Fiction Or Fact

[FictionOrFact]

Hi Every body,
This my firs post here and i made it it because i have some questions that need answers.
1-For how long are we gonna just keep looking at the stars and the other galaxies?
2-What do we need to reach out there?
3-Could traveling through hyperspace or teleportation make this happen and are they based on scientific facts or they are just fiction?
4-Since Einstien theory of relativity, has science came up with some thing as big as it is?
5-When do the scientists think that traveling to other plants and to other galaxies will come to be true?

Thanks,
Sayed

 

[MeteorWayne]

Welcome to Space.com

Your answers:

1-Until we have the means and money to get there.
2-The means and money
3-Sure, but they are pure fiction
4-No, I think relativity changed the entire way we look at the Universe as a whole. There have been lots of astounding discoveries since then, but nothing has had as much of a change in the way we view things

5-Other planets? Probably within a hundred years or less.

Other galaxies? most likely never. The time involved in even getting to other stars is long enough....but galaxies are wayyyyy further away. One our neighbors, the Andromeda galaxy is 2.5 million light years away....that means that even if we had a way to travel at the speed of light, it would take 2.5 million years to get there.

 

[crazyeddie]

4-Since Einstien theory of relativity, has science came up with some thing as big as it is?

Thanks,
Sayed

This is actually a very interesting question. The "standard model" of physics has not changed significantly in many years, and some theoretical physicists are wondering if we're in some kind of rut. Historically, something comes along every hundred years or so that changes the way we look at the universe and the physical world. For example, the Copernican worldview replaced the Ptolemaic worldview, then the Galilean worldview replaced the Copernican, then the Newtonian replaced the Copernican, Einstein's Relativity replaced the Newtonian, and quantum mechanics has been the most recent "big thing" in the world of physics. Some physicists thought that string theory was the next frontier in physics, but it's gradually falling out of favor, especially since there's no conceivable way of testing it. Scientists still labor to come up with a Unified Field Theory which would reconcile gravity with the other known forces of nature, but success has been elusive. We're still waiting for a modern-day Albert Einstein to appear and show us a new and different way......if there is one, that is. It would be kind of depressing to think that no new major discoveries remain in the world of physics, only refinement of what we already know.

 

[drwayne]

"It would be kind of depressing to think that no new major discoveries remain in the world of physics, only refinement of what we already know."

Usually, when we get real certain that is the case, something happens.

 

[baulten]

Answers:
1.) We will ALWAYS keep looking at the stars, until we go extinct.
2.) Mostly money, partially knowledge. It's possible to send humans to other planets in the solar system, and to send probes to nearby stars, but extremely expensive in both cases. Until we have better methods and more money, we'll be sticking to observing distant stars and using probes to explore nearby planets.
3.) Maybe. Hyperspace-type propulsion systems are currently impossible (seeing as we have no concrete proof there is any way to "leave" the universe temporarily). Teleportation is also very unlikely to ever truly exist, though I won't say it's impossible for objects. Living things would almost certainly arrive on the other side as a mass of dead flesh. There are other far more plausible faster-than-light methods than hyperspace ideas, and those are even virtually impossible with today's understanding of physics.
4.) Not really, sadly. A lot of small, important discoveries, but nothing major. The next thing that'll be that big will be a true Theory of Everything.
5.) Other planets is already possible, and will probably be done before 2100. Other galaxies... Well, in the future we'll certainly know more, and maybe we will see other galaxies, but right now, the distances are just too far for it to even look viable with any propulsion method.

 

[chris1996]

Answers:
1.) We will ALWAYS keep looking at the stars, until we go extinct.

I think he's right there. There's always going to be stuff we don't know, ESPECIALLY in the Cosmos.

 

[yevaud]

This is actually a very interesting question. The "standard model" of physics has not changed significantly in many years, and some theoretical physicists are wondering if we're in some kind of rut. Historically, something comes along every hundred years or so that changes the way we look at the universe and the physical world.

This is the exact concept of the term Paradigm coined by Thomas Kuhn during the early 1960s. Ideas will come along that actually affront the mainstream, but due to their obvious correctness are soon accepted; a line is crossed, and thinking changes.