

To: det dweller too

Actually, according to Einstein, gravity travels at exactly the speed of light. If ths sun were to disappear or explode right now, we wouldn't know or feel anything for a full 8 minutes.


78 posted on 03/21/2005 12:36:41 PM PST by Capitalism2003
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To: timestax

79 posted on 03/21/2005 7:53:31 PM PST by timestax
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To: RightWhale; old-ager

I am curious, how can an individual travel through time.

If you did this, you would have no where to stand, until the universe returned to it's position ftom when/where you started your time travel.


80 posted on 03/21/2005 8:13:32 PM PST by XBob
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