After a Panera lunch and a stop at AAA for
information on the Spring trip to Texas Carol is taking a short walk on a
wonderful late Fall day and you basking in the sun (sunroof open) waiting at
the far north Pine Hill Lakes parking lot. Yesterday was good. Great
conversation with Fritz at lunch at Bob Evans then a three-hour visit with Aunt
Patsy and Uncle Ernie and a half hour visit with Cathy and Tod. Aunt Patsy
showed you a very good sketch of your grandfather, Clell, who in his youth was
an artist's model at Otterbein University. You did not know he once posed for
sketches and painting. Also you saw a picture of your grandmother, Wilhelmina,
holding the trophy for a horse (owned by the Grandview Inn where she was head
chef) and jockey at the Franklin County Beulah Park Trotter's track back in
1952.
Aunt
Patsy said Clell had an excellent memory and even though he only had an eighth
grade education he was self-taught and read everything he could get his hands
on. She also said your father had an excellent memory as did she and Aunt Floy
who once taught at Ohio University. Then she mentioned Kim having an excellent
memory and now the boys show strong awareness and focus like both Kim and Paul.
She was kind and did not mention your memory because she knows better. Uncle
Ernie (bless his soul) remembers swinging you around and roughhousing when you
were three, and so do you. You had supper with your classmates at Jimmy D's in
Uptown Westerville. Turns out you and Fritz and Jean were the only ones who
voted for the President. Someone commented that you and Fritz were a part of
the thirty-seven percent of white men who voted for President Obama. Richard V.
thanked Fritz for all his work since the gun sales at his hunting and fishing
(sports) shop are brisker than usual. Everyone kept heranhis humor.
You
are reminded that Aunt Pasty mentioned (yesterday) that their off campus
housing units were the first to integrate in Westerville the early sixties.
And, she said with satisfaction, "there was no one against it".
I
am proud of Westerville for that. Our fraternities and sororities at Otterbein
(from their beginnings) were always integrated no matter the color or religion
(some students were Jewish and some Catholic). I always liked that. Little
Otterbein was ahead of the pack. If I remember right Oberlin and Otterbein were
the first colleges to admit blacks as full time students when they were
founded. (1344)
It
is good getting back into the routine. I am a bit under the weather (sore
throat plus flu-like conditions).
You told Carol you were taking a nap when
you eventually head home (more errands to do beforehand). Carol is taking time
to point out attractions in the Austin, Texas area, one of the places you will
visit in the Spring. Take a short nap now, boy. Later. Amorella
1414
hours. I had a catnap. We are at Kroger's on Kings Mill then home. I did talk
to Bill on the flat universe in a black hole scenario last night. He said there
are lots of theories and that no one knows much. (Until retirement Bill [Don
Miller] was head of the physics department at Ohio State. He was a bit curious
when I told him Ship's engines were going to reflect this. I don't know why I
said this actually; it just rolled out. Old age brings less mental 'filtering'
says Alta and I have to agree.)
So, why did you say it? - Amorella
I
don't rightly know. I was thinking about the propulsion system - something I
hadn't considered before. I was more concerned about blackenot and being in a
black hole. I mentioned this to Uncle Ernie too as he had been a math and
science major. Originally Ship's drive was magnetic in that it would be
repelled by gravity; it is an old fashion anti-gravity machine. Ship's purpose
is to carry people from point A to point B via neither a straight nor curved
flight trajectory. How this could be I have no idea. I think of the
navigation/propulsion systems used in Frank Herbert's Dune and in
Asimov's Foundation (the original 'hyperspace').
Hyperspace
Hyperspace may refer to:
in mathematics and
general science
A Euclidean space
of dimension greater than three, see fourth dimension and higher dimensions (the original meaning of the word hyperspace,
common in late nineteenth century British books, sometimes used in a paranormal
context, but which has become rarer since then)
Space of any dimension, whether
lower, higher, or equal to the third
A space with non-Euclidean geometry
Minkrowski space, a concept, often referred to by science fiction writers
as hyperspace, that refers to the four-dimensional space-time of special relativity
Hyperspace (topology), a
topological space whose elements are subsets of another topological space
''Hyperspace'' (book), a book by Dr. Michio Kaku that attempts to explain the
possibility of ten-dimensional space using string theory
Wikipedia - Offline
- hyperspace
** **
Warp drive (Star Trek)
Warp drive is a fictional faster than light (FTL) propulsion
system in the setting of many science fiction works, most notably Star Trek.
A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at velocities greater than that of light by many
orders of magnitude, while circumventing the relativistic problem of time dilation. . . . the
warp drive does not permit instantaneous travel between two points; instead,
warp drive technology creates an artificial "bubble" of normal
space-time that surrounds the spacecraft (as opposed to entering a separate
realm or dimension like hyperspace . . .. Consequently, spacecraft at warp velocity can continue to interact with
objects in normal space.
. . .
Warp velocities
Warp drive
velocity in Star Trek is generally expressed in "warp factor" units,
which—according to the Star Trek Technical Manuals—correspond to the
magnitude of the warp field. Achieving warp factor 1 is equivalent to breaking
the light barrier, while the actual velocity corresponding to higher factors is
determined using an ambiguous formula. Several episodes of the original series
placed the Enterprise in peril by having it travel at high warp factors . . .
According to
the Star Trek episode writer's guide for The Original Series, warp
factors are converted to multiples of c with the cubic function v=w3c , where w is the warp factor, v is the velocity, and c is the speed of light. Accordingly, "warp 1" is equivalent to the
speed of light, "warp 2" is 8 times the speed of light, "warp
3" is 27 times the speed of light, etc.
. . .
For Star Trek: The Next Generation and the
subsequent series, Star Trek artist Michael Okuda devised a formula based on the original one but with
important differences. For warp factors 1 through 9, v=w10/3c . In the half-open interval from warp 9 to warp 10, the exponent of w
increases toward infinity. Thus, in the Okuda scale, warp velocities approach
warp 10 asymptotically. There is no exact formula for this interval because the
quoted velocities are based on a hand-drawn curve; what can be said is that at
velocities greater than warp 9, the form of the warp function changes because
of an increase in the exponent of the warp factor w . Due to the
resultant increase in the derivative, even minor changes in the warp factor eventually
correspond to a greater than exponential change in velocity. . . .
Exact
velocities were only given in the Voyager episode "The 37's" where Tom Paris describes Voyager's velocity at warp factor 9.9 (under
the new warp table formula) as being about 4 billion miles per second, which
would be about 21,500 times the speed of light (although Voyager cannot
maintain this velocity for very long). Voyager was about 70,000 light-years
away from home. Simple calculation reveals that it would take "just"
about 3.3 years to travel such distance.
. . .
Quantum slipstream
Quantum
slipstream drive is
presumably the standard means of interstellar travel used by Species 116 (of
which Arturis was a member) prior to their assimilation by the Borg. In
the Voyager episode "Hope and Fear", Seven of Nine remarks that the technology involved is not dissimilar to
Borg transwarp technology — her point being that both drives involve the
traveling vessel becoming immersed in an alternative plane of space-time rather
than warping normal space-time. In the episode "Timeless", the shuttlecraft Delta Flyer successfully uses the technology to return to Earth, but Voyager
itself is destroyed in the attempt; fifteen years later, Harry Kim and Chakotay, armed with stolen Borg technology allowing them to
communicate through time, find the wreckage of Voyager and, recovering The Doctor's program so he can help them, send Seven of Nine
calculations which would allow Voyager to complete the journey as well.
The attempt fails, but as Kim tearfully admits defeat, The Doctor suggests he
instead try to stop the ill-fated experiment, not prolong it, and
moments before their ship is destroyed, Kim sends calculations which, when
implemented on Voyager in the past, safely shut down the slipstream
drive and return the ship to normal space. By doing so in mid-flight, they are
now years ahead of their path.
This method
of travel is also highly similar to the method of superluminal travel used on space ships in Stargate (referenced as "Hyperspace" travel), and Slipstream used in Andromeda (TV
series), another space
opera created by Gene Roddenberry.
According to
the book [The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane], warp drive does indeed create a bubble of space-time
around the ship; however, it is explained that the ship is surrounded by a
bubble of subspace — another universe where the speed of light is much faster
than in ours; furthermore, the alternate universe is attuned with our
own, such that planetary bodies are in exactly the same place, which simplifies
navigation — thus the book leans toward the theories of
superstring-manipulation, rather than those of warping normal
space-time.
The
transwarp device invented by the Hamalki uses a different approach to the same
idea; in this case, it creates a field around the ship which allows it to enter De Sitter space — a space in which there is infinite energy, zero mass
(with exceptions) and no absolute laws of physics. This essentially allows the Enterprise
to enter De Sitter space and travel millions of times faster than light. In the
narrative, the Enterprise succeeds in reaching the Small Magellanic Cloud (200 years away at
warp 8), a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way galaxy. . . .
. . .
Warp core
A primary
component of the warp drive method of propulsion in the Star Trek universe is the "gravimetric field displacement
manifold," more commonly referred to as a warp core. It is a
fictional reactor which taps the energy released in a matter-antimatter annihilation to provide the energy necessary to power a
starship's warp drive, allowing faster than light travel. Starship warp cores generally also serve as
powerplants for other primary ship systems.
When matter
and antimatter come into contact, they annihilate — both matter and
antimatter are converted directly and entirely into enormous quantities of
energy, as electromagnetic radiation. In the Star Trek universe,
fictional "dilithium crystals" are used to
regulate this reaction. These crystals are described as being non-reactive to
anti-matter when bombarded with high levels of radiation. Usually, the
reactants are deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, and antideuterium (its antimatter counterpart). In The Original Series and
in-universe chronologically subsequent series, the warp core reaction chamber
is often referred to as the "dilithium intermix chamber" or the
"matter/antimatter reaction chamber", dependent upon the ship's
intermix type. The reaction chamber is surrounded by powerful magnetic fields
to contain the anti-matter. If the containment fields ever fail, the subsequent
interaction of the antimatter fuel with the container walls would result in a
catastrophic release of energy, with the resultant explosion capable of utterly
destroying the ship. Such "warp core breaches" are used as plot
devices in many Star Trek episodes. An intentional warp core breach can also be
deliberately created, as one of the methods by which a starship can be made to self-destruct.
See also
Notes
When Stephen Hawking guest starred on the Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode "Descent", he was taken on a guided tour of the set. Pausing
in front of the warp core set piece, he remarked, "I'm working on
that"
Wikipedia -
Offline - Warp Drive (Star Trek)
** **
Dusk, time for supper and the news. At least
you are working on something. Post. - Amorella
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