h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The link that DaveBlackEye posted gives a more accurate description than Starburst, but I still recommend the book.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_Antilles

During the resolution of Revenge of the Sith, Senator Bail Organa gives C-3P0 and R2-D2 to a "Captain Antilles," the captain of Organa's ship, the Tantive IV. This character, however, was not related to Wedge Antilles, according to the X-Wing series of novels; Wedge is Corellian and Captain Antilles is from Alderaan. Things could have been different: according to interview Lucas offered the role to Lawson, who declined.

It`s not just the g-force that would convert you into a splodge at the back of the ship,the atoms making up the object trying to accelerate up to or exceed light speed, would each have different momenta to those surrounding them. Mass differences would be multiplied by the Lorentz factor, and the object pulled apart by spacetime distortions(gravitational forces become as strong or stronger than the e-m forces holding the atoms together as molecules)? How fast can you go before you turn into a splodge?

sorry for interrupting the star wars science fiction, since in a galaxy far far away, the "possible" problem of your molecules, over heating and flying apart, has obviously been long solved. Since our rockets are not able to reach anywhere near light speed our astronauts shouldn`t worry yet.

Tsk, have you never heard of inertial dampers?

no.

inertial dampers, is that where you switch to light speed, by altering the free space impedance value, Z=E/H=120pie, ohms?.. or a new kind of dish cloth for mopping up the splodge caused by trying to reach light speed?

Inertial dampers are what they use in Star Trek to stop the splodge happening. They never attempted to explain how they work.

Reducing the impedance of free space may help keep molecules together, but wouldn't stop the splodge factor. In any case, surely the gravitational forces would have to vary across the object being accelerated before the molecules were ripped apart? A warp bubble is a single inertial frame, so all molecules experience the same force.

lee smolin`s book,three roads to quantum gravity, page 86, quotes, Unruh`s law, "accelerating observers see themselves as embedded in a gas of hot photons at a temperature proportional to their acceleration" also, "temperature=acceleration times planks constant divided by light speed". Or in other words, a high rate of acceleration will apply heat energy to your observers body. Keeping your observers acceleration reasonably low might solve this problem. The gravity field is dependant on mass( does relative mass have a gravity field? do quantum size particles have quantum gravity?), but the effects of light speed travel on the observers molecules vibrating at near light speeds needs to be physically tested, rather than just relying on theory.

It just occurred to me, that relativity effects, would also apparently shorten the distances between the vibrating atoms, so the electric charges holding the objects together should compensate, sorry, the splodge effect should only happen when too great a rate of acceleration is applied.

Anyhow, like it has been said before, according to the special theory of relativity, when traveling at relativistic speeds your momentum is no longer p=mv, however it becomes p=m(gamma)v (The "gamma factor" being 1/sqrt(1-v^2/c^s)). Therefore, as you go faster, your mass actually becomes larger and your momentum increases so it will take more energy to accelerate you towards the speed of light and you can therefore never reach it. Suppose, however, that you were actually traveling near the speed of light while holding a flashlight out in front of you. It would make sense, classically, for the light being emitted from the flashlight to be slowed down, right? However, this is not the case in relativity. No matter how fast you are going be it 5 m/s or 10^8 m/s, light will always appear to be going... the speed of light (3x10^8 m/s). So, unless you can actually manipulate space-time (which Einstein ALSO predicted in his General Theory of Relativity), you can't beat light in a vacuum!

Yeah, see post 3

Have you read "Universities Asleep at the Switch. A Fresh Look at Quantum Physics." by Daniel P, Fitzpatrick. It suggests that Light propagates at the speed that spacetime allows. Since Spacetime between objects is created in part by the objects themselves and depends on their internal spin frequencies. The higher the spin frequency the more contracted the emitted spacetime becomes, higher spin entities are in effect closer to other higher spin entities.

Surely in both Star Wars and Star Trek the problem is just bypassed? Neither hyperspace nor warp space is actually a way of going *faster* than light, more like, er, taking a different route than the light so you get there first.

If gravity is limited to light speed, how does it escape from a hole in space-time? If gravity waves can only travel at light speed, how can they emerge from, and yet escape the grip of a space-time hole? Even if a small space-time hole could be created around a star ship, would it be possible to accelerate the enveloping space-time hole above light speed?