FTL - Rambling Thoughts

[Tzarkoth]

I was considering FTL ...

I will have to use some approximations to get the ball rolling so to speak.

Let's say a particular star in the Andromeda Galaxy that we are going to travel to is approximately 2 Million Light Years away.

Let's assume a constant velocity for the entire trip.

Let's assume the Astronauts on the ship measure a time of 1 year for the Journey.

So, the ship the astronauts are on are must be traveling at significant % of the the speed of light. I don't have my figures handy, but it is approximately 0.999 999 999 999 999 5 % of c or something resembling that anyway.

So traveling at that significant % of the speed of light the astronauts age 1 year ...

Agreed ?

Now the super massive black hole at the center of the Andromeda munches on a neutron star or some such, becomes really angry, and starts spitting out cosmic rays. Let's assume that for the sack of the discussion that a cosmic ray will actually be headed towards Earth.

Now a proton is flying towards us, at even more significant % of the speed of light than our astronauts flying to Andromeda above, hits our atmosphere at the same time a bunch of photons do traveling in the same direction. It's possible that the proton overtakes the photons as they slow down in Earth's gravity, thus traveling faster than the speed of light. That can't be right ... Oh my God ... googles Oh my God Particle ...

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/OhMyGodParticle/

Anyways ... nothing is faster than c ... the speed of light is not always c.

I guess I answered my own question so I'll ask another ... Hmmm, Wiki seems to think all my questions are currently unsolved/unsolvable.

Hmm, if photons are not always moving at c, is there a reference frame where a proton would decay, and if there was could we ever observe it?

[John Mendenhall]

Oh my God ... googles Oh my God Particle ...

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/OhMyGodParticle/



Very enjoyable link, thank you!

Give it a try, folks.

[NEOWatcher]

It is interesting to observe that a real particle, in our universe, subject to all the laws of physics we understand, is a rather better interstellar voyager than the best fielded in the 24th century by the United Federation of Planets (http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/treks-end/).

Is it better to travel faster, but have the universe age faster? or to travel slower (which is still fast) and have the universe all age at the same time.
I think I'll choose ST as the better. Unfortunately, when you break it all down, I don't think either will ever really be a choice. :think:

[dodecahedron]

Actually the god particle is a planck-length piece of a divine entity which is summoned by the sorcerer-scientists at the LHC.

[ravens_cry]

Actually the god particle is a planck-length piece of a divine entity which is summoned by the sorcerer-scientists at the LHC.
Actually that (well not the LHC, but some super scientific future version their of) was an idea I had for a comic,where a piece of God is sifted from the fabric of the universe. Not to be taken seriously as reality, but I hoped to create a riping good yarn.