Now let me see if I got this straight. As a spaceship approaches light speed, the time experienced by the astronauts slows to a crawl, but the distance travelled by the ship increases then why would interstellar travel be impossible? Why not maximize speed, minimize time to less than a day and maximize distance to the closest star?
2007-08-25 11:17:27 · 15 answers · asked by ? 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Ah, what an impressive question! It's not often I get to answer one as good as this! Lets see what I can do...
First of all, the thought of going so fast is mind boggling and beyond the imagination of scientists today... but as you said, heck, lets assume.
Ah, yes, the famous einstein theories about travel at the speed of light... well now those are simply theories aren't they? Did einstien really send a stop watch at the speed of light to test this? No. But, he is an idol of mine so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he really had enough evidence to support these claims... because I don't pretend to understand his explanations of them. At any rate, what you are describing is where the theory of actual time travel comes up. Assuming both that we can approach light speed, and that our dear Einstein was correct again, then the prevailing belief as I'm sure you've heard is that the astronauts will venture some precise number of years into the future that was calculated with some highly acurate math no doubt (hahaha, the very thought of someone pretending they could know this is proposterous) and that they will have leaped forward into this time with no way back. Am I right? Of course I am, I already read a few of the answers you've recieved. Now the notion that the percieved time would slow is incorrect. In order for this to happen, the astronauts thought process would have to accelerate. In reality, yes time would slow for the space craft, but so would the astronauts thought process along with everything else so they would precieve this time no differently than the way you are experiencing it now. Even any clocks onboard would run slower at that same speed so that everything would seem perfectly normal. (though may I remind you that we are talking about a very large amount of assumptions, theories, and an imposible proposition to start with)
Now the second part of your question gets a little tricky. And I don't think it's been answered yet....
On this same sci-fi train of thought here, you are correct that interstellar travel would hypothetically speaking be possible. As you approached the speed of light, the effect of time on the astronauts would be less and less until it scarcely affected them at all. They could in fact go these incredible distances and only percieve and age... as you put it even less than a day. So it is not impossible. ... based on your assumptions, which is where the trouble comes in that all of your assumptions were impossible to begin with.
Furthermore however, despite the percieved time of the astronauts, the real time passes would still be countless years. So interstellar travel would not be of benefit to anyone, at least not for... possibly centuries. The astronauts would take what to them would seem like a two day round trip to gather data, and by the time they returned, it could be 4 centuries later. Based on climate change now, I'm siding with the theory that in 4 centuries from now, the earth will be void of life.
Anyway, thanks for an opprotunity to talk about completely proposterous things this morning. It was a pleasure.
2007-08-26 02:36:22 · answer #1 · answered by notallchipsarefood 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is 25,000 light years away, so it would take 25,000 years to get there at the speed of light. If you went so close to the speed of light that it took only a week ship-time, everyone else in the universe would notice 25,000 years go by instead. Fuel consumption does not depend on distance, but on the speed you reach. Since time is slowed down for you, however, everyone else would notice your ship burning fuel very slowly, while to you it would appear to be very rapid. It takes about a full year to even get near the speed of light at 1 g, however. You'd be crushed flat if you accelerated to near the speed of light in so short a time as a week.
2016-05-17 22:37:55 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time may slow down for the astronauts and it may seem like a few days but when they return it will be years later. The nearest star is 4.3 light years away. At the speed of light it would take 8.6 years for the round trip. Who cares if they feel as though is was a few days. They still have lost the time. It would be like time travel into the future for them with no way to return.
Would you take a chance of taking a trip that may feel like a few weeks but when you get home it is hundreds or thousands of years later. What would society be like? Would they remember when you left on the trip?
There is no way to approach the speed of light due to the energy required. To actually get to the speed of light would take infinite energy and your mass would become infinite.
2007-08-25 11:24:17 · answer #3 · answered by Barkley Hound 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
first of all, you people telling him why such a trip is impossible are WHACK. the question ASSUMES it is possible. it's not about the fuel, or the speedometers, it is a thought experiment about relativity. micrometeors, indeed.
anyhoo, the time experienced by the astronauts does not slow to a crawl. from their point of view, time passes as normal, a 20 year trip would still take 20 years. but when they got back, much more than 20 years have gone by, yes, that part is true. but it takes as long as it takes. even approaching light speed, if it takes light 4.3 years to get there, you can't get any faster than that.
2007-08-25 12:28:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm not quite sure I understand your question. The problem is that we can't travel anywhere near the speed of light. And even at the speed of light, many stars are still many years (some hundreds or thousands of years) away. It would be impossible to travel to the closest star in less than a day, unless we can find a way to travel faster than light. From what I understand, physicists think that it is impossible to travel at the speed of light, or near it.
2007-08-25 11:22:25 · answer #5 · answered by Kate F 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Well but you cannot travel at the speed of light. It is not possible according o the theory. Any object which attains the seped of light will have its weight infinity. And this can't be possible. So the spped of light is impossible to be reached by any object.
2007-08-25 20:42:38 · answer #6 · answered by Ankit Kumar 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The real world is not so simple as you seem to believe. Such craft would need to be modified to shield them against micrometeor impacts coming at them at the speed of light. Near-light-speed propulsion systems do not exist. The nearest star is 4.3 light years away so you would need provisions that would last that long and enough for the return trip. Your concept of time dilation is faulty.
2007-08-25 11:28:19 · answer #7 · answered by Troasa 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
If we travel faster than the speed of light the mass of our Space Ship would be zero. In other words it would dissapear. According to a Physics Law, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.
2007-08-25 11:25:32 · answer #8 · answered by Luis A 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
because if you do get a chance to go faster then the speed of light you would bend the time line and within an hour create a worm hole, if you go through the worm hole you will end up from a few hours to a decade into the future.
2007-08-25 17:59:40 · answer #9 · answered by urban pharmacist 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Such an assumption can make a lot of stars closer, within our reach.
In reality, it is impossible due to our friend's( Einstein) theory of
(Furthermore,the expansion is going to accelerate ) special relativity.
2007-08-25 17:22:45 · answer #10 · answered by chanljkk 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋