Woodshop teacher's ftl theory

RuroumiKenshin

My woodshop teacher, who is a physics hobbyist, insists that by using magnitism to stretch time, we could travel faster than light.

I protested at the idea; but my explanations of how time doesn't matter much when it comes to ftl travel, and the fact that you need infinite energy failed to convince him. Besides, I don't see how 'stretching time' could allow for ftl travel.

To prove his hypothesis, he took one step, and claimed he traveled faster than light. Can anyone make sense out of this??

Mentat

Well, as far as using magnetism to "stretch time", I'd have to hear some kind of idea as to how this could be accomplished.

As for that last comment (about his having traveled faster than light), I think he was either joking, or under some strange misconception.

schwarzchildradius

I dont think so because the only contribution to bending spacetime that energy makes is small - m=E/c² (or m=hf/c²), so 1 kilogram of matter bends space the same as a super-concentrated energy of 9x10¹⁶ joules. That'd be a lot of EM energy, such as having a bunch of H-bombs in a very small space.

Ivan Seeking

We do have ideas for warp drive using "Space Folding". I don't know of any magnetic [really electric anyway] connection, but the energy requirement may not be infinite to "avoid" the sol limitation.

Ivan Seeking

I think his point was: try to prove him wrong. He probably got this from KPAX. [a)] I suspect his point was the very paradox that you seek to resolve...and the fact that you are doing it [edit] means that he was successful!