Well, I was searching to see if this was already made, but the searches didn't show a thread with my idea so here it is. I am making this thread so we can have a typical tavern discussion thread for all things science! Basically, a thread for everything science! Ranging from discussions about laws and theories, scientific debate, breakthroughs, discussion about new scientific breakthroughs, certain scientists/philosophers, and all that good stuff! So go out there and let out your inner science! ;P To get us going somewhere I'll start: what do you think the future holds for technology? I think our knowledge will allow us to overcome the obstacles thrown at us in the future, I mean, we have discovered so much and have come so far!
It is less like the energy is lost in this situation, it is that it is split away. Think of pinching away a bit of Play-Doh. There is no less energy density in what is left, there is just less there, if that means anything.
Yeah, but doesn't it mean that our energy is being divided into many other universes?
This is interesting. One scientists concept of what a warp ship would really look like. http://news.discovery.com/space/warpshi ⦠holes.html
That's cool but it seems really dangerous. I think we need to launch it in another ship far from our solar system in case it causes a black hole.
I thought this was an interesting article on antimatter, being from 2006 I know we have made advancements in containing antimatter as well. The article talks about the use of a matter/antimatter reactor as a power source for a positron rocket. Something that would be too dangerous to do with nuclear power. This would be a great alternative to current rocket propulsion as a rocket would no longer require having to carry thousands of tons of fuel.
One thing I found interesting which answered something I suspected about antimatter was the type of radiation that is produced from a matter/antimatter reaction. The reaction produces gamma rays. It's good to know that a gamma ray burst from it would dissipate almost instantly only effecting a limited range. So a matter/antimatter power plant would not only produce far more energy, but in worst case scenarios the damage would be limited to the immediate area instead of spreading like with current nuclear reactors. I would imagine since the radiation dissipates so quickly we wouldn't end up with radioactive waste from such power plants either.
Yeah, but doesn't it mean that our energy is being divided into many other universes?
But we wouldn't actually miss any of it. The amount of energy doesn't matter, energy density matters. Since the energy density would be the same, nobody would even notice the loss.
but in worst case scenarios the damage would be limited to the immediate area instead of spreading like with current nuclear reactors
Where do you get the antimatter from? If we produce it ourselves, we need more energy than we get out of it.
Actually that's not the problem We get a huge amount of energy out of the matter//antimatter reaction comparable to a nuclear bomb going off with only a gram with almost no loss. The problem with production comes in that we currently just can't make enough of the stuff fast enough at a cost effective price. We also have trouble containing antimatter once it's been produced. But from what I hear we have made some breakthroughs in that area.
