Forums >Off the Beaten Path>A question of space
I saw this today...
the article it was in indicates "it reaches the faintness of one firefly as seen from the distance of the moon". pretty deep. but then my brain started to hurt when I was thinking about a question...
If we can ever build a spaceship that can go 99.99999% the speed of light humans could reach there in like 100 years or less. Even though it will actually take them 13 billion years, because of the way time slows down the faster you travel and exponentially when you get close to the speed of light.
So how long would the ship need to last to get there? 13 billion or 100 years? How much fuel would you need? 13 billion or 100 years? I mean... you'd only need 100 years worth of beer right? But how would you need 13 billion years worth of fuel?
Someone help. My brain locked up.
In regards to fuel, once we learn how to travel that fast, you can be darned sure we won't be using rocket fuel. I dont think anyone can wrap their minds around what we would need to accelerate an object to that velocity. My guess, if we ever get there, is that is won't be traditional fuel, and that we could probably travel an infinite distance with whatever we are using. Who knows
Travelling that fast won't even be physical movement as we know it. It will be some form of astral projection void of weight and body. Based on vibration and soul energy, not ancient fuel and clunky physical movement. You heard it here first.
Super Pro Lurker
So I don't really know what distance you're talking about in the diagram there, but say you wanted to travel somewhere in spaceship that could instantaneously obtain 99.999999 % the speed of light. If you went out and traveled 10 years in the ship and came back to earth 100,000 years would have passed. The closer you get to the speed of light the slower time passes. I think if you get to c time is not supposed to pass at all. In that case you would need 0 beers. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation#Time_dilation_due_to_relative_velocity
(Warning: there are many maths)
ok, posed as an engineering question then...
does my ship need to be designed to last 100 years or 1 billion years?
#artbydmcbride
Flying - 100 years.....parked - billion years
Runners run
Labrat
ok, posed as an engineering question then... does my ship need to be designed to last 100 years or 1 billion years?
1000 years, that time dilation experienced by the ship mean the trip takes 100 years from its frame of reference.
(Allowing the usual 10 fold safety margin built in by careful interstellar traveling enginneers)
The sister ship left behind will be a piece of junk after it has been around for a billion years from its frame of reference.
Its basically the standard twins* paradox in relativity in equipment terms.
*not the why the heck do they even try to play baseball twins paradox either.
5K 20:23 (Vdot 48.7) 9/9/17
10K 44:06 (Vdot 46.3) 3/11/17
HM 1:33:48 (Vdot 48.6) 11/11/17
FM 4:13:43 (Vdot 35.4) 3/4/18
I should also add, time dilation is not just theoretical, but is experimentally confirmed via the use of particle accelerators.
Also by satellites. Relevant to running: accurate GPS requires knowledge of special relativity/time dilation.
thank you all. you've cleared my mind. and my ship is that much closer to being ready to go. I'll get back to you after my test trip to Vega. of course you'll all be ancient by then.