The power supply would have to immense were would you get the energy to run the thing? Would it be an exotic or unusual form of energy?

Originally posted by OmegaSeven
The power supply would have to immense were would you get the energy to run the thing? Would it be an exotic or unusual form of energy? Pixie dust. That's at least as real as your FTL engine, so it should do the job perfectly.

Originally posted by rde
Pixie dust. That's at least as real as your FTL engine, so it should do the job perfectly. Are you insulting me? :mad:

The power supply would have to immense were would you get the energy to run the thing? Would it be an exotic or unusual form of energy?

Well scientist had concluded that light energy (that of a star or galaxy of stars) only makes up around 20% of the energy in the universe, so there's a massive amount energy we cant even see let alone to begin to comprehend.
Possibly in 20-60 years we might have a better understanding of this "exotic" energy as you call it and might be able to use it in some kind of reactor to power a craft or indeed a community of people here on earth.
Part of that 80% consits of what is now known as "dark matter" this is thought only to comprise of around 12-30% of the 80% but its something we'v been able to isolate and perhaps could hold the key.
The rest of the 80% as far as i know is completly unknow.

Obviously, an FTL drive must be fueled by mostly retarded tachyons.

Slap your low brow foreheads, folks!

Jeez.

i like the irish man's humour................

um, Big G, what are these retarded tachyons that you speak of?(unless it is humour that is prevailing.........)

moosey

Maybe we could use a fart as a source of power.
I just ripped a huge one and the smell seemed to travel faster than light....go figure..so simple and naturally nobody thought of it due to its simplicity!

Hello! You guy's obviously don't read the government FTL research site news. They said that a form of negative energy would be needed to propel an object faster than light. Antimatter is negative energy. They also said that regular(such as protium being the regular form of hydrogen) antimatter wasn't powerful enough. So, either we need anti-tritium,or anti-quatrium(both of wich would be incredably powerful forms of anti-matter,more so then normal), or we need to figure out zero-point energy, which, to the clueless one's(I doubt there are many,otherwise the wouldn't be here), is the power of the vacuum. I'm not sure on this next part, but I think it's related to background noise. Can anyone confirm that?

hi,
check this file out guys.

zero energy is something from nothing practically... creating particles from nowheres and if you keep creating them then you have an unlimited energy supply correct? hell, pop a 'can' of zero-energy open and stick it in the battery slot for you ftl and off you go.. the only other power supply i can think of that might meet the needs is a sun..if only we could figure out how to lug a sun around... http://www.xs4all.nl/~mke/exitmundi.htm go down to Q-engergy and read about it.

btw how do i dl the above file? i click on it and it goes to a blank page and has a little symbol up in the corner.

Hi,
right click->save the target as->name->download it.

bye!.

I have a feeling we're all looking at this FTL thing the wrong way. There must be some way to completely bypass the entire acceleration part of the process, which is what is causing the problems. I thought infinities in theories were supposed to be a sign that it has broken down at those conditions, is this not true for relativity? I guess antimass would be helpful in solving this, get enough antimass to just cancel the "normal" mass and you've got either 0 or - rest mass, thereby bypassing the infinite energy problem :p

I know, I know, I'll keep dreaming ;)

Just an thought..

what about advances /current or future, in the field of "Nanotech"

would this technology in its own right solve or provide alternatives to this powersouce problem?

cheers.

I'm not sure how nanotechnology could be applied to generate power on the scale of antimatter reactions or cold fusion. Unless we would somehow be able to assemble particular molecules out of other molecules and atoms. That would certainly solve the fuel problem, when the supply runs out just make more.

BTW, by assemble I mean breaking molecules into their seperate atoms and then reassembling these atoms to form another structure. Not simply mixing two chemicals together to make a third.

Maybe we should work on coming up with a design for a FTL engine before we start worrying about a power source for it. The size of the power source will surely depend on the operating principle.

the engine probably would not be an engine at all. More like a device because by the time that we have the capability to go that fast we hopefully would know how to manipulate the properties of space and time so that we wouldn't rely on an accerlerant to boost us to another planet. However that time is no where in the near future. We are just now piecing together space and times properties', and still have a ways yet before we completely understand them.

Todos já pensam em ir na velocidade da luz ou acima dela. poderíamos começar por baixo quem nem os primeiros carros que nem iam direito a 20 kilômetros por hora e hoje atingimos até 200 kilômetros fácil. Poderia se pensar num motor 1/4 de luz, que tal ?

Todos já pensam em ir na velocidade da luz ou acima dela. poderíamos começar por baixo quem nem os primeiros carros que nem iam direito a 20 kilômetros por hora e hoje atingimos até 200 kilômetros fácil. Poderia se pensar num motor 1/4 de luz, que tal ?
I was just about to say that!

Veja bem, se começar com algo simples, logo chegaremos a velocidade da luz. Poderia até ser um motor sub-luz. Seria um ótimo começo. Não envolveria formas de energia para nós ainda desconhecidas.

Vejam no youtube o motor proposto que atinge a velocidade da luz ( fast than light )
procurem por Fast Interstellar Space Travel using Phase-shifted Electrodynamic Propulsion

What if we just burned Unobtainium?

What if we just burned Unobtainium?

It only works when mixed with red monkey droppings.

I heard today that gravity affects time. Apparently, the higher gravity the slower time goes, or was it the other way about? I haven't looked it up yet..
To build a FTL device (engine is so 20th centuary) you need in all liklihood infinate gravity for propulsion (or traction) in a timeframe outside of normal spacetime obviously. This would require moderating and controlling something like a black-hole with n-dimentional physics (that may or may not exist), outside yet inside our timeframe. Good luck with that!
The thing would be to bring the device up to full power, whilst preventing anything made of matter being attracted by it, so that for an instant you have infinite gravity causing zero time. Then distance covered by any mass is then irrelevant according to GR. That is, if a to b over t still applies at those energies. Even if you invented anti-gravity, AG would tear the whole thing to shreds.
I don't see how it can be done.

As it turns out, it was high gravitational potential, or in other words, pure space that slows time. So using infinate gravity would increase relative time, rather than stopping it.
Still, I'm sure that a bit of fish-spit and a bungee-rope will save the day as usual...;)

two ways i can think of to power a ship ftl. one is to move to a different universe where the laws of physics are different or change them in this one. option one looks easier.

Acho que todo mundo está pensando em muita coisa e no final não é tudo isso. Estão pensando primeiro no motor e depois no carro. Com a ftl, iríamos longe. Tudo bem. E como fica as outras coisas ? Como suporte de vida por exemplo e outras coisas importantes ? E não falo pensando em ficção.

Wibbly wibbly poink squart fnergle? Blonk foffle derg? Yus bingly woff tink tonk!

Acho que todo mundo está pensando em muita coisa e no final não é tudo isso. Estão pensando primeiro no motor e depois no carro. Com a ftl, iríamos longe. Tudo bem. E como fica as outras coisas ? Como suporte de vida por exemplo e outras coisas importantes ? E não falo pensando em ficção.Many do not speak Portuguese here. Can you translate to English?

The best I can get is:
I believe everyone is thinking about a lot and at the end it is not very much. They are thinking first and then considering the engine in the car. With ftl, we would be able to cover vast distances. Okay.

And what about the other things? As far as life support and other such important issues? And I do not mean that I am thinking about fiction At least your post begins to make sense this way...

Ha Randwolf, o pessoal traduz, afinal eu também tenho que ler em inglês também. Mas posso colocar nas duas linguas.

The Lone Ranger's horse, Silver, could run at the speed of light - not sure if he could go faster than light though.
Hmm - that horse plenty fast, kemo sabe

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/warp/warp.html

http://www.space.com/6649-star-trek-warp-drive-impossible.html

From what I have read, the effort would require a massive amount of energy, but who knows what the future will bring.

Ha Randwolf, o pessoal traduz, afinal eu também tenho que ler em inglês também. Mas posso colocar nas duas linguas.Saticomm, nobody is going to translate this other than you. It doesn't matter how well you read English, you need to be able to write it also. Otherwise, people will not respond to you if you don't write in English. Try it...
:cool:

Ha Randwolf, the staff translates, after all I also has that to also read in English. But I can place in the two languages.

http://au.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt

good for a laugh too.

In English:

As Randwolf points out people will find it difficult to understand the syntax even if translated, take for instance what I have written here and how a translator can alter what is said.

Translated to Portugese via Bablefish.yahoo.com

Porque Randwolf indic os povos encontrarão difícil compreender a sintaxe mesmo se traduzido, tomada por exemplo o que eu escrevi aqui e como um tradutor pode se alterar o que é dito.

Translated from above back to English again using Babelfish.

Because Randwolf indic the peoples will find difficult to understand the same if translated syntax, taken for example what I wrote here and as a translator it can get excited what it is said.

Translation without knowing a language is messy.

Translation without knowing a language is messy.My point precisely,Stryder. Hence "the best I could get out of it". The second post I asked a friend to translate.

What, exactly, is the policy for languages on these fora, Stryder? Ignore anything other than English? Or wait for geniuses such as yourself to come forward and delineate the potential pitfalls of using "Babel"?

Or maybe you don't have a policy, per se? More like, "datur cuique suum"?

My point precisely,Stryder. Hence "the best I could get out of it". The second post I asked a friend to translate.

What, exactly, is the policy for languages on these fora, Stryder? Ignore anything other than English? Or wait for geniuses such as yourself to come forward and delineate the potential pitfalls of using "Babel"?

Or maybe you don't have a policy, per se? More like, "datur cuique suum"?

Funnily enough this is something that has been talked about in the Mod Lounge over the past couple of weeks, currently it's suggested that:

English is the Forums "Default" language.

It's not explicitly against policy or site conditions to post in a different language, however it is likely that there won't be as much discussion done if it's not something understood by the majority of people posting here.

(We could start some subforums for different languages if proven to be a necessity)

I found that fórum was for quarrels of a guideline in question and not on a language or race. Me it seems that the question was the propulsion above of the light here

Me it seems that the question was the propulsion above of the light here

Voce nao pode construir um motor que seja mais rapido que a velocidade da luz pois nada pode ser mais rapido que a luz, Saticomm. Nao existe nada mais rapido do que a velocidade da luz. Nada pode ser mais rapido do que a luz porque essa velocidade nao existe, lol.

Tashja, It has 500 years behind, we found that the land was boat and that sea finished everything in the end of the line it, thinks about this.

to the OP

the Casimir effect can produce a locally mass-negative region of space-time[1] when we achieve the technology the universe may just power the ship for us as a consequence of geometry. It would be a nice setup.

[1]Morris, Michael; Thorne, Kip; Yurtsever, Ulvi (1988). "Wormholes, Time Machines, and the Weak Energy Condition". Physical Review Letters 61 (13): 1446. Bibcode 1988PhRvL..61.1446M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.1446. PMID 10038800.

Tashja, It has 500 years behind, we found that the land was boat and that sea finished everything in the end of the line it, thinks about this.

I could be wrong but I think he's pointing out the belief that was once held that the Earth was Flat and how we've moved from beyond that.

The problem is that if you went faster than lightspeed you would be distorted compared to standard spacetime, it's a likelihood that such distortions would be destructive in the sense that even the most tensile of substances known to us now wouldn't be able to hold up to the distortions caused *if* faster than light was possible.

Discussion of power sources will likely be held in the Star trek vs Star Wars thread since that is probably as real as it will ever get without fundamentally changing the entire physics of the universe.

to the OP

the Casimir effect can produce a locally mass-negative region of space-time[1] when we achieve the technology the universe may just power the ship for us as a consequence of geometry. It would be a nice setup.

[1]Morris, Michael; Thorne, Kip; Yurtsever, Ulvi (1988). "Wormholes, Time Machines, and the Weak Energy Condition". Physical Review Letters 61 (13): 1446. Bibcode 1988PhRvL..61.1446M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.1446. PMID 10038800.

The hypothetical wormhole is the only way to get around physical distortions considering it implies distorting space around a body rather than a body through space.