UGN Security Forums UGN Security: Underground Off Topic How stuff WILL work

Here's a light propelled vehicle test launch in an open-shutter snapshot. The light is focused into a laser which causes air to explode - each ring of light you see is an explosion which further launched the vehicle upward.



You can learn about all kinds of experimental and theoretical technologies being developed at:

www.howstuffworks.com

Recommended link to get at cool info fast:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/category.htm?cat=Compww

Cool...

Air? Explode? lol

The laser beam is turned off and on rapidly, so it sends light in pulses, each ring you see is where one of thise pulses hit the vehicle.

Or at least thats how I understand it...

Isn't that kinda old? I think I saw that on tv last year or something.

Jitendra, you just did the forbidden "SilentRage is wrong" type of remark. I did not lie to you. Quote:

"Once the lightcraft is spinning at an optimal speed, the laser is turned on, blasting the lightcraft into the air. The 10-kilowatt laser pulses at a rate of 25-28 times per second. By pulsing, the laser continues to push the craft upward. The light beam is focused by the parabolic mirror on the bottom of the lightcraft, which heats the air to between 18,000 and 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (9,982 and 29,982 degrees Celsius) -- that's several times hotter than the surface of the sun. When you heat air to these high temperatures, it is converted to a plasma state -- this plasma then explodes to propel the craft upward."

But anyway people, that is far from the coolest thing that site discusses. It also describes how matter/antimatter engines will work (just like in the old Star Trek) and how teleportation will work (again, just like in Star Trek) and how DNA computers will work. It's not just fantasy stuff either, they've actually done some of everything above.

All kinds of neat stuff.

I feel kinda sorry for the first guy they "teleport" hehe...

a little more about laser travel and such... they had an experiment in a facility i forget which, berckly maybe... anyway they tested the speed of light thought a substance called aerogel, made kinda like glass with supperheated sandgrains, well anywa its light as a feather and tey got it so that when light passes thought it it goes faster than light.... kinda weird screws up einstien special realitivity theory, oh well last time i tryed to get back to the site from my bibliography(was an english report) it wasnt there

Quiet SilentRage... your WRONG!!! :-D (

j/k)

This makes no sense, light passes through it and propels it faster than light? No. Until I see hard proof, nothing can go faster than the speed of light--not a damn thing. Numerous tests have shown this to be true. How it affects time is particularly interesting, if you wish I'll embelish, but otherwise just look it up, veyr neat.

And aerogel? All I can find is that it's being used to catch particles of a comet's tail.

Yes. Aerogel was developed by NASA. It's 99.6% (I think) air and the rest is silicone or something. It's in some weird state that's not quite solid, and not quite gas. It can withstand extreme temperatures and has other weird properties. As for going faster than light, everything I've heard about breaking the speed of light barrier ahs been disproven. Except one. Here .

I don't see how that news article disproves that the speed of light can't be broken. The fastest they've made any particle move is subatomic particles accelerated in megnetic field driven tubes. These particles spin around faster and faster until it is just a fraction away from the speed of light - but goes no faster.

Also, as for time... I don't believe that you can go back in time when you break the speed of light. The closest thing to looking into the past you can get, is by looking up into the sky at the stars. You are looking at those star's past. If you can go faster than the speed of light, you can outrun it and stop and look behind to watch it catch up - a glimpse into the past. For instance, if some alien out there had a fricken powerful telescope and was able to see straight through the clouds on earth - he'd be watching events that happened years and years and years - goodness how many years into our past.

---

In case any of you guys found it and read it. HowStuffWorks.com has a lot of information about teleportation that news articles does not go into - it's worth a read.

Also, if you find this kind of thing interesting, quantum computers is also well discussed on that site. Here's the core of it - classical computers run instructions linearly - as in, 1 by 1 after another as fast as it can go. The data is represented as 1's and 0's. In quantum computers, these instructions are executed at the same time. This is possible by the new mode that data travels and that the data is now represented in 1's and 0's and a mixed state that is both 0 and 1. With such a unique data representation, a chunk of information may hold more than 1 piece of data. While before you transmit first 1 number than another number to the processor to be added, all you have to do is transmit the 1 piece of information containing both numbers and have them added. This increases speed and efficiency.

DNA computers kicks all [censored] though.

Why do you say that? What's so good about DNA computers? Quantum computers are obviously faster and have more potential right? And evolutionary programs can be made on quantum computers just like classical ones...
I haven't really looked into DNA computers so I don't know that much about them. Why do you say they kick [censored]?

Dude think about it. Just how much information is stored in one tiny cell of our body? The entire genetic makeup that makes us - us. Our entire body can be rebuilt with the information in any one of our cells.

And that demonstrates just how much we can store with DNA.

Notice the chemical reactions that take place in our brain and transmit various information. Just imagine how much input our brain recieves at every given moment about our surroundings and internal working processes. It's damn fast. And they say our brain is only using a small fraction of it's potential. DNA computers can harness some of that. Read the article before debating what I say - like jtendra should've.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/dna-computer.htm

By DNA computers, are you talking about nanotech, the transistors that are made from single atoms?

nano-computing doesn't have to be DNA computing, but DNA computing can be nano-computing. Read the damn article. I knew people wouldn't read [censored] when I posted that site.

btw, nano-computing is yet another topic the site discusses.

Heh, the lock-picking and pick-pocketing articles were interesting (I was tired, they were simple).

And I wasn't talking about time travel, but rather how it seems to slow down the faster you go. Ever read any science fiction books were people go in space-ships traveling near lightspeed and com back years later having aged very little? If we could actually go that fast, it'd be possible.

They tested this once by syncronyzing two clocks and puttting one of them on a jet that flew around for several hours. When it landed the clocks were compared -- the jet one was behind several seconds.

I believe they're planning on testing this on the space-station sometime soon.

SilentRage is right. Look at these pictures as well. I'm pretty sure that this is what the pictures are of.









He's right dammit!

heh, of course I'm right. Also keep in mind that this is a ground based laser. In order for the ship to fly, a laser must be shot from the ground into the air against the underside of the ship. It is the mirrors on the bottom of the ship that takes this laser light and focuses it to heat the air into a plasma and explosive state.

It also spins really fast to keep it going straight gyroscopically. That means it is only capable of vertical travel and only in the atmosphere - not space.

However, there is also a microwave based travel which actually DRAWS the ship TO its destination. That means the space station can have some kind of microwave transmitter that will draw these microwave vehicles from the surface of the planet up to the space station. If you're too lazy to go read it and are curious about a little more details as to how it works (like I explained with the laser based vehicles) then I'll do so. Why? Cause I forgot, and I'll be interested in reading it again if somebody cares.

Wow, that site's pretty sweet now that I look at it! Thanks!
I think quantum computers may actually be able to store way more information, eventually. If they really can access parallel universes then they could potentially have amazing computing AND storage capabilities.
Actually that's a myth. We do use our brains, it's just that it is used by our subconscious. Our conscious minds are only able to use a small amount of the resources available, but that's because our subconscious needs it to do a lot of things that you don't think about. Like walking, reading and any other complex task you don't have to think about. It also has to sort through all that information that is provided by your senses and decides what to bring to your conscious attention. Also we're talking about DNA, I don't think it would work quite like that anyway.
And, DNA computing requires human intervention so it's quite slow. Everything has to be set up. Of course we'll probably find a way to get around that eventually. But by the time we do, we may have progressed far enough with quantum computing that it will leave DNA computing in the dust! I think quantum computers kick all kinds of [censored]!

/me takes a moment to reread stuff on DNA and quantum computing...

( I can tell that you read the material, so I had to refresh my own memory)

DNA Computing Facts:

1) More than 10 trillion DNA molecules can fit into an area no larger than 1 cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inches). With this small amount of DNA, a computer would be able to hold 10 terabytes of data

2) DNA computers perform calculations parallel to other calculations. It is parallel computing that allows DNA to solve complex mathematical problems in hours, rather than years to complete them.

Quantum Computing Facts

1) A 30-qubit quantum computer would equal the processing power of a conventional computer that could run at 10 teraflops (trillions of floating-point operations per second).

Well, that's all the facts I could find performance-wise. Things are still too undeveloped I guess to get a good contrast between the two computing types. You said that DNS computers required human assistance - this was true for the first method by that Aldrich or whatever his name is - but not true for logic gates and biochips. The article described this system as PC-like. So your argument there is untrue. You also said "access parallel universes". No, I think you misunderstood. They do not access parallel universes. Such talk speaks of multiple dimensions which has never been proven.

And about our brains... It is debateable as to how much potential our brains do not use, but one thing most everybody agrees on is that our brain is NOT using it's full potential. Some people use more of it's potential than others - this is why a system called IQ is developed. Some people are geniuses (which simply means they learn very very quickly and can take what they learn and deduct things most other people never think of), some people are not.

If everybody used 100% of the potential of their brain - we'd all be frickin geniuses. And IMHO psychics. I believe that a brain working under it's full potential can do something with those brain waves scientists have monitored - perhaps, read other people's thoughts in an intuitive way - not necessarily in words.

Well, sorta. It said that right on the site in bold letters. Let's make a compromise of sorts...Quantum DNA computers! That would kick all kinds of [censored]!
No, I think you misunderstood. It is not said they use other dimensions, it is said they use parallel universes. I have read about it. The parallel universes idea is the driving theory behind quantum computing. Also, a lot of physics is still technically theoretical and hasn't been completely proven yet. But if it works, go with it. (Until you run into a wall ).
Even that is still being debated. Genius has a few definitions going around.
Well, I would tend to agree with you, but then we'd have to redifine the term "genius" then wouldn't we?
You wouldn't have to be psychic to do that. You just have to learn to read people. There are savants who can do that. I agree we don't use all of our brains potential. That is definitely true. I just wanted to dispel the common myth that we only use an estimated 10% of our brains. Bull. Consciously maybe.

I wonder how much more we could get out of our brains with enhancements...

bah, I grow tired of debating with you. haha. There's an element of truth in all you said (or a possibility of truth) - but I still adamently believe we are NOT using the full potential of our brains. I've NEVER heard ANYBODY say otherwise.

"Well, sorta. It said that right on the site in bold letters. Let's make a compromise of sorts...Quantum DNA computers! That would kick all kinds of [censored]!"

The bold letters were refering to the first attempt at DNA computing. Please keep things in context. They offered it as a problem with the first experiement which was solved in a later different theoretical implementation of DNA.

heh, but I see that you are throwing in the word "compromise" with humor mixed in. That's also a sign of growing tired of debating. Let's go find somebody else to pick on? I'm a bully damnit, and my victims usually shut up with just 1 or 2 argumentative posts - I don't like to see my victims fight back. Especially not in the analytical and thorough way that you do it. It's like I'm arguing with myself - NOT FUN!!!

AH HA! BUT! Will they be able to run the new Doom game? This, is the question!

LOL!
Oh. Well, I pretty much just skimmed the article.
LOL! <img border="0" alt="[Joker]" title="" src="graemlins/joker.gif" />

So I'll finally be able to crack my ex g/f's AOL account?

ROFL i knew someone was going to ask that...

hmm, u guys should read "Timeline" by Michael Crichton. Its a good book theyre making into a movie and it has to do with time travel and parallel universes. And a lot of the stuff is true because he does tons of research and credits all kinds of sources and [censored] in all his books.
Heh, howstuffworks is a cool site, I used it for my science project. L8r

I have never heard anything (from someone respectable) about us using all of our brain. Even subconciously. We've all seen the studies where they have the red to purple brain thing and only parts of it have color. Yeah, howstuffworks is my favorite site. the cure for boredom or curiosity. I had never heard anything about quantum computing usin any alternate dimensions or universes or any of that, but I haven't looked into so I don't know. One thing that interests me is the way we store information in our brain. If it is just because we have so much space to store it, or if we can just store it so efficently..like a kind of memory compression or something. I don't know...

Another thing I have been thinking about, if time travel ever is possible, i don't think we could go into the past since time moves forward. And if we could go into the past, i think we wouldn't be able to affect anything. Another thing i have wondered, if something is creating light (or changing something into light, whatever) and it is accelerating in the direction the light is going...then would the light be moving faster when whatever is creating it is moving faster? And if not, and the object was moving at the speed of light (yeah i know, but if) then would there be alot of light just building up in the same place? Would it just make it brighter or could it even happen?

I don't know if any of that makes sense cause i just woke up. Anyways, SR, you can feel free to flame me man. I won't fight back more than one post.

I didn't mean we use all of our brain's potential. Just that we use a lot more of our brains than people seem to think we do. It's just that our subconscious uses more than our conscious mind does.
Everything I have read about quantum computers (that goes into any depth) talks about parallel universes. Check here , and here . I can provide more links if you like.
It's believed that we don't store information in any one part of our brain, but that we store it in patterns throughout our brains.
That's impossible. You couldn't go into the past and not affect anything.
Now that's just basic realtivity theory. Light appears to travel at the same speed for all observers. Yourself included. So if you're speeding along in a spaceship and shining a light in the direction you're going, it appears to race away from you at the speed of light. The thing that changes for another observer is time. The light also appears to be moving at the speed of light to a stationary observer as well.
LOL! Feel free to "fight back" all you want. I won't flame you.

Well what I meant by not being able to affect anything is that let's say you go back 5 seconds. I mean that whatever you try to do it doesn't do anything. I don't really know what I mean completely. Right now, you can't change something that happened in the past because you aren't in the past, you are here in the present. I was just thinking that since you can't change the past now that maybe you wouldn't be able to go back and change it. And if there are infinate universes, I think that they would all steam from the same beginning but each one is a single variation which changes it from then on...like the difference between this universe and the next universe might be me hitting backspace. And then if that were true then maybe if you went back in time you would actually be shifting universes if you could change something and went forwards in time. I don't know...maybe it is all just stuff i think should go in scifi books. Ever see the Langoliers? Never read the book though.

Yeah I see what you mean on the time thing with the light, but still wouldn't that mean that if the thing creating the light went faster than than the speed of light and then slowed down or something that the observer might see something happen backwards for a little while? I am not really paying much attention to what I am saying so maybe after I post if i think about it it will be more obvious or maybe this won't make any sense.

Another thing...is light considered to be (by the majority) a continuous wave kind of thing, or a broken particle kind of thing? I had always heard wave but i have heard particle a few times too. Heh..just going on. But if the light is created and moves one speed, then whatever is creating it catches up to it and is ceating light could more than one wave/particle (or whatever) of light be in the same place? I don't really know what all I am asking, just wondering.

I get what you meant about using our minds, yeah that makes sense now. I will check out the links on quantum computing, see I had never really heard much of anything about it at all so I was surprised sort of by the alternate dimensions thing.

Yeah..well you suck! Balls! and poo! Yeah..balls and poo.

one theory of time that I've always like is that you can't go back into the past and change it - cause you'd actually be carrying out what has already been done.

I.E. You go back into the past to prevent Bill Clinton from reaching the presidency, but then you find out - Bill was in the presidency BECAUSE you had already, in the past, attempted to stop him. You had instead, CAUSED it inadvertently.

Under that theory there is nothing you can do to change the past - cause you've already tried. heh. I wonder if this is a little too deep for some of you.

like in time machine...

never seen it actually. I read the science fiction series dragon riders of pern which used that concept.

One theory about time travel to the past is that it wouldn't effect this specific dimension, but because just traveling to the past to bein with would alter SOMETHING, it would simply create an alternate dimension for everything that altered.

If it turns out that time travel is ever realy possible, i think the theory SR pointed out would be the most correct. However, I don't really think time travel is possible, perhaps travel to alternate dimensions yes, but not time travel. Only reason I don't think it is possible, becuase anytime you start to think about it, there are a million situations that cuase endless logic loops.

For instance, the old question of: "What would happen if you kill your father or mother before they concieve you"
I mean, if you kill them, you can never be born, making it impossible for you to kill them, or perhaps you never were born becuase sometime in the future you did kill your parents, but then how are you here now?

If someone put that situation out before, im sorry, I really didn't feel like reading all the posts.

well, under my favorite theory, all attempts to kill your father must have failed cause you ARE alive. heh

Under secular theory, I don't believe time travel is possible - nor are there multiple dimensions.

However, under theistic theory, it may be possible that God can revert the universe to an earlier state - or a future state. Since he knews the past and the future and is all-powerful - than sure, he can cause time travel if he wants. It's like taking a tape recorder and pushing rewind and fast forward. There's nothing stopping him from creating multiple dimensions too - who knows, maybe he already has. Maybe angel's can flit between our reality and some other parallel universe that exists right here and now but we cannot see unless God wills it.

Actually that's what a lot of scientists think. If you go back in time you actually go to an alternate timeline, or you create an alternate timeline. And yes, I've seen the movie and read the book. The book is better.
Stop trying not to sound stupid. Questions are good. At least you're not pretending to know what you're talking about.
Um, OK, you said IF you go faster than the speed of light.... But you cannot deccelerate to less than the speed of light anymore that you can accelerate beyond it. There are theoretical particles called tachyons that move faster than light, but the thing is, as they lose energy the go faster. As they gain energy, they slow down towards the speed of light. But there's no way they can slow down to less than the speed of light. It's as much of a barrier from the other side as it is on this side. The speed of light is an asymptotic limit (I think that's the right term).
Well, it's both. It's called wave/particle duality. Photons, and matter appear to behave both like waves and like particles at the same time. It's kind of weird actually.
I don't like that theory. It's interesting to think about, but it negates free will. And it just seems too unlikely.
You seem to be using the term dimension when you actually mean alternate universe. It can be kind of confusing.
But if you travel to an alternate universe (another timeline) then you avoid all the contradictions.
What is secular theory? And what do you mean by multiple dimensions? No alternate universes? Quantum computers probably wouldn't work without them.
Lets not turn this thread into a religious debate.

I'm not debating whether God is real or not. I'm just providing possibilities for both theories. So no worries about religious debate from my end... *grumble about people fearing to say the word "God" in a serious manner*

Secular theory = Basically Atheism, universe was born by a big bang or other means.

Whatever they're talking about in quantom computing is not what I'm talking about. There's a confusion of definition there. What I'm talking about is other "dimensions" (by the most widely accepted meaning) where life forms are communicating and going about their business invisible to us.

Let a man state his opinion without having to defend something which can not be proved or disproved.

"one theory of time that I've always like is..."

There's what I'm talking about. I'm not saying other people are WRONG with their concept of time travel - I just like this one the most - made the most sense in my mind to how the way things work from my angle.

So gosh darnit - I believe you can't time travel unless some supernatural being like GOD (fear dat word! A sermon must be coming on!), which some people believe in, is out there to cause it.

LOL! I just wanted to avoid a religious debate. I've started one of those before, but I quickly discovered people can't handle it. They can't control their emotions. And a lot of people just don't know how to argue.
OK.
OK, dimension:
"A measure of spatial extent, especially width, height, or length."
I don't know anything about quantum computing involving other dimensions. Can you post a link or something perhaps? The only quantum computing I know about involves other universes. Or at least, strange quantum effects in this universe. But not in other dimensions...
I'm not forcing anyone to defend their opinion. I ask more about peoples opinions to learn more about what they think, and I ask questions to understand. If someone wants to just say, "That's my opinion and I don't feel like defending it" then that's fine.
Well I like it too, as an interesting (if remote) possibility. But I don't believe it's true (my opinion).

I often attempt to engage others in debate because I enjoy debating. I'm not trying to make others feel threatened by jeapordizing their beliefs. I would think that an intelligent person would want to challenge their beliefs, to see what they can learn.

I'm not trying to sound anything. I am sure there is evidence supporting the theory that nothing can accelerate past the speed of light or it wouldn't be considered common knowledge, (I plan to search around for it after I make this post), but I have never seen any of it so i am not sure. Also, how do we know we aren't already moving that fast? The universe is expanding, but do we know if it isn't also sliding as a whole. If it were going faster than the speed of light then maybe light created would go faster and since it is relative, we think of us as still, then it would appear to be light speed. Like I said, i haven't looked into this much yet, so that could have a few holes in it.

I don't think it negates free will. To me it seems like this, months ago I had a choice of doing my homework or not doing it. Whatever decision I made, I had free will then. Looking back on it, I might wish I had of chosen differently, but it already happened. So let's say you went back in time to do something, before you went back in time you didn't know you were going to do it. So in the loop of what you did you had already done before you went back in time etc. All theory, but i like it because it makes sense.

As for the argument over dimensions or universes, i think it is pretty obvious what someone means when they say alternate dimension. Let's not nitpick. Unless by alternate universe you mean another universe that is physically far away from here but i thought the universe included everything.

Edit: i had the quotes messed up.