29 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Gravity Travels at the Speed of Light
Here's the rub. In Newton's theory of gravity, one body exerts a gravitational pull on another with a strength determined solely by
the mass of the objects involved and the magnitude of their separation. The strength has nothing to do with how long the objects
have been in each other's presence. This means that if their mass or their separation should change, the objects will, according to
Newton, immediately feel a change in their mutual gravitational attraction. For instance, Newton's theor... 1 
notes
notesAccording to Einstein, overturning Newton.
29 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Why Traveling at the Speed of Light Slows Down Time
the precise time difference between stationary and moving clocks depends on how
much farther the sliding clock's photon must travel to complete each round-trip journey This in turn depends on how quickly the
sliding clock is moving—from the viewpoint of a stationary observer, the faster the clock is sliding, the farther the photon must
travel to the right. We conclude that in comparison to a stationary clock, the rate of ticking of the sliding clock becomes slower and
slower as it moves fas... 1 notes
notesAn elegant explanation in physical terms of photons and the distances they travel.
22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
The Enterprise's Impulse Drive
Moving back to the sub-light-speed world: We are not through with Einstein yet. His famous relation between
mass and energy, E=mc 2 , which is a consequence of special relativity, presents a further challenge to space travel at impulse speeds. As I have described it in chapter 1, a rocket is a device that propels material backward in order to move forward. As you might imagine, the faster the material is propelled backward, the larger will be the forward impulse the rocket will receive. Mater... 1 notes
notesThe ship uses hydrogen fusion to propel helium atoms at near the speed of light, but this hypothetical form of propulsion would require incredible amounts of hydrogen to work.
22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
The Picard Maneuver
Speaking of time, I think it is time to introduce the Picard Maneuver. Jean-Luc became famous for introducing this tactic while stationed aboard the Stargazer. Even though it involves warp travel, or super light speed, which I have argued is impossible in the context of special relativity alone, it does so for just an instant and it fits in nicely with the discussions here. In the Picard Maneuver, in order to confuse an attacking enemy vessel, one's own ship is accelerated to warp speed for a... 1 notes
notesThe captain of the Enterprise has the ship travel faster than light, leaving an image of itself traveling at the speed of light from its previous location; meaning Star Trek's universe would be filled with such apparitions.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Universal Intelligence Cannot Exist
We conclude that there cannot be a strongly cohesive network of
communicating, unifying intelligences through the whole universe if (1) such
galactic civilizations evolve upward from individual planetary societies and if (2)
the velocity of light is indeed a fixed limit on the speed of information
transmission, as special relativity requires (i.e., if we ignore such possibilities as
using black holes for fast transport: See Chapter 39). Such a universal intelligence
is a kind of god that cann... 1 notes
notesAt best, aliens advanced enough to be gods could only exist at a galactic level.
