Could someone explain how Warp Drive works and whether it is actually physically possible?

Question

So basically does it create a bubbled reality, but why is the speed of light different there?

Answer 1

Sorry, but warp drive is a science fiction story-telling device (too bad!).

The real question is if faster-than light travel is possible. Right now, our knowledge of physics seems to indicate it is not. But there are (theoretically) at least two exceptions. One is to construct (or find) an "Einstein-Rosenber bridge"--a wormhole that connects distant points in space. IF they can really exist, though, we've not the foggiest idea how to make one (yet). The other exception is that we know tha tat the time the univers started--the "Big Bang"--the "stuff" of the universe was initially traveling faster than light. So there's at least one set of conditions where the speed of light is not a limiting factor. Whether or not that fact might someday lead to a way for us to exceed the speed of light is an unknowable question at this point.

But--the rationale of the warp drive. There are several, actually--all based on the idea that you can somehow "warp" (change or shift) the structure of space and time locally (the space occupied by the ship) so that the value of "c" is changed. My personal favorite (becasue it seems the most plausible) is that the "warp" would cause the spacecraft to"skip" from one quantum state to another without occupying some intervening locations (this does happen--in theory--on the quantum level). The effect if a large object--a starship--could do this would be to "skip" most of the space it passed through--effectively travelling faster than light.

BUT--don't jump on that--or any other explanation of "warp drive" as real--right now its just wishful thinking.

Answer 2

There are penty of web pages and books that explain how warp drive is suppoesed to work.

I prefer using an analogy:

You can ride a wave on a surfboard by standing on the surfboard and placing yourself on the front part of the wave. The trick is to "fall down" the slope of the wave at the same speed as the wave is moving forward.

Imagine if someone invented a machine to create a wave just behind the surfer. The surfer straps the machine on his back and turns it on. The wave is created just behind him so the surfer moves forward (going down the slope of the wave). As he does so, the wave follows along at exactly the same speed as the surfer (no choice, the machine is strapped on the surfer) so the surfer keeps "falling forward" on the wave. The surfer's maximum speed would be affected by many tings, including the friction of the board on the surface of the water.

Create a 3-D wave in the 4-D space-time continuum. The space ship is pushed forward by the front "face" of the wave and the wave (being generated by the warp engines) keeps up with the ship. There would be some kind of "friction" as the ship moves through the fabric of space (and this was used in one episode, to explain that some areas of space were damaged by the too many ships that went through there at high warp).

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The episode is called Force of Nature.
http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/episode/68628.html

Answer 3

In a starship warp engine, high-energy plasma, created by a matter-antimatter reaction, is pumped through a series of warp coils cast from an artificial material called verterium cortenide. Verterium cortenide provides a bridge between electromagnetic and gravitational forces. By design, it has the property that when a high-energy plasma circulates through appropriately fashioned verterium cortenide castings, a "warp field" is generated. Electromagnetic interactions between waves of superhot plasma and the verterium cortenide coils change the geometry of space surrounding the engine nacelles. In the process, a multilayered wave of warped space is born, and the starship cruises off to its next destination at velocities equivalent to hundreds of times the speed of light. Relative to "normal" space, within the warp field, the starship does not exceed the local speed of light, and therefore does not violate the principal tenet of special relativity.

Answer 4

warp drive is when you accelerate to 365,000 miles
per second.
yes it has been achived.

Answer 5

This entry is pretty clear in its explaination.

Answer 6

With today's technology it is impossible.