# How fast?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 26, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867 "2002-11-26T11:58:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Monkey2003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey2003)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/1 "2002-11-26T11:58:40Z")
How fast is “warp speed” in Star Trek?
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/2 "2002-11-26T13:12:10Z")
[The speed of light.](http://www.kbhktv44.com/microsites/startrek/glossary_stng.asp)
> [@](#):
>
> Warp Factor 1 is the speed of light. (669,000,000 miles per hour!) Warp 10 is the physical limit of the universe- beyond that normal time-space relationships do not exist and a ship at that velocity may simply cease to exist.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/3 "2002-11-26T23:42:00Z")
It depends on which show/movie you trust. All agree that Warp 1 is c. In the original series, the formula was that warp x = x[sup]3[/sup]\*c, which would mean that the speeds can, in principle, go arbitrarily high (but if you try it, the engines willna be able to take much more, Captain!). In Next Gen, DS9, and Voyager, the scale has been changed such that Warp 10 is infinite speed, but I don’t know if there’s an exact formula. In either case, the speeds quoted are inconsistent with where they say they’re going and how long it takes to get there.
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### Author:  [@Alexei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alexei)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/4 "2002-11-27T00:19:31Z")
Here’s a nice [chart](http://www.netmoon.com/startrek/warp1/warp.htm)
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/5 "2002-11-27T03:17:10Z")
Didn’t they get the speed up to Warp 13 in one episode? The TNG series finale, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/6 "2002-11-27T04:58:04Z")
I don’t think it was the series finale, they just had a guy from an advanced species that showed them how to go really fast. So they ended up way out in space. And Q had them going pretty fast to meet up with the Borg.
God, I’m such a nerd… Excuse me, I have to go play football now.
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### Author:  [@Monkey2003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey2003)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/7 "2002-11-27T05:01:40Z")
Thanks guys, and yes the people of Star Trek have been faster than warp 10 several times. (ie zapped around by Q and didn’t Voyager get thrown accross the Galaxy by the Caretaker? I think it was…
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### Author:  [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/8 "2002-11-27T19:36:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by scr4 \*
> \*\*Didn’t they get the speed up to Warp 13 in one episode? The TNG series finale, IIRC. \*\*
Yeah, but it may not have actually happened. Q was making Picard jump back and forth between time periods, and in the future time period they could travel at Warp 13.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/9 "2002-11-27T19:41:11Z")
I could swear I remember an episode where the Enterprise is clipping along at Warp 13 as well and not because of Q or other hyper powerful entities. IIRC the Enterprise was doing it on its own (I though it was the final episode of ST:TNG as well with the future Enterprise pulling this feat off).
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### Author:  [@yoyo3500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyo3500)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/10 "2002-11-27T19:49:55Z")
Once, I went Warp 14! Once, I wen Warp 14! and things haven’t haven’t haven’t haven’t been the saaaaame.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/11 "2002-11-27T19:54:45Z")
The formula I remember for TNG warp speed was that warp x = x[sup]5[/sup]\*c, with the explanation being that (remember the Stargazer?) they started putting four warp engnies on each ship so they could generate two warp fields and constantly leapfrog from one warp field to the other, with the idea being that the average speed while going from normal speed to warp speed is much faster than the average speed at warp, so rather than just cruising along at warp x, they’re constantly shifting from warp x to normal space and back again, and thus going faster (I think the image they gave was of an eggbeater–with only one beater in, you can still beat the eggs; it goes faster if you use both beaters…).
I think that using that warp x = x[sup]5[/sup]\*c gets warp 10 up to the point were it’s effectively instantaneous transport anywhere in the universe, so they’d become one with everything (and everywhere) if they passed warp 10.
Until _Voyager_ needed to exceed warp 10, at which point they did.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast/138867/12 "2002-11-27T22:50:30Z")
ST:TNG/DS9/VOY warp scale is:
Warp Factor x = (x^3_c)_(x^1/3\*3) for warp velocities 1 to 9, inclusive. Then the velocity rises asymptotically to infinity at warp 10.
I believe another warp “domain” exists beyond warp 10…a transwarp domain: x = (x^4_c)_(x^1/4\*c).
Warp 10 is undefined…like a TAN function in trigonometry.
If a starship could somehow bypass warp 10 (and thus turning yourself into a giant salamander) and jump directly from warp 9 to warp 11, the ship would enter a new realm of power and efficiency.
I calculate the “all good things…” velocity of warp 13 to be
54,232.453 times the speed of light, as opposed to warp nine’s 1516 times lightspeed.