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Friday, April 5, 2013

Exotic Matter

According to physics stackexchange "Exotic matter is matter with negative energy density, or to be more precise, where the energy density tensor trace invariant is negative... If we had exotic matter, we would be able to do much more interesting things than an Alcubierre drive.* We could build wormholes, or time machines...


Wiki says this of exotic matter: "Hypothetical particles which have 'exotic' physical properties that would violate known laws of physics, such as a particle having a negative mass."

* An Alcubierre drive is a way in which a spacecraft could achieve faster than light travel (FTL) if negative mass existed. "Rather than exceeding the speed of light within its local frame of reference, a spacecraft would traverse distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel....Although there has never been any evidence that such matter exists, some theoretical models (that depart from the Standard Model) require it to exist.

See, the trouble with writing scifi is that one thing leads to another. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've discovered since delving into this subject! Remember Casimir forces

48 comments:

  1. Wonder what all we could do if that matter was discovered?

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  2. wormholes. It is theorized that exotic matter would be necessary for wormhole technology...but we'll get to that :)

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  3. Ok, Marcy, you lost me with the first sentence LOL This seems like quantum physics to me :(

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    1. The exotic particles contained in coffee haven't hit my brain yet, so I was lost as well. :P

      But this reminds me of those widescreen shots on Star Trek when the ship hits warp speed six and all the stars zoom past. :)

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  4. It's interesting that this theory seems to be deeply explored and yet does not exist. Or is it really believed to exist and has just not yet been proven? Regardless, this is an interesting theory.

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    1. There are a lot of scifi related theories that have been explored but are not yet proven - which is why it's such a fascinating subject :)

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  5. Great post! Im still catching up on things and will go back andread all your previous posts. And ill be sure to stop by for the reast of A to Z.

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  6. I'm all for it; we need a new reality.

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  7. And now I know why I haven't tried to write SciFi. I'm not smart enough for it:D I'm still trying to process the first definition. Wow.

    (thanks for visiting my blog:D)

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    1. I disagree. You can write whatever you want as long as you do some research. Trust me, I'm not that smart, but I do like to learn about stuff.

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  8. Great AtoZ series, Marcy! I try to leave the science out of my fiction -- otherwise, my brain starts to hurt.

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    1. well, I don't plan on going into great detail but I do want my story to be realistic and true to science - hence the research. But yeah, sometimes it hurts my brain, too, lol.

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  9. How interesting!! Thanks for sharing! will definitely be coming back, save an asteroid attack!

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  10. Cpsingleton42.wordpress.com or http://wp.me/27egX

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  11. In spite of being beyond me, this sounds awesome.

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    1. It's a little beyond me, too, Matt, but for the sake of accuracy I'm trying to wrap my tiny little brain around all these crazy amazing concepts.

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  12. So, is exotic matter like dark matter? I always thought dark matter was matter that had all the opposite properties of current matter so if matter is positive and exotic matter negative would that make them (dark and exotic) the same thing?

    I love this stuff even when I have to read it over and over until it clicks. :)

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    1. dark matter exists and "accounts for a large part of the total mass of the universe," according to wiki. It is also considered a type of exotic energy but if you look up the terms dark matter has lots more info on it than exotic matter.

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  13. Oh Marcy I love that you're doing sci-fi! This is right up my alley since I'm working on a time travel story and knee-deep in science. But leaning more toward the fictional. lol
    I see we're neck and neck too. I'm about 50k into mine.
    Let me know if you wanna do a beta exchanged later on down the road.

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    1. I would love to do a beta exchange!

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  14. Is that sort of like tachyons?

    Interesting stuff, though!

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    1. tachyons are considered exotic matter but there isn't any proof they exist - yet.

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  15. Exotic matter sounds like something that should be served up in an exquisite porcelain bowl and painstakingly taken good care of. Love the faster than light travel stuff. Anything that could produce a wormhole is a good thing (in a respectfully dangerous way!).

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    1. Yeah, I suspect that exotic matter is something we should be very careful of.

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  16. Confusing but fascinating.

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  17. This one is really over my head, but I'm glad you know what you're talking about. :)
    HMG

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    1. I only sort of know what I'm talking about. Maybe if I keep writing scifi I'll understand all these concepts better but for now, well, I'm still a newbie.

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  18. I felt compelled to explain a very fictional explanation for faster-than-light travel in my stories. Now I wish I'd read this first!

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    1. Yeah, I wanted to make sure I was getting things right. There's nothing worse than reading something and scoffing at it because you know the author got their facts wrong.

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  19. I didn't know warp drives could be creating using matter with negative mass. Fascinating stuff!

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  20. It is interesting to consider this since many of the things we look upon today started as ideas of science fiction, so exotic matter, let's do it!

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    1. That's what's cool about scifi, it isn't fantasy, it could really happen!

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  21. In my opinion if we can think of it...it exists somewhere! :)

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    1. I've heard that before - which is a pretty scary thought if you really think about it.

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  22. Best with your Sci-Fi
    sounds like you are putting alot into
    great stuff (mind boggling too)

    We are at Lady's Knght

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  23. I'm with DL, it either exists or someone will create it - eventually. :)

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  24. Since it's all theory, does it really matter??

    -- Sorry, that's my hating to do scientific research self speaking.

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    1. that's ok, I got horrible grades in anything to do with science when I was in school.

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  25. For some reason I think I've actually heard of this. Especially the contracting of space before and after. I'm not sure where, but I took astronomy and physics, so I'm thinking in one of those. I find the concept fascinating.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse

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    1. Yes, it's a fairly well-known concept.

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  26. FTL is one of the hardest things to figure out when writing SF. There are many theories about how it would be possible, and exotic matter is one of the better ones. I'm partial to wormholes, myself. :-)

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    1. you can have both - I do! My ships have FTL drives but I also have traversable wormholes in my story :)

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