NationStates Jolt Archive

You might want to brush up on Sub-Space before you read further. Go here to learn more http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=96083

Okay, my nation has two types of FTL. One, Sub-Space (detailed in the above thread), accelerates ships to 1 ly per minute. My backup FTL, used where Sub-Space travel is unavailable, accelerates ships to 1 ly per hour.

Now, if a ship is already in Sub-Space and moving at 1 ly per minute, how fast would they be going if they then activated the backup FTL? (No, the answer is not 1.016 ly per minute)

Whoever can get this right will receive an IC payment of 1 trillion US$, and an award stating that you are the King above all nerds.

BUMP for people to get the 1 trillion

If they are traveling at one lightyear per minute and they activate the other drive, unless it instantly accelerates them, they will still be moving at one lightyear per minute.

I assume we aren't supposed to wonder about the conflict between a sub-space and a non-sub-space drive being used at once in our answer if we were then I'd say it'd be a matter of luck to know the answer.

I'm pretty sure the ship being in Sub-Space wouldn't effect the secondary drive (The secondary drive is actually being considered as a realistic posibility for FTL travel, but that's neither here nor there)

And I'm pretty sure it would accelerate them further (Oh, we do not know the correct answer. We wish to find out, which is why we made this thread.)

(And by "We", I mean the other NS nation working on this project with me)

Could I have a real $1 trillion?

Yes, provided you give me two trillion in advance.

Let me make sure I understand the situation. We have a ship that has been accelerated to 1 lightyear per minute and a second drive which accelerates it from rest to 1 lightyear per hour is engaged and allowed to work up to full power. I don't recall the equation for the increase in mass for high speeds, but I would guess that you could figure out the output for the conventional engine and apply it to the increased mass of the ship at the higher speed. Other than that I can't help you, and even if I was right the money's not really very useful, I've got a GDP of 55 trillion and a budget of about 30, a thirtieth of a single year's budget isn't very much.

You might want to brush up on Sub-Space before you read further. Go here to learn more http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=96083

Okay, my nation has two types of FTL. One, Sub-Space (detailed in the above thread), accelerates ships to 1 ly per minute. My backup FTL, used where Sub-Space travel is unavailable, accelerates ships to 1 ly per hour.

Now, if a ship is already in Sub-Space and moving at 1 ly per minute, how fast would they be going if they then activated the backup FTL? (No, the answer is not 1.016 ly per minute)

Whoever can get this right will receive an IC payment of 1 trillion US$, and an award stating that you are the King above all nerds.They would still be going at 1 ly per minute, due to the fact that the back-up FTL only works where Sub-Space travel is unavailable. This would render the back-up totally useless.

I'd have to know the nature of the drives. Warp technology requires a set amout of power and the mass of the object to be moved is inconsequential, while rocket technology relies heavily on the mass. So assuming that the sub-space drive is inertialess and the other is not, then my explanation from before should work.

Saul 2 Paul, the backup drove doesn't only work where Sub-Space isn't available, that's just only where it's used. It's a backup for use when the main doesn;t work, it can be used anywhere

Lets say this.....

einstein proved that a ship..that was going lightspeed....if you took a big light and turned it on behind the speeding ship....the person in the ship would still see the beam of light overtake them..even though they are travelling at the same speed....

Odd....but true.......so...if you were travelling at a sub-light speed......and then kicked in your drive....you would only go as fast as light speed.....
In wich case..time would slow down for you....

So you have plenty of time to count my one trillion dollars.

Is this to do with the relativistic velocity addition equation? I don't have the exact equation handy, being away from all my books for the winter break, but am I right in what you're looking for?

Saul 2 Paul, the backup drove doesn't only work where Sub-Space isn't available, that's just only where it's used. It's a backup for use when the main doesn;t work, it can be used anywhereWell then if it is fully capable of full operation. The ship would travel at a speed representin 1 to the sixtieth power ly per hour per minute.

I would say they'd still only be going 1ly/min. The other isnt going to produce enough thrust to make a big difference at that point.

Neutered Sputniks, though not the answer that I'm looking for, that's closer than anybody else has gotten.

I'm not looking to debate whether or not the second FTL will work in Sub-Space (it will), I'm just asking for the speed it will reach.

Arrrh, you'd be crushed into a singularity and possibly exit space time itself as well as herniate the fabric of space sending massively intense gravity waves out in all directions causing all matter in the region to shrink and expand violently. If the vessel is of significant mass, this will cause stars in the local region to supernova and/or collapse, sure to piss off your galactic neighbours, given that any subspace physicist will tell you that with continuum distortion propulsion, relative speed is directly proportional to the density and geomotery of the warp field in the local region. Activating a lower strength field inside a higher strength field is fatal if you are, at that point, travelling at a greater relative speed than is possible within the low strength field because the low strength field would then dictate the local maximum relative velocity of mass.

What is left of you if anything woud thus fall out of subspace and be reduced to gamma radiation travelling at c for infinity.

Dude, you are forbidden from ever posting in any of my threads again. What you just said makes no sense, at all. I find myself pitying you for your nonsense, and I'm the guy who has had three hour conversations about cheese.

Uhhh, is it 1.16E-4 ly per year?

fair enough but it's a synthesis of your trekkie fantasy science and actual real world physics.

EEEEEK I though ti was n the general forum...

*boils self in acid to wash away the RP cooties*

*NEWSFLASH* There's no Trek tech here

And I guess a Mod moved it

Anyone with a HS physics textbook could look this up to doublecheck it for me, but I think here's the formula for adding relativistic velocites.
v = w + u / (1 + (wu/c^2))
v being the final velocity, u being the added velocity (The secondary drive), w being the initial velocity (your primary drive), and C being the Speed of Light (this is something I'll need to play around with, but I'll prove why first).
So, in example,
v= (1c+.016c)/(1+(.016c^2/1c^2)) =
1.016c/1.016=
c.
That way, however, it can never exceed the speed of light. This is because it's using real world physics, but I am luckily capable of abusing it for theoretical purposes.
We'll replace c (in the unit of c's, or amounts of the speed of light in vaccum) with theinverse of medium's relative c, or c*n (which would be about 1.05 in air, 2.5 in diamonds, and not too far from 1.0004 for space, and you can think up some crazy number to make standard for subspace, or better yet, some crazy reason why real space should apply to everything BUT your ship, which could make this actually work. However, it would also result in your having imaginary mass. This is a mindfuck for which the total of my training comes from Phillip K. Dick's The Variable Man. It ain't pretty.
I'll use normal space for the calculation.)
Therefore,
(c*n)^2=
(1*1.0004)^2=
1.000800
For the purposes of this calculation, being the best break from real-world physics I can make.
v = 1c + .016c / (1 + (.016/1.00080))
v=1.016c/(1.015987)
v=1.0000126c
If I were using proper rules of sig figs, this wouldn't even have registered. But now you have your answer, and how to get it from hereonout.

v = w + u / (1 + (wu/1.0004^2))

I have a formula for adding relativistic accelerations somewhere, but the book ain't on me, Google doesn't turn anything up, and if memory serves it's so goddamn long that it'd take at least four lines here to type out and explain variables, plus I just barely understand the logic behind it myself.
Now, is this Tri-million trillion(106*3, or American Trillion(106+3+3)? And more importantly, by what logic does setting a fictional scientific standard while eating fried chicken merit so many zeroes? It sounds like you're asking a bunch of vultures to come and eat the nerd alive.

-Der Math Geek