Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Chewable.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


             

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

Novel ET activity detection

  (+4, -1)
(+4, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

Recently there has been a bit of press about the theoretic possibility of a warp engine actually working. Basically the idea is instead of FTL travel, you simple move the spacetime around your ship, so the ship itself is not moving, only the space around it moves. So I was thinking, if you move a bubble of space it would displace the space that you moved it to. Like moving an Excel cell, the surrounding cells must be moved either across or down. So if this spacial displacement occurs, then surely it would be detectable? If aliens are already using warp drives, couldn't we detect this displacement? After all we detected the inflation period after the Big Bang, and as the speed of light is known it can be measured precisely. We would know if there were minute deviations from previous measurements.
simonj, May 11 2009

One such article http://news.softped...eality-111196.shtml
[simonj, May 11 2009]

[link]






       What do you want to measure, and what kind of result would tell you there is a moving cell out there?
loonquawl, May 12 2009
  

       you might be able to see the effects of gravitiational lensing if the warp-speed space ship passed between a star and your viewing location.   

       maybe warp-drive spaceships explains dark matter ;)
xaviergisz, May 12 2009
  

       [loonquawl] That's a good question, however I am not a physicist so can't give you an exact answer. However there must be some universal constants that can be measured, which have previously shown to have minor unexplained fluctuations. I would be curious to find out if anyone knows of any.
simonj, May 12 2009
  

       Repeated measurements will always give fluctuations. I'd immeadiately mistrust any instrument giving the exact same result every time. Measuring something, i am pretty confident to be able to determine where my stolen bike is, as it displaces air, and alters the earths magnetic field...   

       Your idea currently smacks of WIBNI, or WIBNTTISITM
loonquawl, May 12 2009
  

       See "Physics of Star Trek" (it might be sitting on some people's bookshelves) for a discussion of this kind of space warping concept. Essentially they've worked out a relatistic way of doing it, albeit an entirely theoretical one with enormous power requirements.
Aristotle, May 12 2009
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle