07-14-2017, 03:06 AM
Void bubbles are basically a form of Alcubierre warp drive. So, the basics of how they work is bound up in Relativity Theory and such. For more on this see the page on Reactionless Drives, which includes both some math and also a list of real world references (with a lot more math). Two of the members who helped write the article are practicing physicists, so I'm inclined to think they know their stuff.
Regarding issues of inertia and gravity and such:
Void bubbles are a region of warped space-time - their interior is 'at rest' within its reference frame and the bubble 'moves' by configuring itself in a way that causes space-time to contract/vanish 'in front' of it and expand/inflate/appear 'behind' it. This means that when a bubble 'moves' it is not actually moving at all, it only looks that way from our perspective. The bubble doesn't actually accelerate/decelerate/change direction in the conventional sense. As a result of the interior of the bubble being 'at rest' as defined by relativity, and the fact that the bubble isn't 'moving' in the conventional sense, issues of inertia or feeling acceleration forces simply don't apply. The downside of this is that things like time dilation also don't apply.
Gravity and magnetic fields (And EM in general) can pass through the boundary of a warp bubble and form the basis for the technology of Halo Drives and Black Angels.
The upshot of all this is that how void bubbles work is already explained (as much as we can at this point anyway) within real world physics and theory. We even have references that provide the theoretical underpinnings for how they work.
The disintegrator entry is very very old and could certainly do with a remodel or possibly just being removed outright. Clarketech objects tend to straddle the boundary between plausible and pure handwavium, which was more popular earlier in the projects history.
I suppose the first thing we should do is decide whether or not we want to keep the idea in the first place and then give some thought to how it might work.
My 2c worth,
Todd
Regarding issues of inertia and gravity and such:
Void bubbles are a region of warped space-time - their interior is 'at rest' within its reference frame and the bubble 'moves' by configuring itself in a way that causes space-time to contract/vanish 'in front' of it and expand/inflate/appear 'behind' it. This means that when a bubble 'moves' it is not actually moving at all, it only looks that way from our perspective. The bubble doesn't actually accelerate/decelerate/change direction in the conventional sense. As a result of the interior of the bubble being 'at rest' as defined by relativity, and the fact that the bubble isn't 'moving' in the conventional sense, issues of inertia or feeling acceleration forces simply don't apply. The downside of this is that things like time dilation also don't apply.
Gravity and magnetic fields (And EM in general) can pass through the boundary of a warp bubble and form the basis for the technology of Halo Drives and Black Angels.
The upshot of all this is that how void bubbles work is already explained (as much as we can at this point anyway) within real world physics and theory. We even have references that provide the theoretical underpinnings for how they work.
The disintegrator entry is very very old and could certainly do with a remodel or possibly just being removed outright. Clarketech objects tend to straddle the boundary between plausible and pure handwavium, which was more popular earlier in the projects history.
I suppose the first thing we should do is decide whether or not we want to keep the idea in the first place and then give some thought to how it might work.
My 2c worth,
Todd