![]() A flat region is like a part of the mat with nothing on it. Gravity is nothing more than the tendency objects have to roll into the dents created by things like stars and planets. The mat curves in the presence of matter and energy (think of putting a bowling ball on the mat). To get a sense of what “flat” means in this context, note that spacetime is sort of like a rubber mat. He argued that the mathematics of general relativity allowed for “warp bubbles” – regions where matter and energy were arranged in such a way as to bend spacetime in front of the bubble and expand it to the rear in a way that allowed a “flat” area inside the bubble to travel faster than light. The catch, however, is that upon one’s return more than 300 years will have passed on Earth. One can reach a distant star that is 150 light years away within one’s lifetime. Assuming a constant state of acceleration, this makes it possible to travel the stars. Second, the clock on a spaceship traveling close to the speed of light would slow down relative to a clock on Earth (this is known as time dilation). Even traveling at this dizzying speed it would still take us four years to arrive at Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our Sun. First, nothing can be accelerated past the speed of light (around 300,000 km per second). General relativity places two constraints on interstellar travel. The equations of general relativity capture the way in which spacetime – the very fabric of reality – bends in response to the presence of matter and energy which, in turn, explains how matter and energy move. The story of warp drives starts with Einstein’s crowning achievement: general relativity. There is, however, a silver lining: warp technology may have radical applications beyond space travel.
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