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Physicist: faster than light travel may be possible
Allison Mack, Daily Vidette Staff Writer
Issue date: 8/22/08 Section: News
Gerald Cleaver, a Baylor University physicist, and Richard Obousy, a Baylor graduate student, believe that traveling faster than the speed of light may be possible in the very distant future.
The pair arrived at this conclusion after examining the theories behind light travel and the Big Bang theory. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe expanded faster than the speed of light for a very short time, pushed by dark energy, which makes up about 74 percent of all mass-energy.
Dark matter accounts for 22 percent of mass-energy and normal matter is responsible for the last four percent. Normal matter includes the sun, planets and everything that is visible while dark matter is not visible or detectable.
Scientists have confirmed the existence of dark matter due to the way stars and galaxies cluster because of its gravitational force.
In theory, a "bubble" of dark energy would push a spaceship traveling faster than the speed of light.
"The spaceship would then be sucked from higher to lower density in a deformed portion of space-time, without violating Einstein's theory," Epaminondas Rosa, associate professor of physics, said.
Einstein's Theory of Relativity states that objects accelerating at the speed of light would need an infinite amount of energy.
Cleaver and Obousy have based their discovery off of the Alcubierre drive. This drive relies on making space-time behind the ship larger, while at the same time, shrinking space-time in front of the ship.
Some theorists have thrown their support behind the newer M-theory, which suggests that subatomic particles vibrate in two dimensions as opposed to the one dimension that was previously widely accepted.
Manipulating the second dimension would change dark energy. There are a total of 10 dimensions, including height, width, length and time. The other six dimensions are unknown.
However, to take advantage of the loophole in Einstein's Theory and maneuver the dark energy through the second dimension would require the entire mass of Jupiter be transformed into pure energy just to move a ship measuring almost 36,000 cubic feet.
"Possible? Yes. Plausible? No," Andy Gillespie, a junior physics education major, said. "This idea, much like many other ideas out there, is one that I believe will only have life in sci-fi movies."
Neither Cleaver nor Obousy has said that this travel is a close possibility.
Traveling at the speed of light is still more of a theory than an idea that is ready to be put into practice.
The pair arrived at this conclusion after examining the theories behind light travel and the Big Bang theory. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe expanded faster than the speed of light for a very short time, pushed by dark energy, which makes up about 74 percent of all mass-energy.
Dark matter accounts for 22 percent of mass-energy and normal matter is responsible for the last four percent. Normal matter includes the sun, planets and everything that is visible while dark matter is not visible or detectable.
Scientists have confirmed the existence of dark matter due to the way stars and galaxies cluster because of its gravitational force.
In theory, a "bubble" of dark energy would push a spaceship traveling faster than the speed of light.
"The spaceship would then be sucked from higher to lower density in a deformed portion of space-time, without violating Einstein's theory," Epaminondas Rosa, associate professor of physics, said.
Einstein's Theory of Relativity states that objects accelerating at the speed of light would need an infinite amount of energy.
Cleaver and Obousy have based their discovery off of the Alcubierre drive. This drive relies on making space-time behind the ship larger, while at the same time, shrinking space-time in front of the ship.
Some theorists have thrown their support behind the newer M-theory, which suggests that subatomic particles vibrate in two dimensions as opposed to the one dimension that was previously widely accepted.
Manipulating the second dimension would change dark energy. There are a total of 10 dimensions, including height, width, length and time. The other six dimensions are unknown.
However, to take advantage of the loophole in Einstein's Theory and maneuver the dark energy through the second dimension would require the entire mass of Jupiter be transformed into pure energy just to move a ship measuring almost 36,000 cubic feet.
"Possible? Yes. Plausible? No," Andy Gillespie, a junior physics education major, said. "This idea, much like many other ideas out there, is one that I believe will only have life in sci-fi movies."
Neither Cleaver nor Obousy has said that this travel is a close possibility.
Traveling at the speed of light is still more of a theory than an idea that is ready to be put into practice.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
marcus
posted 8/22/08 @ 9:45 AM CST
Why would you have a Junior physics education major comment on the work of an associate professor or string theory and a PhD graudate student?
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