In science fiction it is not uncommon for space craft to travel at speeds of hundreds or even thousands of times that of light. However, there is quite some difference as yet between today's world and the world of the future as depicted by stf; that t he speed of light as an absolute physical limit will present a perplexing problem to the engineers of the spaceships-to-be cannot be denied. I, in common with many fen, believe that this problem will be met and solved, though our scientists now are incap able of it. All through history men have been confronted with apparently insoluble dilemmas, but always these have been overcome as science progressed and new knowledge was made available to work with. So it will be with this one.
But since, until we have some concrete facts concerning the matter, the topic is still wide open for speculation, I should here like to bring to your attention a little idea of my own about it. It is really very simple, and to render it even more so, we shall first have a little analogy:
Everyone who keeps up with the news is familiar by now with the experiments and theories behind supersonic aircraft. To elaborate, sound waves can travel only so fast in air of a given temperature and pressure, and no faster. When a plane reaches or exceeds this "absolute physical limit" for sound, it must push the air molecules out of its path before it may proceed; in doing so it forms what is popularly referred to as a "shock wave," or barrier of pressurized air, in effect a super sound wave.
My view of the matter at hand is quite similar. First, it is presupposed that there exists in all space a sub-atomic dust or matter; this corresponds in the above description to the air molecules. The idea is not exactly untenable. In fact, Shaver h as even offered it as an explanation of gravity. Disturbances in the sub-atomic matter manifest themselves as light in the same manner in which disturbances in a gas produce sound waves, and the "upper limit" of light in this case corresponds w ith the "upper limit" of sound in air. Thus, when a spaceship obtains the speed of light, a "shock wave" is formed in the ether-dust, and this must be coped with before it can go faster than a mere 186,284 miles per second.
A slight difficulty is encountered here which is not present in the analogy; while the molecules of air are comparable in size to those of a metal plane, the "molecules" of ether-dust will be infinitely smaller than those of a spaceship. No change in design shape, then, is likely to be of help. Some type of energy field will have to be designed to completely surround and precede the spaceship so that the spaceship may, instead of itself pushing against the ether-dust, accelerate the field w hich will in turn bore a pathway for it. The way would then be open for speeds faster and faster until ... gosh, do you suppose there is a sub-sub-atomic dust? Of course there's an easier method yet. Just slip into another dimension. No need fo r all this other bother at all, then.
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Text versions and page scans Judy Bemis
Data entry by Judy Bemis
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