Hypography Science Forums: TheBigDog - Viewing Profile - Hypography Science Forums

Well, I have been mulling over my Space Voyage story for some time now. I even spent some time writing, but I have always been hung up on the research. I want to write plausible fiction, but the facts of mass and energy with regard to even our most optimistic technology keep getting in the way. So I have reached into my bag of imagination and come up with a drive system that I hope does not break any physical laws, but still enables space exploration to happen. I call it, for lack of a better name, Trans Quantum Inertial Drive, and I present it here for whatever constructive feedback on the idea I might get.

We begin with a magical material. Our trans quantum material. It seems very ordinary and its specifics are subject to whatever dramatic license I pick later, but it does have the secret ingredient for the drive system. It has mass X, and can be in the typical states of matter. Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. When stored in a plasma state with the proper catalyst and in the presence of a strong magnetic field there is a measurable drop in the mass, and when the magnetic field is removed, so returns the mass. By controlling the structure of the catalyst and the strength/shape of the magnetic field this drop of mass becomes more extreme. Now you must note that the "lost" mass is being suspended as energy carried by way of the catalyst and magnetic field. When the conditions are removed that energy is either turned into heat or returned as mass to the plasma.

So how does this work? Take a flywheel with the outer edge constructed of the plasma and the catalyst in a precisely engineered fashion. Now have that flywheel passing through a powerful electromagnet similar to how a brake disk passes through the caliper. This magnet would encompass 180 degrees of the flywheel. An electric motor spins the flywheel. The electromagnet is turned on. Like magic the flywheel exerts a force away from the magnet. Energy is required to make all of this happen, but all that is required is electrical energy. The amount of drive force is limited only by the physical forces that the moving parts can sustain. From a practical sense I imagine physical constraints to the efficiency that would prevent free energy.

So, I am continuing my story based upon this drive system. And as I considered the drive system I began to reach some startling conclusions. The speed of light is about 300,000,000 meters per second. At an acceleration of 10 m/s it would take just under a year to reach the speed of light. Now, because the drive is actually mechanical, you would never reach the speed of light. As you approached the speed of light and time slowed the rate of acceleration would slow equally, while to an observer on the ship the acceleration would appear constant. As you get very very close to the speed of light each second on board the ship would represent years of travel from the perspective of the starting point. In theory you could travel to any point in the universe while experiencing a time elapse of just two years; one year accelerating and one year decelerating. And virtually the same amount of energy would be required to take a trip of any length. Or you could simply traverse between local star systems completing dozens of trips within a lifetime.

The beauty of the idea is it requires no huge quantities of propellant, and it lets us experience the full travel experience that Special Relativity allows. Space launches happen almost silently as the ship revs up the Trans Quantum Inertial Drives and slowly rises away from the surface of the planet. As the gravitational pull of the earth weakens the acceleration increases. Tilting the trajectory can slip you into orbit if you like, or you can simply keep on going. You want to carry more? Strap on more drives.

Well, that is the idea. What say ye, Hypography?

Bill

September 16th is the next space shuttle launch. After that there is a "Mid November" launch schedule. I plan on being in Florida to witness one of them. Anyone who has never had the privilege of seeing a shuttle launch should make it a priority to witness this historic machine before its chapter in history has been closed.

NASA published the mission schedules here... NASA - NASA's Shuttle and Rocket Launch Schedule

I am giving myself a 1 week window to see the Sept launch. If that doesn't work out I will do it again for the last launch. Its now or never. If you don't do it one of these times you may never get the opportunity again. Anyone going to join me?

Bill

I have spent the weekend watching monster movies with the boys. Much of it dedicated to my old pal Godzilla. We watched Godzilla Raids Again, the 1955 sequel to the original, which was made before the 1956 version of Godzilla which had added scenes with Raymond Burr to make it more marketable in the US. Another thing I found interesting is that in the original they actually killed Godzilla. In the sequel is another monster of the same type (a 400 foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex) that they call Gigantus; they buried him in ice on a remote island.

But I digress...

This thread is to speculate about the source of Godzilla's powers. Namely, his breath. As far as I can tell it is a sort of super heated electro energy beam. Maybe some sort of highly energized plasma. It appears that he "charges up" through the large things that grow out of his back, like he is taking in electrical energy from the atmosphere. Or it could be that he is using an internal chemical reaction that makes the stuff on his back glow as he prepares the breath. I don't think it is internal chemical as he would have to eat something, and we never really see him eat anything at all.

So I am going with electro-energized-plasma-breath with the electrical energy being drawn from the atmosphere through the large protrusions on his back. I am not sure what type of energy output it is but considering how it melts tanks I would say it is in the google-watts range.

What do you think?

Bill

I thought I posted this already, but I guess it got lost in the repairs.

I have been working on a project for the past two years reinventing how my company reports production information. I have been running a prototype on a PC that sits on my desk which every hour goes out and gathers data from 32 different databases and compiles it together. It then takes the compiled data and puts it on a SQL Server. Users then query the SQL Server with Excel and use pivot tables to do analysis and make reports. The pilot is being replaced by a data warehouse solution but the data is so enormous that it is pushing the capability of our technical and developmental staff and it has the minimum amount of information in it that it ever will.

The limitation of the pilot was the shitty SQL server that they let me post the data to, it could only handle 90 days of information, and the memory limitations of Excel. Loading information for all of our North American operations I can get about 15 to 20 days of data loaded. For a single site I can load 100 or more days of information before Excel maxes out memory.

That brings me to my topic. Excel 2010 will come in a 64 bit version that will be able to handle a whopping 8 Terabytes of memory for a workbook. 8 terabytes. That is just a tad bit more than the 2 gig it maxes out at in the 32 bit version. So, is there a computer on the market that can come close to providing 8 terabytes of RAM? What computer can I get my hands on that gets me closest to that? I want to be able to report YEARS of data and let this thing grow like a weed.

So what is the most memory I can pack into a 64 bit machine today?

Bill

I am probably late again, but no matter. Happy Birthday Boerseun!! You are still a babyface even with all the years under your belt.

Bill