# Faster Than Light just isn't gonna cut it, pal.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 5, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486 "2006-04-05T22:42:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/1 "2006-04-05T22:42:07Z")
Sci-fi, man. Ships that are FTL… faster than light. And they zip all over the place, instantaneously. FFFFTTT… twinkle… gone. Star Trek, Star wars, Battlestar Galactica, Fifth Element… Yeah, I’ve got a ship, its got an FTL drive. I’m great.
Look, the nearest star to earth is Proxima Centauri, approximatley 4 light years from earth. So, if you want to go there, you have to travel at the speed of light for 4 years. So, if you want to get there in a hurry, you have to travel Faster than Light, which, if at all possible, will be hard to accomplish. But even if you manage to go a wee bit faster than light, you’re still talking years. If you can go twice the speed of light, and you really would be pushing it now, it’ll take two years. So what you want, for that instantaneous jump to Proxima Centauri, an inhospitable shithole by all accounts, you need a ship that can go, I dunno, a hundred times faster than light, or something. I’m sorry, but thats JUST NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
This is why they call it science FICTION I suppose.
There is no real point to this thread.
---
### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/2 "2006-04-06T02:57:43Z")
[hijack]So… when one goes faster than the speed of sound, one trails a sonic boom. What would happen if one were to go faster than light? Would one trail a, well, lightic boom? (There’s got to be better Latin for it.) …Well, no sense worrying about it, it’ll probably never happen.[/hijack]
Worm holes, we really need to find worm holes. And find a better Latin term for those, as well.
---
### Author:  [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/3 "2006-04-06T02:59:39Z")
[Steven Wright]If you were in a car, and it was travelling at the speed of light, and you turned your lights on, would it do anything? [/Steven Wright]
---
### Author:  [@Taran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taran)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/4 "2006-04-06T03:10:32Z")
This is why so many science fiction authors posit some limited form of teleportation (wormholes or the like).
---
### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/5 "2006-04-06T03:29:44Z")
If you’re already postulating FTL, then 100x light speed isn’t a much bigger leap, conceptually.
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/6 "2006-04-06T03:31:10Z")
Once you get near the speed of light, time really slows down for you relative to everything else so the time on-board can be manageable near the speed of light. You can’t go faster than the speed of light of course. The title is misnamed. It should really be called “The ultimate and forever speed limit of the universe”. That would stop some confusion because light just happens to be something that travels at that speed. Everything back on earth would use the conventional time so everyone would be long dead when you get back no matter what you do.
---
### Author:  [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/7 "2006-04-06T06:14:14Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Once you get near the speed of light, time really slows down for you relative to everything else so the time on-board can be manageable near the speed of light. You can’t go faster than the speed of light of course. The title is misnamed. It should really be called “The ultimate and forever speed limit of the universe”. That would stop some confusion because light just happens to be something that travels at that speed. Everything back on earth would use the conventional time so everyone would be long dead when you get back no matter what you do.
And this is why we don’t let pesky physics get in the way of a good story!
---
### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/8 "2006-04-06T08:39:41Z")
> [@Civil Guy](#):
>
> [hijack]So… when one goes faster than the speed of sound, one trails a sonic boom. What would happen if one were to go faster than light? Would one trail a, well, lightic boom? (There’s got to be better Latin for it.) …Well, no sense worrying about it, it’ll probably never happen.[/hijack]
>
> Worm holes, we really need to find worm holes. And find a better Latin term for those, as well.
[Fancy not knowing that!](http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae219.cfm)
---
### Author:  [@dbuzman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbuzman)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/9 "2006-04-06T08:49:35Z")
Well, in a lot of SF, FTL isnt really FTL it just looks that way because they actually use sub space or warp space (or some other term meaning they travel in a diffrent dimension or universe or whatever) to travel. So using subspace lets say, 1 light day there is 1 light year here distance wise.
So 4 light years our space is 4 light days subspace so if you go half light speed in subspace it would be 8 days our time to go 4 light years so it just seems that they traveled FTL.
And if it was say 1 light day to 10 light years well that’s even better.
---
### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/10 "2006-04-06T11:39:47Z")
> [@bubastis](#):
>
> Look, the nearest star to earth is Proxima Centauri, approximatley 4 light years from earth. …So what you want, for that instantaneous jump to Proxima Centauri, an inhospitable shithole by all accounts,
Dude, I’ve got the Oximas on the phone now. They’re pissed at your slander and want me to tell you \[they look forward to killing you soon.](http://www.askaninja.com) \
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Means\_Go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Means_Go)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/11 "2006-04-06T14:04:12Z")
Funny this comes up.
I’ve been tossing around the idea or writing a SF story, and one of the biggest roadblocks is trying to find a way to allow characters to move from place to place without using the over-done ‘warp/wormhole/whatever’ method.
There’s got to be a better way, and once I think of it I’ll make millions! Millions I tell you!
-GMG
---
### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/12 "2006-04-06T14:21:32Z")
> [@Green\_Means\_Go](#):
>
> Funny this comes up.
>
> I’ve been tossing around the idea or writing a SF story, and one of the biggest roadblocks is trying to find a way to allow characters to move from place to place without using the over-done ‘warp/wormhole/whatever’ method.
>
> There’s got to be a better way, and once I think of it I’ll make millions! Millions I tell you!
>
> -GMG
Pogo stick.
---
### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/13 "2006-04-06T14:48:57Z")
Next thing you know, you’ll be complaining about time travel into the past, and all the kill-your-grandfather paradox stuff.
It’s called a “literary convention” - hard SF is permitted, by general agreement, to include FTL and/or jumps, and backwards time travel. If stories were to be confined to our solar system and the future, even with some excursions into suspended-animation and multigenerational space travel, the genre might be pretty well exhausted by now. But if you want to lump those things in with elves and magic swords anyway, you’re certainly welcome to.
---
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/14 "2006-04-06T14:52:17Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> \ But if you want to lump those things in with elves and magic swords anyway, you’re certainly welcome to.
It always kinda irked me that bookstores always put the two together as if they were the same genre. I guess that they appeal to the same people, or at least some of the same people, but they aren’t the same darn it! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/15 "2006-04-06T15:10:46Z")
According to ST, FTL is not [linear](http://www.star-fleet.com/ed/warp-chart.html).
Proxima Centauri is just a short hop away. We can go there for pancakes and still be back in time for Saturday morning cartoons.
---
### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/16 "2006-04-06T18:56:14Z")
> [@Greenback](#):
>
> According to ST, FTL is not [linear](http://www.star-fleet.com/ed/warp-chart.html).
>
> Proxima Centauri is just a short hop away. We can go there for pancakes and still be back in time for Saturday morning cartoons.
I dunno about that. Even at warp factor 9 (TNG, or ~11.3 TOS), it’ll take you about one day to get there.
Ok for a week’s vacation, but I wouldn’t want to just grab breakfast and scram…
😉
---
### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/17 "2006-04-06T19:07:46Z")
According to Relativity, _c_ is the ultimate speed limit. To have something go only “a little bit” faster wouldn’t really make sense under the equations we have now to understand the universe. Specifically, the equations for time dilation, length contraction, etc. end up with the square root of a negative number. There are mathematical answers to that, but it’s not at all clear what they would mean in physics.
So it stands to reason that _if_ we are ever able to go faster than _c_, it will not be by going a little bit faster; it will be by coming up with a completely new paradigm for physics and/or sidestepping the problem of trying to accelerate at almost _c_.
---
### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/18 "2006-04-06T19:47:02Z")
Don’t lump Star Wars in with science fiction.
And…
Don’t apply real-word rules (of anything) to fiction (of any kind).
---
### Author:  [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/19 "2006-04-06T19:50:14Z")
> [@JustAnotherGeek](#):
>
> I dunno about that. Even at warp factor 9 (TNG, or ~11.3 TOS), it’ll take you about one day to get there.
I wonder if that was the arbitrary “trip” that they used to revamp the warp numbers.
To wit: Proxima Centauri is about 4.22 ly away. One light year is 9,460,800,000,000 km, so it’s roughly 39,924,576,000,000 km one way. At warp factor 9 [TNG], you’re travelling at 454,800,000 km per second. So, it’s 87,785 seconds, or just a titch over 24 hours. Hmmmm…
---
### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486/20 "2006-04-06T20:05:27Z")
> [@JustAnotherGeek](#):
>
> I dunno about that. Even at warp factor 9 (TNG, or ~11.3 TOS), it’ll take you about one day to get there.
No, IIRC, the higher warp factors were supposed to be faster according to an exponential progression. Warp 1 was lightspeed, W2 was 8_lightspeed, W3 64_lightspeed, and so on. What they finally decided the factor was supposed to be probably changed depending on the requirements of the story, but I do remember reading the 8 factor in one of the early ST books, probably _The Making Of Star Trek_.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faster-than-light-just-isnt-gonna-cut-it-pal/351486.md?page=2)