Eventually as aerospace tech gets better,faster and more improved.....do you think we'll start to have engines and motors that go so fast that using the speed of sound term "mach" wont be accurate any more? But like in some space tv shows, we'll have to refer to the speed at wich were flying or moving by what percentage it is to the speed of light?
2006-07-31 11:50:06 · 14 answers · asked by Maurice H 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Speed of light in a vacuum is 186,000 miles per second. Right now the best we can do, with a slingshot assist from, say, Jupiter, is about 22 miles per second. That's a far cry from 186,000 miles per second. We need something different than chemical propulsion. The term "mach" is used in atmospheric flights, i.e., Mach 2 is about 1400 miles per HOUR. A snail's pace compared to spacecraft. One idea is a "solar sail" -- a huge Mylar sail in front of a spaceship that uses the sun's solar "wind" to drive it. The acceleration is slow but steady, eventually it could reach relativistic speeds. Another idea is an ion fusion drive - like a series of nuclear explosions propelling the spacecraft forward. It is feasible that we could reach a respectable percentage of the speed of light some day with these or some other method of propulsion. Even 1 percent of the speed of light would be a pretty respectable speed and would get you to the nearest star (other than our sun) in about 400 years.
2006-07-31 16:58:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mach does not mean anything once you are out of a medium where sound travels. And in actual fact, the speed of sound is not a constant in the atmosphere either: sound goes faster at sea level than at altitude, and faster as the temperature increases.
So Mach is not an accurate or constant measure of speed.
Mach is meaningful to aerospace because certain phenomenon are linked to having the relative motion of air being supersonic or subsonic, and especially when transitioning between supersonic and subsonic, as that increases drag significantly.
Already, space probes velocity is calculated and reported in miles or kilometres per second. Going fatse, and we can still talk about thousand of kilometres per second.
Since we do not have super efficient nuclear rockets yet, speculating about how we'll measure speed si a bit premature.
If faster than light travel is possible, then future explorers may talk about going at twice the speed of light, for instance.
But, unfortunately, no one knows yet if going fatser than light will ever be possible, so again, deciding on what we would call that speed is a bit pointless.
2006-07-31 19:08:03 · answer #2 · answered by Vincent G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
3 x 10^8
2006-07-31 18:52:38 · answer #3 · answered by adlex 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mach number will still be meaningful in the atmosphere because it relates to important aerodynamic factors. If we ever get to speeds fast enough to require expressing them as a percentage of C, it will not be in an atmosphere, and Mach number doesn't apply in a vacuum anyway, not at any speed.
2006-07-31 18:59:31 · answer #4 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Human beings cannot withstand accelerations more than about 3 g (or around 30 m/s/s) without ill effects. Even sustained 3 g would be harmful. At this rate it would take weeks of acceleration to get to any fraction of the speed of light. So even if we had the technology to power an engine accelerating at 3g indefinitely, it would be of little practical use.
Using 1g (the same as the acceleration of gravity) you could safely accelerate indefinitely, but then it takes months.
2006-08-01 05:33:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the goal is to travel at speed of light (3 x 10 ^ 10 m/sec) and commonly used term is light years (distance travelled by light in one year). So if we get closer to speed of light, distances will be measured in light years (it takes 8 minutes for light to travel from sun to earth).
2006-07-31 23:02:45 · answer #6 · answered by akollengode 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This could be a list of the new way to measure speed:
micro light-one millionth of the speed of light, 699.6mph
milli light -one thousandth of the speed of light, 669600mph
centi light- one hundreth of the speed of light, 6696000mph
deca light- one tenth of the speed of light, 66960000mph
Mabye.
2006-08-01 01:07:54 · answer #7 · answered by Eric X 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dont think we will attain even a fraction of the speed of light with even the best engines and motors, we will need some new technology of power (fusion please!).
2006-08-01 01:09:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the speed of light is really fast! it is 3.08 times 10 to the eight.
2006-08-01 00:48:59 · answer #9 · answered by deepajayan1122 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One can only hope so. Write your congressman so they'll better fund the research.
2006-08-01 03:54:27 · answer #10 · answered by quntmphys238 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋