Zero point energy!

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bhsup

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Warp drive is apparently discussed by some physicists as a theoretical possibility. So I'm wondering about some other sci-fi goodies and whether it's even remotely feasible, even if it takes humanity 1,000 + years to figure it out.

Top on my list of "wow, could this really be doable" is the zero point module from the Stargate TV series (both SG-1 and Atlantis). So someone with a clue about physics, astrophysics, heck anyone with a decent noggin on their shoulders give me the straight scoop. Can the world's energy needs ever be met via ZPMs?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Point_Module
 
I haven't studied Quantum mechanics, but my gut feeeling is no. I mean harnessing the power of wormholes opening and closing, in a little contained piece of subspace? Are you drunk VRWC?(sarchasm)
 
Sometimes I wonder if sci fi writers just grab a whole bunch of scientific sounding words and just string them together.

I too am not an educated physicist (I'm a lowly engineer ;) ) but I am skeptical about most things, though I'm sure there's a few practical ideas in there somewhere.
 
Heh! I'm not drunk, but I am sipping on some Crown Royal that one of reps dropped off at work yesterday as a Christmas present.
 
No. Won't work.
 
In my study of quantum mechanics I've come to the conclusion that harnessing zero point energy is teh stupes.

Zero point energy is by definition the lowest possible energy, you cannot get work out of it.
 
Okay, so ZPMs (or as those crazy Canadians on the show call them, ZedPMs) are out of the picture. What about some of the other futuristic scifi goodies?

Artificial gravity
wormhole travel
Yoeman Rand
and so on...
 
Artificial gravity is possible only with acceleration (spinning) or really crazy stuff (read completely hypothetical and involving really strange stuff that probably doesn't exist).

Wormhole stuff strikes me as very infeasible. Noone has come close to ever making something that bears any bit of resemblance to one and theory behind creating them requires exotic stuff that probably doesn't exist.

As for Yoeman Rand I dunno if the Beehive is ever going back in style, but man it'd be freaky.
 
Sure it's posible!
5. Phase velocity

Look at this wave equation:


d2u d2u
-- - c2 -- + w2 u = 0
dt2 dx2

This has solutions of the form:


u = A cos( ax - bt )

c2 a2 - b2 + w2 = 0

These solutions are sine waves propagating with a speed,


v = b/a = sqrt(c2 + (w/a)2)

But this is faster than light, so is this the equation for a tachyon field? No it is the usual relativistic equation for an ordinary massive scalar particle!

The paradox is resolved by distinguishing this velocity which is known as the phase velocity vph from another velocity known as the group velocity vgr which is given by,


vgr = c / vph

If a wave solution has a frequency dispersion it will take the form of a wave packet which travels at the group velocity which is less than c. Only its wave trains travel at the phase velocity. It is only possible to send information with such a wave equation at the group velocity so the phase velocity is yet another example of a speed faster than light which cannot carry a message.

Unfortunatley even if I really tried I could never give you an answer.:)
 
I don't see a zero-point energy can be exploited. For example, an oscilator has zero-point energy of 1/2hw, where h is Planck constant and w is the angular frequency of the oscilator. The oscilator is at its base state with this energy, with a quantum number, n, as zero.

A crystal frozen at absolute zero temperature has all of its osciator modes at their base states.
 
sysyphus said:
Sometimes I wonder if sci fi writers just grab a whole bunch of scientific sounding words and just string them together.
Click to expand...
'Tis called technobabble, and any attempt to translate the jargon back into English will oft lead to to total non-sequiters that make one's head hurt. It's best avoided at all times.
 
Mulholland said:
If a wave solution has a frequency dispersion it will take the form of a wave packet which travels at the group velocity which is less than c. Only its wave trains travel at the phase velocity. It is only possible to send information with such a wave equation at the group velocity so the phase velocity is yet another example of a speed faster than light which cannot carry a message.
Click to expand...
What the heck does that have to do with anything stated so far in this thread?
 
But as Perfection points at, that has nothing to do wit this thread, which is talking about ZPE, not FTL.

Then again, it's all pseudoscientific babble, especially ZPE. It's a common term that sounds scientific but has no actual semantic meaning when used by non-scientists.
 
Bill3000 said:
But as Perfection points at, that has nothing to do wit this thread, which is talking about ZPE, not FTL.
Click to expand...
While the title only mentioned ZPE, that's only because titles are rather short. My first post indicated that I was curious about all sorts of scifi technobabble.
 
Okay, but then what about warp drive. Reading that there are actually scientists discussing whether or not it is really doable is what got me thinking "hey, if that's doable...". I mean, if they are talking about it, then it seems like there is a chance it could be done.

But then again I've always thought "if you can dream it, you can do it" is the best way to look at things. May not be realistic, but it seems to me to be the best outlook to keep humanity always going forward.
 
Zero point energy, no. When you think of zero point energy, think of it like so. Zero point energy is the point at which a system (e.g. a battery) is at zero energy. You can only get energy out of a system if you put energy into it, or take energy that was already present in it (e.g. fuel and air, uranium, etc.). If the ZPM were a really high energy density battery, that might work, but there's still the issue of getting that energy in the first place (either mining it up and fabricating it into the ZPM, like a lemon battery, or making it and then charging it, like making a car and putting gas into it).

As for the warp drive, while it is theoretically possible for space to allow FTL travel, there is nothing, theoretical or otherwise, with any idea of how to modify space in such a way to make it possible. We're probably talking about torroidal black holes and FTL travel over a matter of feet. There's simply no way you're going to go faster than the speed of light to your destination without taking far more time to create the systems needed to do it.
 
The ZPM description mentions subspace, which is a non-explained term, and wormhole, which is hypothetical. It also interprets quantum mechanics wrong.
Mankind getting too much energy would be in fact very dangerous for Earth's enviroment, because of the heat produced in every transformation of energy.
Practical FTL is quite impossible, possibly medicine could help us to life long enough to "shorten" the travels.
Artifical gravity would be the most probable of inventions, if we can ever find a good quantum gravity theory.
ps. I study physics, so the last SFs, which seemed probable to me were those of AC Clarke.
 
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