![]() None of these would get you to go faster than light, but they would be a huge leap above what we have now. The problem is that it would be far more efficient to propel the ship using a nuclear rocket, atomic bombs (like the old Orion project), or a light sail. Either reactors or even bombs could do it. To get enough neutrinos on a space ship to make any difference, with any existing or near term imaginable technology, would take using nuclear technology. The amount of energy it takes to produce neutrinos requires either a large accelerator or certain nuclear reactions. Propelling a "neutrino rocket" would be allot like using a "light rocket". Therefore they would impart ZERO real force and your neutrino rocket would never leave orbit. If the neutrinos do in fact travel faster than light their mass would be imaginary, so the force they provide would be imaginary and un-observable. Therefore the equal and opposite reaction would be TINY. Cutting edge theories give it a very very small mass, much less than the proton or neutron or even electron. In the accepted and well tested standard model of particle physics neutrinos have zero rest mass. What about that equal and opposite reaction? That however would be very speculative and there is no evidence to support that hypothesis. If one of those modes the neutrino can be in has an imaginary mass then it could travel faster than light and not violate special relativity. Without getting too far off track, neutrinos are thought to oscillate from one kind to another. One way of reconciling neutrinos moving faster than light would be if their mass was in fact imaginary. So this may not be such a huge problem for them after all. That is a problem because we already know our mass is not imaginary no matter how much time we spend on the elliptical trainer or dieting (unfortunately). This is a problem because then the mass has to be an imaginary number. ![]() Imaginary numbers do not represent measurable and observable quantities in physics. They are a multiple of the square root of negative one. The equation we need is:įor velocity (v) greater than c the energy is what’s called an imaginary number. For a mass in motion it is more complicated. Everyone knows this equation from special relativity, EVERYONE. ![]() NO! It does not work that way and here is why. The key is energy, not velocity, and not force. Our bodies and everything around us, except, maybe neutrinos are made of particles that are well studied and have never ever been observed moving faster than light.īUT what if we have a drive that shoots out tons of FTL neutrinos! Every action causes an equal and opposite reaction so we would be driven faster than light in the opposite direction! I can hear someone somewhere saying that. In short this would not work in any way that is practical for us because we are not made of neutrinos. One popular discussion is of "Faster than light propulsion". In the last many days I have seen much written about the possibilities that faster than light (FTL) neutrinos would open up. If neutrinos can move faster than light (FTL) it does not provide a means for FTL propulsion.
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