In Case You've Wondered

My blog is where my wandering thoughts are interspersed with stuff I made up. So, if while reading you find yourself confused about the context, don't feel alone. I get confused, too.

If you're here for the stories, I started another blog: scratchingforchange.blogspot.com

One other thing: sometimes I write words you refuse to use in front of children, or polite company, unless you have a flat tire, or hit your thumb with a hammer.

I don't use them to offend; I use them to embellish.

jescordwaineratgmail.com

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Physics

I took a semester of physics when I was in high school. I was terrible in the nuts and bolts of the course. As far as being interested, and impressed with the teacher, I was pretty damn good at being a student. The teacher could have taught at the university level, but they didn't like the idea of concentrating on one branch of physics.

Sometimes, physics are mistaken for Mother Nature. Not that I want to discredit Mother Nature, but physics can be just as harsh. Some things just don't work well when you apply physics.

An example would be Star Trek. They prepare, the captain gets a stern look, raises their hand and says: "Energize". Off they go at "warp speed", which sounds really fast. so fast, it's faster than light....which is impossible. The speed of light is the speed limit of the universe, and it never changes. Whatever your point of reference, it's always the same. Otherwise, you're travelling at half the speed of light, flash a flashlight at someone standing on a fixed platform, they measure the speed of light and it's 186,000 miles per second (that's a rough measurement) If they flashed a beam at the traveller, and they measured the speed of light, they'd get the 186,000 miles per second. It's always the same. So you say to yourself: "How can that be?" Surely the faster guy would get a slower measurement, and visa-versa? Nope, it doesn't work that way. The only thing that changes is time. The traveller's watch would to have appeared to have lost time. It didn't; it's right on time for their speed. (I know, this stretches some brain cells. I really don't have a really good grasp either.)

Another thing: what about the people in the Enterprise? If it instantly started travelling faster than the speed of light, what would happen to the people in the ship? It's simple: They'd be strawberry jelly on the bulkheads. It would be worse than standing if front of a freight train.

Okay. I know you're thinking that they would work all of that out when they found out how to fly faster than the speed of light. Maybe so, but until they do, I'm doomed to nit-pick the physics of any science fiction movie I watch. You see bells, whistles, warp drives and trips to other stars. I see a really big mess on the bulkheads and somebody trying to clean it up.

( I know there are some punctuation errors. I'll come back later and clean them up....sorry)

1 comment:

  1. I know very very VERY little about physics. However, I have this absolute certainty in the back of my mind that gravity changes from moment to moment. This is why I never ever set my glass near the edge of the table, and why I wear lead-filled shoes.

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