Recent content by Deeviant

Thank you for your replies. It seems my general understanding of the matter is at least somewhat close to the currently accepted knowledge. I think my confusion comes from talk of the acceleration of the expansion, particularly in the idea of the "Big Rip". If the rate is constant and only the...

It is well accepted that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate. Looking at the evidence, I certainly accept the universe is expanding as well, but is it expanding at an increasing rate? I also understand it as an expansion of fabric of space, no simply a trait of motion between...

lol! And thanks guys.

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've been in the class room and I'm a bit fuzzy on non-constant acceleration problems. This actually started with a something of an amorous note sent to a lady friend, with the general idea that there is always a (small) gravitational force experienced between...

I already agreed I am not going to try to use a black-body pumped laser, but merely radiate it out as directionally as possible. Where is the 2nd law being broken?

Star Trek is "soft sci-fi", they can make up whatever they want, and they are not at all bound to our laws of physics. I am constraining myself to what is at least possible (hard sci-fi) because I want to get to the core of what sci-fi means to me: looking into our future and taking a best guess...

The point is not to create a infinitely small beam of destruction, it is to simply avoid a omni-directional profile that average black-body radiation would generate and act as a "here I am" beacon in space.

Yes, it wouldn't be coherent but it would at least be directional, somewhat controlled and far more efficient...

_____

As far as my best research can dig up, matter/antimatter annihilation does indeed conserve momentum but not in the way in which you describe. Any particle/anti-particle pair will have the exact behavior you describe but photon's conserve momentum in the form of photon pairs traveling in equal...

You right, I redid the math with the relativistic kinetic equation. It would be 1503.3 megatons for a 1 kilogram at .9999C projectile and 128.9 megatons for a 1 kilogram at .99C. But that is only the KE. The actual amount of energy released could be more. For one, the projectile could be made...

I haven't, I'll take a look at The Gods Themselves, thanks.

A relativistic projectile would initiate a fusion reaction on contact. It would literally hit with the force of a hydrogen bomb... Your gravitation defense is an interesting angle though. I think the biggest problem I foresee is that most defensive systems seem to amount to a huge amount of of...

I would love to hear a physics abiding defense against a relativistic projective.

Right, because we have never heard of a laser before, that's totally crazy. And it would be foolish to even think a few thousand years of human advancement could yield a serviceable relativistic mass-driver, which funny enough is just about lowest tech "high-tech" weapon in common sci-fi use...