Smashing the Light Barrier!
Mr. Sulu...Ahead Warp Factor 4!
This may be the biggest discovery of the 21st Century! Yes, I said the 21st Century. I know this there are nearly 90 years left,
but this is that big! Interested? Read on...
Quick Background:
Remember your basic physics? According to Einstein, nothing is faster than light. Supposedly, anything approaching light speed (a
little over 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second) will become infinitely massive, infinitely small, and will appear to stop
in time for anyone watching it.
Of course, the infinite mass is the problem. To achieve this would take an infinite amount of energy or, in other words, more than all
the energy in the entire Universe! This is terrible news for anyone hoping to explore the Universe, since even the closest star would take
more than four years to reach at the speed of light. Obviously, FTL (Faster Than Light) speed is essential to any realistic "on-site"
exploration of space, even by automated drones.
Editor's Comment:
Personally, I have always had my problems with Einstein's light speed limitation. It didn't seem to fit some personal
observations and deductions. I like Einstein and his ideas. I just disagreed with this part of his theorem. I figured I would
just wait and someday someone would prove him wrong.
It looks like someone just has!!! Dr. Lijun Wang (better remember that name) and colleagues at Princeton have just successfully sent a
beam of laser light (I always figured lasers would be involved in FTL) through a super-cooled chamber containing cesium atoms. By modulating
the frequency of the laser pulse (sounds like Star Trek stuff, doesn't it!) they were able to accelerate the laser beam to
300 times the speed of light as it passed through the chamber!!! For any Star Trek fans, that would equate to roughly
warp 4.1.
If that laser pulse had continued at this pace, it would have reached well known Alpha Centauri in just 5.4 days instead
of 4.4 years!
Perhaps practical communications between stars is possible (Maybe Star Fleet Command really could get
messages to Captain Kirk!).
By the way, Einstein may not have been completely out in left field. It just so happens that the laser pulse left the cesium chamber
before
it entered!!! The only logical scientific explanation for this is that the laser beam travelled backwards in time! Looks like H. G. Wells
was right about the possibility of time travel, too!
Does my first statement make sense now? With this one experiment, Dr. Wang may have opened the door to all these possibilities:
1. Faster Than Light travel;
2. Realistic Deep Space exploration;
3. Intergalactic Communication;
4. Time Travel
Read the article: Smashing the Light Barrier!
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