thusly boned? not quite.

[Reply #40 on:]

One little nitpick:

 

Originally posted by Chalic:
Special Relativity says nothing about Objects ALREADY travelling *faster* than the speed of light.

Not quite true. While Einstein didn't mention it, it's pretty easy to derive what special relativity says about objects already travelling faster than c: They can't slow down to (or below) c. How could you miss that in the same post where you explain tachyons?

Speaking of tachyons, the energy of an electron at 1.01c isn't the same as that of an electron at .99c. It's an imaginary number with the same magnitude (well, to really nitpick, 1.01 != 1/.99, but they're pretty close).

Finally, while many scientists have been playing with theories that take tachyons into account; what few expect to find are "free tachyons" (basically, tachyons that we can use for FTL communication or travel).

As for Stewart's Theory of Warp Travel, that only works if you postulate the existence of "jordions" and "scottons" and similar particles.

[Reply #41 on:]

OH NO! its a sign of the apocalypse! Science and futurama in the same sentence? noooooooo!

[Reply #42 on:]

 

Originally posted by Just Chris:
The speed of light C is still a constant. Scientists have slowed down light to 37mph. This doesn't mean that they changed C, it only means that light can travel slower than C in the right conditions.

Wow. Kind of an old thread. But a fun one!

Forgive me if I'm wrong (probably   ), but I've heard tell that the speed of light may actually be decreasing -- permanently -- due to the effects of the selfsame "dark matter" that the PE ship's engines use.

By the way, supposedly something like 99% of the universe is made of dark matter -- if this is true, then why the mad rush to mine the core of the dark matter filled planet in "Loves Labor Lost in Space?"

But whatever. When you start talking about "dark matter filled planets" you know it's time to check reality at the door.

[Reply #43 on:]

Probably because the dark matter on Vergon 6 was heavily concentrated, and easy accessible. Much easier than flying around space with a big Buzzard collector (or the darkmatter equivalent of one).

Welcome to PEEL, LAN.gnome. Enjoy it here.

[Reply #44 on:]

Okay, I don't understand any of this scientific stuff, so I'm just going to say the real reason why: If Bender had the ability to stop himself in Godfellas, then there wouldn't really be a storyline to the episode, would there?

What's more important - having a scientifically correct cartoon or a good storyline to a humorous cartoon? Keep in mind that Futurama could never be scientifically correct, it features giant talking crabs people with 4 fingers and a cyclops as part of it's usual cast!

[Reply #45 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:What's more important - having a scientifically correct cartoon or a good storyline to a humorous cartoon? Keep in mind that Futurama could never be scientifically correct, it features giant talking crabs people with 4 fingers and a cyclops as part of it's usual cast!

We're not really picking on the show. This thread and others like it are more thought exercises to see if together we can figure out some answer, and thusly show off our collective geeky-ness   

[Reply #46 on:]

Some of the geeky-ness here would impress me if I knew what the hell it meant. 

[Reply #47 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:
Some of the geeky-ness here would impress me if I knew what the hell it meant.   

Well, "dark matter," for one, is actually the name given to something we know exists but can't identify. According to the velocity of our galaxy's rotation, which has been measured (I dunno, somehow), there is a huge amount of mass present in our galaxy that we can't detect. We know it's there since it is affecting our rotational velocity and other things, but we can't see it, so it's called "dark matter." In fact, it is supposed that 99.9% of the entire universe's mass must be dark matter, to make up for the difference between our observable mass and our calculated mass.

Nobody hesitate to correct me on this if I'm wrong, though   

[Reply #48 on:]

Yes heres something interesting. Isnt the moon about 8 light secondsaway, but in the series has landed it only takes aboutm 3. Damn wizards.

[Reply #49 on:]

The moon is slightly above 1 lightsecond away. The average distance to the Moon is about 380000 km, and lightspeed is 300000 km/s.

And this is old light, new light probably travel a couple of thousand times faster.

Taking 3 seconds to get to the Moon for a ship that can do .99C is actually pretty damn slow, but I guess they had to use some time for deceleration.

[Reply #50 on:]

 

Originally posted by Teral:
Taking 3 seconds to get to the Moon for a ship that can do .99C is actually pretty damn slow, but I guess they had to use some time for deceleration.

And acceleration. That takes some time, especially within the Earth's atmosphere (where they appeared to have spend a good portion of their time).

[Reply #51 on:]

What about when the Klingon guy got to be the first officer.  He used "execute" instead of "engage"!
how do you explain that?
also, they didn't say how much they increased the speed of light, so we can assume, if we want, that they did raise the speed of light to any amount.
 c^c^c^c^c^c^c if u want

[Reply #52 on:]

Please, forgive me for signing up just to nitpick, but:

1) You could determine if you were spinning in deep space even without stars. Rotation takes the form of constant accelleration at 90 degrees to the direction of travel (hence you keep going 'round in circles), and you can feel that force - ever been on a roundabout or gyroscope, or swung something by a cable?

2) Things don't look bent underwater because light travels slower in water, it's due to refraction, which is due to the increased density of water. Admittedly, light also travels slower in water because of its increased density, but this is another effect of the density, not the cause of refraction. (Saying it is would be like saying that tax rebates cause people to be happier and governments poorer, therefore poor governments make people happy  )

[Reply #53 on:]

I find it unlikely that a Robot designed and programmed Purely for Bending purposes, would have interstellar Navigation subroutines included in it's Operating system.
And thus would not have even thought about using his ass to slow himself down.

[Reply #54 on:]

Hey, change your avatar Arachnid!, i was here first

[Reply #55 on:]

The speed of light C is still a constant. Scientists have slowed down light to 37mph. QUOTE]

out of curiousity, is that true, 37mph?

[Reply #56 on:]

Of course.

[Reply #57 on:]

     

Originally posted by JDHannan:
What about when the Klingon guy got to be the first officer. He used "execute" instead of "engage"!

Klingons like Executions.     

EDIT: Whooops!

Looks like I picked the button instead of the button.

[Reply #58 on:]

 

Originally posted by ezy234:

The speed of light C is still a constant. Scientists have slowed down light to 37mph. QUOTE]

out of curiousity, is that true, 37mph?

where tf did u hear that?  I don't believe that for a second.  They would have to have some unimaginably weird material to pass the light through.  Something that slowed it down but didn't stop it.
Thatd be like having a superhighway with tonnes of cars traveling 65mph and then suddenly and instantly everyone has to go 1mph when they hit a certain point.  I think the entire world would be destroyed