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Lightspeed, Hyperspace and Wormholes
My name is Yoga, I live in Indonesia and am 12 years old. I am interested by science fiction movies, especially about star travel, such Star Trek, Babylon V, and so.
When I saw those movies, there was always something that confused me so
much. What's the differences between LIGHTSPEED, HYPERSPACE, and WORMHOLE?
I can understand about lightspeed, but I don't know if a wormhole could be
used in space travel. As far as I know, quantum theory was just used to
prove other dimensions of our world (parallel worlds), so is there any
connections here between this wormhole and space travelling?
Well, Mr. Stern, I think these are the questions to which I'd like to know the answers. Can you please help me?
Reply
Dear Yoga
The stories of science fiction movies come from professional writers, not
from scientists. About 100 years ago Einstein found (something confirmed
since then in many ways) that no material object can move faster than
light, 300,000 kilometers per second. (If YOU moved that fast, time would
pass at a different rate, so TO YOU the speed might seem greater--but not
to someone in the outside world).
Writers of fantasy stories, and later of fantasy movies, felt
restricted by that fact, which suggested that back-and-forth travel or
communication with civilizations on planets outside the solar system
was impossible on the short time scale of travel and communications between
countries on Earth. As seen now, a projected trip to another world (even
using technology we do not have yet!) might take many thousands of years.
So writers picked up some scientific terms, suggesting some day in the
future the limitation of light speed may be overcome, by using hyperspace
or wormholes. However, these are just ways for literature and films to
imagine things which physics says (at least right now) cannot be done. I
am not sure about wormholes, which have to do with general relativity:
the added dimensions proposed by some theories extend only a very short
distance into our universe, and are not likely to help us navigate the
three principal dimensions of our universe (or 4--though time is a
different kind of dimension)
If you like science fiction, you might look up "Flight of the Dragonfly"
by Robert Forward for a physically acceptable way (though one technologically
extremely difficult) of flying to a nearby star.
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Why do Rockets Spin?
I was recently watching a rocket launch down south and I was
wondering why the rockets tend to spin upon take-off?? I know somewhat about rocket stability but this doesn't seem to apply, Is it something that can be controlled (automechanical) or is it an outside force?? I would greatly appreciate any info you could send me...
DAVE
Reply
Dear Dave
The spin-up is deliberate. Any spinning object resists having its spin axis changed. You may know that rifle bullets are made to spin by the grooves in the barrel of the rifle, in order to stabilize them. It is the same way in some rockets, especially solid fueled ones. Manned spacecraft obviously do not spin.
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Around What does the Sun Revolve?
Hello,
My almost 8 year young son Adam and I have a question about the revolution of
the sun. We know that the planets revolve around the sun, and all have
rotational periods also. We see that the sun aside from having a rotational
period, also has a revolution of some 250 million years. We are curious what
it is that the sun is revolving around?
Reply
I can only guess that your son came across a reference to the r