# Exotic Matter and Tachyons

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-matter-and-tachyons/332500>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 23, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-matter-and-tachyons/332500 "2005-11-23T23:04:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-matter-and-tachyons/332500/1 "2005-11-23T23:04:01Z")

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Exotic Matter

> **[Exotic matter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_matter)**
>
> There are several proposed types of exotic matter:
> Negative mass would possess some strange properties, such as accelerating in the direction opposite of applied force. Despite being inconsistent with the expected behavior of "normal" matter, negative mass is mathematically consistent and introduces no violation of conservation of momentum or energy. It is used in certain speculative theories, such as on the construction of artificial wormholes and the Alcubierre drive. The closest known real ...

  
Tachyons  
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachyon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachyon)

Due to negative inertia, when you push an exotic matter object, it moves toward the push instead of away.

Tachyons are superluminal particles which must gain energy to slow down to lightspeed and lose energy as it goes to infinite speed.

Is there a connection?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-matter-and-tachyons/332500/2 "2005-11-24T00:03:08Z")

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Only in so far as they’re both weird, and there’s no evidence for the actual existance of either. Tachyons, if they exist, have a mass that’s not negative, but rather imaginary. This is necessary, so that their energy and momentum (which include the relativistic gamma factor) be real.

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exotic-matter-and-tachyons/332500/3 "2005-11-24T01:32:11Z")

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I felt there was some underlying symmetry between:

1. Unobserved theoretical constructs, which
2. Reacts counterintuitively to Newtonian Physics.