# Warp Drive question (Star Trek) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2020, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633 "2020-03-17T06:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/61 "2020-03-22T12:25:31Z")
The transtator Universal translator Dilithium Impulse drive Warp Inertial dampening Ripped shirt Kirk Replicators AI All some fun tools for writers to use and fans to nitpick. ( I’m a very early member of Phil Farrand Nitpickers Guild. Wrote a couple of small newsletter articles in the early print version, whenever that was) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/62 "2020-03-22T12:34:02Z")
Nitpicking 80s or early 90s… the snail mail yellow paper version newsletter circulated before his 1st book. Wish I had kept them. We shared them at work ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/63 "2020-03-22T14:22:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > By its nature, a warp field would have to negate the effects of inertia all on its own. The ship and all of its contents remain in their own frame of reference and thus are not subject to them. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/64 "2020-03-22T15:37:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The Kelvans rigged it so they could travel to Andromeda (2.537 ly) in around 300 years. That’d be approximately 8,457 times the speed of light. > > What’s the cube root of that? :dubious: 😕 > > **REPLY:** 20.374. So WF 20, plus a bit more. Thanks. I didn’t feel like looking up the actual time of the trip. I should have. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/65 "2020-03-22T16:03:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The Kelvans rigged it so they could travel to Andromeda (2.537 ly) in around 300 years. That’d be approximately 8,457 times the speed of light. > > What’s the cube root of that? :dubious: 😕 > > **REPLY:** 20.374. So WF 20, plus a bit more. Isn’t the distance to Andromeda 2.5 **MILLION** light years? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/66 "2020-03-22T16:38:56Z")
> [@Steven\_Maven](#): > > Isn’t the distance to Andromeda 2.5 **MILLION** light years? Quite right. An oversight on my part: 2.537 \*\*million \*\*ly. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/67 "2020-03-22T17:29:46Z")
Aw, what’s a few hundred thousand light years between friends? ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/68 "2020-03-22T19:06:04Z")
BTW Nomad’s energy bolts traveled at warp 15. The old Spaceflight Chronology Book from STTMP lists the refurbished Enterprise’s maximum speed as warp 12. TNG’s “no greater than warp 10” is just silly. The maximum speed of various ships warp 9.8 9.875, 9.975, 9.976, 9.977 etc. silly, they should have stuck with the old formula. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/69 "2020-03-22T20:45:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Aw, what’s a few hundred thousand light years between friends? Far enough to be out of WiFi range. And Bluetooth? No way. Cue the ansible. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/70 "2020-03-22T21:46:07Z")
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyfpUyzQGU) is a four minute YouTube animation that answers the original question. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/71 "2020-03-22T23:20:22Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > BTW Nomad’s energy bolts traveled at warp 15. The old Spaceflight Chronology Book from STTMP lists the refurbished Enterprise’s maximum speed as warp 12. TNG’s “no greater than warp 10” is just silly. The maximum speed of various ships warp 9.8 > 9.875, 9.975, 9.976, 9.977 etc. silly, they should have stuck with the old formula. But is the TNG Warp factor the same as TOS? We got introduced to Transwarp drive, so maybe TNG is really “Transwarp Factor 10” (or whatever other generations of tech came between them) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/72 "2020-03-22T23:50:28Z")
I haven’t watched \*\*\*Enterprise \*\*\*in something like 15 years, but wasn’t the absolute theoretical limit there warp 2 or warp 5? Seems the powers that be just can’t settle on a fixed figure. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/73 "2020-03-23T00:05:18Z")
No, Warp 5 was just what they could do at the time - it was a way of making the tech less advanced than in TOS. Warp factors were explicitly rescaled between TOS and TNG to give an actual physical limit. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/74 "2020-03-23T00:23:24Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > No, Warp 5 was just what they could do at the time - it was a way of making the tech less advanced than in TOS. Nope. There was a warp 2 barrier they were afraid to break: > **[First Flight (Star Trek: Enterprise)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Flight_(Star_Trek:_Enterprise))** > > "First Flight" is the fiftieth episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the twenty-fourth episode of the second season. It first aired on May 14, 2003, on UPN. It was written by John Shiban and Chris Black, and was directed by Star Trek: The Next Generation actor LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge). > Set in the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise, registration NX-01. In this episode, after Captain Jonathan... ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/75 "2020-03-23T00:40:30Z")
That’s explicitly pointing to a technological, not theoretical limit. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/76 "2020-03-23T01:00:48Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Nope. There was a warp 2 barrier they were afraid to break: And how many episodes before they broke it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/77 "2020-03-23T03:43:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And how many episodes before they broke it? 🙂 Most everything in that episode was a flashback, so it must have been before the series even went on the air. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/78 "2020-03-23T18:16:44Z")
Yes, the _Enterprise_, NX-01, and her sister ships were the first Earth ships designed to be able to routinely go as fast as Warp 5, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/79 "2020-03-23T22:51:54Z")
A chart of warp speeds in the TNG era. [http://www.angelfire.com/ca/echin/warpchart.html](http://www.angelfire.com/ca/echin/warpchart.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633/80 "2020-03-23T23:24:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, the _Enterprise_, NX-01, and her sister ships were the first Earth ships designed to be able to routinely go as fast as Warp 5, IIRC. How far could you go at warp 5? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warp-drive-question-star-trek/849633.md?page=5)