FTL Travel

James Wynn · 18 Nov 2002, 15:56 · from urth-v0211.mbox · original

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From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at HotPOP.com>
Subject: RE: (urth) FTL Travel
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 09:56:33 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0211-2148 at digest.urth.net>
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Don asks:
Please explain.  Is this the usual SF take on FTL or is there a physics
explanation that makes backward time travel the most likely?  I'm pretty
ignorant on this.

Crush responds:
As one moves faster and approaches the speed of light, time slows down,
exponentially, until time stops at the speed of light. I am informed by
Stephen Hawking (not personally) that it takes an infinite amount of time
and an infinite amount of energy to reach the speed of light.

It is simple mathematics that as one moves faster than the speed of light,
time moves in the opposite direction. No doubt, there are other mathematical
models.

Hence, a FTL generation ship is unnecessary.

-- Crush

--=20

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