Quote:
Hunpecked said:
Slick writes: "At 1g, you could accelerate for 353.8 days and still not reach the speed of light (barely)."
In a Newtonian universe, yes. In our relativistic universe, however, the ship's speed can asymptotically approach c, the speed of light, but never reach it. Meanwhile the ship's mass increases, its length decreases, and time slows down for the ship and its crew. For an entertaining look at relativistic space travel I recommend Poul Anderson's 1970 novel "Tau Zero".
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Yes, I learned the same equations in college decades ago. I never mentioned that it would be practical, just that it would be possible - and speed is not the only relativistic limit approached at c. I just posted that as an interesting tidbit because when I calculated it, I found it a little astonishing that you could accelerate for almost a
year at 1g and not exceed the speed of light. Therefore it would work in a Newtonian or relativistic universe, but be practical in neither.
As far as "entertaining" space travel, I like the "infinite improbability drive" in
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Re: Semi-OT: A question on Power Ratios in Sci-fi
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