I’m sure most or all of you have heard of the “Twins Effect” or “time dilation” where if one twin were to travel in space at a speed that approached the speed of the light while the other twin remained on Earth, the astronaut, upon returning to Earth, would find his twin brother much older than himself.
So why doesn’t this occur in the Start Trek universe? Why doesn’t the Enterprise, after leaving, say, Earth, come back and find that everyone there has aged 60 years or so while the crew only aged a year or two?
Because that only happens when you approach the speed of light. The Enterprse goes faster than the speed of light, which is physically impossible and thus can have whatever side effects its inventors choose.
FTL travel in Trek isn’t relativistic… it’s done via shunting into subspace, a different dimension of the space-time continuum. It’s more akin to traveling via wormholes than by going really, really, really f’n fast.
No. There was one in The Motion Picture in 1979 and another one in TNG in or around Season Three, a year or two before DS9 premiered.
It’s just an analogy though. They aren’t actually travelling via wormhole but it’s the best way to put it in layman’s terms as most people know that they allow instantaneous travel without relativistic results. At least in theory.
I just looked it up and Alessan is right. Warp speed is a multiple of light speed. How can you have a space ship going warp 2, faster than the speed of light, but yet, it’s not traveling fast, it’s going into subspace?
If speed isn’t the key, why measure…oh never mind…
Because the laws of subspace allow FTL velocities whereas our normal four dimensions don’t. Think of it in terms of the ocean. On the surface, you can only swim so fast but if you dive under and hit the undertow, it can drag you along faster than you could ever actually swim.
But how about when a ship is travelling at impulse speeds? It’s been a while since I did any serious reading about ST tech, but isn’t impulse a fraction of c? So if one is going at 1/2 impulse one is going at 0.5c? Wouldn’t relativistic effects manifest then?
Impulse engines, as I understand it, is only be for short distances, say from one planet in a system to another, thus, any time dilation effects would be minimal.
And what kind of speed was it that the Traveller moved Enterprise in TNG?
Real life physics is not relevant, but I don’t think we’re seeing a coherent picture here. Infinite improbability drive is the way to go, or maybe Bistromath.
And what kind of speed was it that the Traveller moved Enterprise in TNG?
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Plot devices. Are you posting a question about ST in the hope that millions of trekkies won’t give you long winded replies exhaustively citing ST bibles and The Physics of Star Trek?
I’ll save you the trouble. They are all convenient plot devices.
The fun thing about Warp scales is that even if you consider the change from TOS to TNG scales, our Trekaverse is riddled with canon viloations. Apparantly it’s hard to keep up with a gross or of writers over several hundred eps and movies. We won’t even touch the books.
And that’s another thing: Just because it’s in a Guide or Encyclopedia about Trek written by a Trek insider (or even Gene himself), it’s not canon. Only what has been in the eps and movies (and 3? books, Aes will tell), is canon. Even the eps (save one) of TAA aren’t considered canon.
As for the OP’s original Q, the relatavistic changes don’t occur because warp is not “normal” space. (As has been explained). Plus, we “suspend belief” in order to enjoy our fictional world. So, even high STL speeds have no effect in our fictional worldview. Until someone writes it into an episode, that is.
Maybe I should have framed them with [rhetorical-question] tags. I was trying make the point that none of it makes sense, and maybe they could throw in some HHG technology to keep it interesting. Why does every space travelling species have to use warp drive? Why don’t some of them have engines based on a really hot cup of tea?*****
If people want to tie themselves in knots explaining nonsense that’s their lookout.
*****This is a rhetorical question people, an answer is not required.
*Mosaic *and Pathways, two *Voyager *novels, used to be considered canon since they were written by one of its original producers, Jeri Taylor, but they no longer are.
Also, Yesteryear, the TAS episode that is/was canon, can now be ignored again since the recent Vulcan trilogy made on-screen reference to most, if not all, of its major points and thus made its important parts canon.
Indeed. It may amuse you to think that we’re like the aliens (or fans) in Galaxy Quest that think our favorite show is real and that it wounds us deeply every time we’re reminded that it isn’t but that says more about you than it does us. We’re well aware that it’s fake and I don’t see anyone writing ten and twelve page posts on the issue.
