1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, how do you feel about breaking the laws 2 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: of physics? Boy? That needs some context. It really depends 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: on whether you have a good physics lawyer to back 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: you up. It really depends on which law you're gonna break. 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: I mean, you might get a misdemeanor. In some cases, 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: you might even end up with a felon. Really there's 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: a range here, all right, So then what's the equivalent 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 1: of getting life in prison for physics too? I think 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: they put you in a room with a cartoonist and 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: they're the worst defenders. Really. But really, but when you 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: hear about an idea that breaks a law of physics, 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: even if it's a big one, are you hoping it's 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,840 Speaker 1: true or you hoping it's wrong? Well, you know, anytime 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: somebody claims to disprove Einstein, I get pretty skeptical because 15 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: that's been tested a lot. But in my heart of hearts, 16 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: I'm really hoping that someone disproves a big law physics, 17 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: like relativity. I mean that that's how we learned something 18 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: new about the universe. That's a good spin. I think 19 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: I'll hire you as my physics lawyer. In that case, 20 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: you're going to go to physics jail. Because I am 21 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:28,919 Speaker 1: not a good physics lawyer. Hi am r handa cartoonists 22 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: and the creator of PhD comics. Hi I'm Daniel. I'm 23 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: a particle physicist, and I once thought I wanted to 24 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: be a lawyer, and then I got argued out of it. 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, wow, history almost went a different way for you. Yeah. 26 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: I was big into debate in high school and I 27 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: liked arguing, or I thought I liked arguing. I did 28 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: a lot of it, But then I discovered that, you know, 29 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: in debate there's sort of never really any truth. You 30 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: can just persuade people of anything. And in the end 31 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: I liked physics because it had a hard negative objectivity 32 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,080 Speaker 1: at its core. Like I want certainty, just like in 33 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: quantum physics where everything's for sure and there's no funny names. Well, 34 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: I want objectivity. You know, the universe comes down on 35 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: one side or the other. You try the experiment and 36 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: it either works or it fails. You can't persuade somebody 37 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: some things, right if the experiments say no, at least 38 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: on a probabilistic kind of sense, Right, there's certainty. Yeah, alright, well, 39 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: we are certainly starting our podcast. Daniel and Jorge Explain 40 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: the Universe, a production of I Heart Radio in which 41 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: we talk about all the amazing things certain and uncertain 42 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: about the universe, the things that we know and the 43 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: things that we do not yet know, the things that work, 44 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: and the things that we are still working on. Our 45 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: goal in this podcast is to educate you about everything 46 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: that science understands, everything that science is still working on, 47 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,839 Speaker 1: and everything that human beings wonder about. All the things 48 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: that are possible out there in this big, beautiful universe 49 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: of ours, and also maybe all of the things that 50 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: are impossible in this universe, things that cannot be or 51 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: that we maybe wish they could be. And history is 52 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: filled with examples of scientists saying something is impossible and 53 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: then somebody coming along and proving them wrong. So one 54 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: of the most fun experience in science is pushing that boundaries, 55 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: developing something new, is understanding the universe at a deeper 56 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: level and figuring out something that we thought was impossible, 57 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: and maybe even giving us a tool to explore the 58 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: universe right, because you know, sometimes some of the biggest 59 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: ideas in physics have been that they thought they were 60 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: they were impossible, you know, like when quantum physics first 61 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: came out, people thought it were like, that's a crazy 62 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: why would nature be like that? Right? Even Einstein thought 63 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: it was kind of impossible. That's right. Sometimes you have 64 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: to change your perspective and open your mind to something 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: totally new. On the other hand, sometimes the universe is 66 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: just hard and cold and it says no to your idea. 67 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: It's impossible to deal with this universe. But yeah, so dude, 68 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: on the podcast, we'll be talking about one such idea, 69 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: which today sounds kind of impossible. In fact, it has 70 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: impossible in its brand name. Are we talking about impossible burghers? Oh, 71 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: that sounds delicious, That sounds as possible to resist. That's right, 72 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: because one struggle plaguing humanity's desire to explore the universe 73 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: is just physically getting out there into the universe. The 74 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: universe is frustratingly, amazingly beautifying, le vast and enormous, which 75 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: makes it difficult to explore. And so to get out there, 76 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: to get to a neighboring star, to find those aliens, 77 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: to visit black holes and unravel the secrets of general 78 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: relativity and quantum mechanics, we need a device, a drive 79 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 1: that could actually get us there. Yeah, maybe we need 80 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: an impossible idea to solve a seemingly impossible problem. And 81 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: so today on the podcast, we'll be asking the question, 82 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: what is the impossible drive? And is it possible? Possibly 83 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: in a possible kind of way. This is a this 84 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: is a very certain podcast episode here today, Daniel, is 85 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: it possible the impossible drive may possibly be possible? While 86 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: eating an impossible burger and watching Mission Impossible with con Cruise. 87 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: That does sound like an impossible combination of things to 88 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: pull off all that one. But yeah, so this is 89 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: kind of a crazy idea. I have to say, I 90 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,840 Speaker 1: had not heard of this before getting your notes this morning, 91 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: and so this is all sort of an idea to 92 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: solve the problem of how to get across base, like 93 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: how to get two distant stars without having to bring 94 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of fuel with you. That's right, because 95 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: there's just a basic problem in getting to those stars, 96 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: Like you want to get to those stars, they're really 97 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: far away, all right. So to get really far away 98 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: you have to get going really really fast. And to 99 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: get going really fast, you need an engine, something that's 100 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: going to push you, and the current rockets that we 101 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: have you require a lot of fuel. So you can 102 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: do like a pretty simple calculation and ask like how 103 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,039 Speaker 1: much raw good fuel would it take to accelerate a 104 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: very very small object, you know, something like a toothpick 105 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: up two, I don't know five of the speed of 106 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: light really the kind of the kind of speed that 107 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: would make it take like only a hundred years to 108 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: get to alpha centar. So my spacecraft was just a 109 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: toothpick zero point one, Grahams, how much fuel would it 110 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: take to get it to alpha centri within like a 111 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: hundred years? Yeah, And the problem is that your spaceship 112 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: is not just a toothpick. It's a toothpick plus all 113 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: the fuel, right, Your fuel has to push the fuel 114 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: you're going to need in the future. And so if 115 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: the payload is just a toothpick, then most of your 116 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: rocket ship is actually fuel, and that means you need 117 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: more fuel. And the more fuel you have, the more 118 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: fuel you need, and so it grows very very quickly. 119 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: You got to like fill up the tank and take 120 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: it with you, exactly. You have to do. You have 121 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: to bring an oil tanker, not just like a little 122 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: prious exactly, and then you've got to accelerate that oil tanker. 123 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: That oil tanker also needs a tank of gas, right, 124 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: And so it very quickly grows to a huge number. 125 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: And the number is actually ridiculous, Like, in order to 126 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: have enough fuel to get your toothpick up to five 127 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: of the speed of light takes more mass than exists 128 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: in the observable universe by a huge by huge number. 129 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: How much hen to the That's not a number, Daniel, 130 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: you made that up. It's impossible. I didn't make that up. 131 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: There's an impossible mathematics behind this. It's just it's frustratingly 132 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: difficult one with two thousand zeros in front of Yeah, 133 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: and it's not hard to imagine how the number gets 134 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: so big. I mean, say your spaceship is the size 135 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: of Jupiter. How much fuel you're gonna need. You're gonna 136 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: need as much fuel as like the Sun. All right, Well, 137 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: now your spaceship is Jupiter and the Sun. How much 138 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: fuel a you're gonna need to push that? Well, you're 139 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: gonna need like more suns. So it just grows just 140 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: to push this toothpick. So the lesson is chemical rockets 141 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: that require this kind of fuel are not going to 142 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: get us across the stars. You need a better way, right, 143 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: one where you don't have to bring your fuel with you. 144 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: That's right, when where you don't have to bring the 145 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: fuel with you, that's the idea, even if you use like, 146 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: you know, is this the current fuel technology, you know, 147 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: like you know, the current rocket fuel or is this 148 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: like imagining like what if we invent fusion drives or 149 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: you know, we managed to invent fission drives. Yeah, the 150 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: basic limitation is that you need something to push off of, 151 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: and so it's not so much limited by the technology 152 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: of that push as to just having to carry the 153 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: fuel along with you. I see, like how much mass 154 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: you have to expel in order to be pushed to 155 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: the speed of light? Yeah, precisely. So this this cool, 156 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: crazy new idea out there, This e M drive sometimes 157 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 1: called a impossible drive, that some people think may have 158 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: the possibility to overcome this problem. And that's why they 159 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: call it an impossible drive because it seems to violate 160 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: some laws of physics. But some experimenters out there claimed 161 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: to have built one and made it work. Wow. And 162 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: this came to us from a question from one of 163 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: our listeners, right Russell Alert. Yeah, he wrote to us 164 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: about a year ago and said, hey, you could you 165 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: guys explain this drive to me. Is it impossible? Doesn't work? 166 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: Could it actually get us to the stars? And it's 167 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: taken us a year to answer just to well, I 168 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: built one of these things. I welcome to a centauri 169 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: and I came back. I mean, I do some real 170 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: field research. Did you think I was just googling? You know, 171 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: we don't want to just give you an idea and 172 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: say it's impossible or not possible. We have to see 173 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 1: for ourselves. That's right. I'm an experimentalist. I backed my 174 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: answers up with real research. Man, this is not just 175 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: googling around. Okay, right, So we're actually recording this from 176 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: a toothpick as we're as we're making our way to 177 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: to pick podcast studios, inc well as usually what we 178 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: were wondering how many people out there had heard of 179 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: this impossible drive or e M drive? And so, as usual, 180 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: Daniel went out there into the wilds of the internet 181 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,439 Speaker 1: to ask people what is an e M drive and 182 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: could it ever work? So think about it for a second, 183 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: if you had ever heard of it or not, and 184 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: if physicist ask you, what would you say. Here's what 185 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: people had to say, Honey, I'm trying if I haven't 186 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: heard of. I'm going to presume that e M stands 187 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,559 Speaker 1: for electromagnetic and drive as some sort of propulsion systems. 188 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: So maybe some sort of rocket buster or engine that 189 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: doesn't require few but relies on electromagnetic waves to propel itself. 190 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: I think theoretically it could work, but it's on the 191 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:24,959 Speaker 1: realm of theoretical really tbt. But nothing has been done, 192 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: but it there. Supposedly you need a lot of energy 193 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: to make it work. And E M drived I think, well, 194 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 1: first of all, it sounds really familiar, like I like 195 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: a lot of sci fi, so I it's a term 196 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: that has come up a lot, and I think it 197 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: doesn't exist yet. And I think it also has to 198 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: do with time travel, but I'm not sure. I'm so 199 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: excited to look at up later. And E M drive 200 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: is an electromagnetic drive that functions by putting a lot 201 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: of microwaves together. Currently Toshiba in general Electric have the 202 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: best ratings by consumer reports. Anyways, a bunch of these 203 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:02,960 Speaker 1: together and shoot microwaves out one end to get the 204 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: ship to go in the opposite direction. It definitely doesn't 205 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: work and will kill the grass in your backyard if 206 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: you attempt to achieve launch. I have no idea what 207 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: an E M drive is. I'm assuming that means electromagnetic, 208 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: but I'm not sure, so I have no idea to work. 209 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what this is. Some kind of propulsion, 210 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:28,839 Speaker 1: but I don't have any idea. I have never heard 211 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: of an e M drive, so I'm going to get 212 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: then E M stands for electromagnetic, and of course drive 213 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: means it's some sort of a of an engine um 214 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: with they can use electromagnetic pulses to create thrust. I 215 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: guess I don't know what an e M drive is, 216 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: but I do know another type of drive. It's called 217 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: the infinite probability drive. It was installed on the starship 218 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: part of Gold, and it was and it is still 219 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: in use today. I can explained it properly, but I 220 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: know it's more possible than a warp drive. Sorry, Daniel, 221 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: no idea. Maybe a device for driving around the universe. 222 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: I have not ideal EM drive. So the M drive 223 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: I've heard, Uh it's not the Canay drive where it's 224 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: uh slotted resonance space um. But the idea is that 225 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: momentum is quantized, and so if you have a smaller 226 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: space on one side and the larger space on the 227 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: other side. It can bounce back some kind of microwave frequency, 228 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: I think, and create propulsion lists thrust, but I don't 229 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: think it's anything that actually works. I don't know what 230 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: an e M drive is exactly. I think it would 231 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: be electromagnetic, where you're using some kind of electromagnetic reaction 232 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: to throw particles out of the back of a spaceship 233 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: to accelerate it. I suppose that would work, but it's 234 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: probably not what you mean, all right, not not a 235 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: lot of recognition, but some people seem to know what 236 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: it was, or maybe they just lashed onto the electromagnetic 237 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: cart it. He asked some good guesses there, and some 238 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: people had definitely heard about this, and this really made 239 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: some waves. Pun intended about ten years ago. So there's 240 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: a lot of splash in the media about this drive, 241 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,559 Speaker 1: and then recently there's been some more news and so 242 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:24,679 Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that a few a few of our 243 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: listeners have heard about this discussion. Oh nice, nice, I 244 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: guess my first question is is it vegetarian? Does it 245 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: come from plant based products like the Impossible Burger? No 246 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: meat was harmed in the creation of this impossible only 247 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: laws of physics were totally destroyed, and all life depends 248 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: on the laws of physics. So I don't really know 249 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: is it vegan to break the laws of physics or not. 250 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: I need of ruling on that. We need a better 251 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: physics lawyer or a physics judge. I guess we need 252 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: to go to the International Court of Physics cosmological Court 253 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: of Impossibility. I was let's step thraight here. Uh. First 254 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: of all, well what is it and where did this 255 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: idea come from? So the idea for the e M 256 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: drive is to try to build a drive where you 257 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: don't need to bring along with you something to push against. 258 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: You don't need something to have a propellant. And remember 259 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: that all rockets that we've ever invented so far have 260 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: two basic elements. One is some source of energy, you know, 261 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: like fuel or laser or something, and the other is 262 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: something to push against. And this comes from the conservation 263 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: of momentum. If you're gonna move left, the only way 264 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: to do that is to push something else right. That's 265 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: the only way really in the universe, the only way. 266 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: There's no magic in the universe, not that we're aware of, 267 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: and the law of conservation of momentum is very very 268 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: deeply ingrained in physics and has been tested a zillion 269 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: times that you know, the scales of galaxies and particles, 270 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: so we're pretty confident it's true. And it just basically 271 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: is that momentum is conserved, so momentum doesn't change. You 272 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: can take a brick and split it in half and 273 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: send one half to the left, but then you have 274 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: to send the other half to the right so that 275 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: their momentum balances. Like if your brick and initially has 276 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: zero momentum, in the final state, it also has to 277 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: have zero momentum. There can be motion, there can be 278 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: kinetic energy, but there has to be zero net momentum. 279 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: So it's almost like if you want to go to 280 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: alpha centari, you have to push yourself there. Almost it's 281 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: like you have to if you want to get your 282 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: toothpick to alpha centor you have to push the equivalent 283 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: of a toothpick and the opposite direction. Yeah, you have 284 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: to sit in your ship and throw stuff out the back. Right. 285 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: You know, some people out there wonder, like do rockets 286 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: work in empty space? Because they imagine that rockets work 287 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: by pushing on the air. They're not pushing on the air, 288 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: they're just throwing stuff out the back, right, because if 289 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: they want to move forward, something else has to move backwards. 290 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: So the whole system, the combination of all the original stuff, 291 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: has the same momentum is when it's starting. And this 292 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: is pretty familiar. Like if you fire a gun, right, 293 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: you're pushing a bullet and there's a recoil. So imagine, 294 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: you know, the rocket example is the bullet is the 295 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 1: stuff you're pushing at the back, and the gun is 296 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: your rocket. A one way to power a rocket ship 297 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: is to stand in the back of it and shoot 298 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: bullets out the back. Oh hey, that's an idea that 299 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: you guys thought about, that one. That is basically the idea. 300 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: I mean, that's what a chemical rocket is, right, You 301 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: start a big explosion and focus all the stuff and 302 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: shoot it out the back, and that's why it goes. 303 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: You take the energy, and that energy is used to 304 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: push stuff out the back. So that's what a rocket is. 305 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: But it needs those two elements, one energy and to 306 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: something to throw out the back. Because you can just 307 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: stand there and throw things off the bag, you would 308 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: get tired. You need you need some energy to do 309 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: it right. Well, it's like you can't push yourself up 310 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: by your bootstraps, right, You can't stand in your spaceship 311 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: and like get it going by pushing on the inside 312 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 1: of it. Okay, that's the basic idea of every rocket 313 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: we've ever had. You need energy, and you need something 314 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: to recoil against. You need propellant to throw at the back, right, right, 315 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: And then the problem is that you need to bring 316 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: that mess with you, the stuff you're gonna explode with 317 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: you in order to keep going. Yes, and then you 318 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: need to push that stuff. Right, So you need to 319 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 1: today push all the stuff you're gonna need tomorrow, and 320 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: the stuff you need in a week and in a year, 321 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,880 Speaker 1: and that stuff adds up, which means today you need 322 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,119 Speaker 1: even more stuff to push. And that's how you end 323 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,199 Speaker 1: up with, you know, spaceship Jupiter, just to go to 324 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: Alpha Centauri, the paler of the size of the Sun. Yeah, exactly. 325 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: And so the idea for the impossible drive is like, well, 326 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: can we skip that step? Can we somehow have a 327 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:41,120 Speaker 1: drive that doesn't need any recoil, that doesn't throw anything 328 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: out the back? Wow? Like um, something that somehow violates 329 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: the laws of conservation of momentum. Yes, exactly, And that's 330 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: why it's called the impossible drive because it would totally 331 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,919 Speaker 1: violate the laws of conservation of momentum. Or you know, 332 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: maybe there's something else going on, like if you would 333 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 1: build a device that seems to the laws of conservation momentum, 334 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: that means that either one you screwed something up in 335 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,400 Speaker 1: your experiments to momentum isn't actually conserved, you know, which 336 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,640 Speaker 1: would be like a huge deal, or this momentum is conserved, 337 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: but there's something else in your system you weren't to 338 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: wear it. You've discovered some new force field or some 339 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:19,640 Speaker 1: thing in the quantum foam or something. Right, so you've 340 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: learned something about the universe. And at that point, like 341 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: why would you want to go to a centaur. Just 342 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: stay here and monetize your amazing physics breaking idea. That's right, 343 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 1: your impossible foam or whatever it is you've discovered. Yeah, 344 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: and and you know, so this is a different class 345 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: of ideas. This e M drive is a different class 346 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: of ideas than ideas like a solar sales. Solar sales 347 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: of another really cool way to get to high speeds. 348 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: But the idea there is you sort of leave the 349 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 1: engine at home and you push the photons and they 350 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 1: get captured by your spaceship, which just gets pushed by 351 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: those photons, and so the whole engine. You can think 352 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: of it like as the laser that stays home, and 353 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: the sale is the part of the ship. Right. It's 354 00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 1: like you you're that's that's different idea where you kind 355 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: of catch things that are out there and use them 356 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,199 Speaker 1: to kind of hit your ride. Yeah, exactly, that's a 357 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: different idea, but that requires some like huge laser focused 358 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: on your ship from really, really really far away. This 359 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: would be a drive you could take anywhere. You could 360 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: use it to lift off the surface of the Earth 361 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: and zoom around the whole galaxy and get up to 362 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,640 Speaker 1: really high speeds. I mean, it's sounds awesome. I want 363 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:22,959 Speaker 1: the impossible drive to be impossible. I want a car 364 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: with the impossible drive. I do. Yeah, I want to 365 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: take it to you know, the Burger Joint and by 366 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: an impossible burger. All right, Well, it sounds too good 367 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: to be true, almost kind of like a Tom Cruise 368 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: movie almost. But let's get into how it actually works 369 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: and whether or not it's possible or possible and what 370 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:42,680 Speaker 1: people have done about it. But first let's take a 371 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:58,360 Speaker 1: quick break, all right, Daniel, we're talking about the impossible drive, 372 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: which is maybe a crazy easy idea that violates the 373 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: laws of physics, but which could potentially get us to 374 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: other star systems in other galaxies. Because it's a it's 375 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: a tough problem. It's a tough problem, and we should 376 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: keep an open mind. We should think, hey, some fresh 377 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: ideas out there could crack an age old problem or 378 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: reveal something new about physics and the universe. So we 379 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: should definitely not just scoff and dismiss. We should analyze it, right, 380 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:24,680 Speaker 1: But then we also have to be skeptical. We can't 381 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: just take every crazy ideas, right. You gotta eat that 382 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: impossible burger just to see for yourself, because it maybe 383 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,199 Speaker 1: it can't take it's just like real or maybe the 384 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: beyond burger is beyond the impossible burger. Who knows, right, 385 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: data is the only is there beyond engine? Also not 386 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: yet I'm working on I see. Oh sorry, sorry, that's 387 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: beyond the scope of today's podcast, beyond my nda agreement 388 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: I have with you. We'll have to edit that out, 389 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: all right, Well, maybe i'd step us through. How does 390 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 1: this impossible drive work, Like, what's the basic physics idea 391 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,200 Speaker 1: or not physics idea behind. It's kind of a crazy idea, 392 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,640 Speaker 1: and frankly, I don't really understand how it's even supposed 393 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: to work, but if you look around online you discover 394 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: some basic fact about it. So it's a copper cylinder, right, 395 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: It's made out of metal, and the cylinders have two 396 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: flat ends like a cylinder, but one side is bigger 397 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: than the other. And the idea is that this kind 398 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,719 Speaker 1: of copper cylinder is a resonant chamber for microwaves. So 399 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: microwaves are just a kind of light, they're kind of photon. 400 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: You put them in there, and this chamber is the 401 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:29,679 Speaker 1: right size for them to bounce around and sort of 402 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: add up and build on each other. So they can 403 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: hang out inside, reflect back and reinforce themselves. So you 404 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: put microwaves in there, they should just sort of bounce 405 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: around forever. It's like a bottle that can capture microware. 406 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: Really they don't get absorbed into the metal or anything. 407 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:43,680 Speaker 1: That's the idea. I mean, they do a little bit, 408 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: but if it's the right shape and the right material, 409 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,359 Speaker 1: then they mostly just reflect. It's like fiber optics. You know, 410 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: you have this reflection of light in the interior. If 411 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:53,960 Speaker 1: you have the right angle and the right materials and 412 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: the right interface between the materials in the resident cavity 413 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,199 Speaker 1: and the thing that makes up the cavity, you can 414 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: get almost told internal reflection all right. So it's kind 415 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: of like a resonant cavity right where microwaves bound in 416 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: side and somehow that gives you superpowers. Well, if you're 417 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 1: bitten by that cavity right, then you get that cavity 418 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,360 Speaker 1: is proportionate starting that's right, you become the impossible man. 419 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,119 Speaker 1: Know the idea, So you have a bottle with Marco 420 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: waves bouncing around inside of it. But then if you 421 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:20,919 Speaker 1: make your bottle bigger on one side, so it's a 422 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: cylinder if one side is bigger on the other, and 423 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: then it sort of tapers. The idea is that the 424 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,479 Speaker 1: radiation pressure on one side is bigger than on the 425 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: other side, just because you get more microwaves hitting one 426 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: wall of the cavity than the other. And so then 427 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: they think, well, if you're pushing on the left side 428 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,479 Speaker 1: more than the right side, shouldn't that generate some thrust? 429 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,159 Speaker 1: Shouldn't that push this thing because it's more forced the 430 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,880 Speaker 1: left than there is on the right. That's the idea 431 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,400 Speaker 1: behind the e M draw by radiation pressure. You mean 432 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: like the forest that the photons are making on the 433 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: cavity wall. That's right, because what happens when a photon 434 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: reflects off a wall is it pushes against it. Just 435 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: like if you bounce a ball off of the wall. 436 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: It's pushing on the wall, right. It applies a force 437 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 1: on the wall, and the wall applies a force on 438 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,360 Speaker 1: the photon. And so the radiation pressure is just that 439 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: when a photon gets bounced, it gets pushed, and it's 440 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,880 Speaker 1: also doing some pushing, right. And so we talked about 441 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:16,720 Speaker 1: it in a previous podcast, like if I take a 442 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:18,920 Speaker 1: flashlight and flash it at you, I'm actually kind of 443 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: pushing you a little bit, and I'm being pushed back 444 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: even though it's just a flashlight. And so imagine, you know, 445 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: you have a gymnasium filled with students and each one 446 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: has a bouncy ball and they're throwing the balls against 447 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: the wall. If one wall is bigger and it's getting 448 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: hit by more balls, the idea is there's more force 449 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: on it, and so is the whole gymnasium then gonna 450 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 1: like lift up off the ground and travel to Alpha Centauri. 451 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: That's my that's my idea for Wow. Okay, this is 452 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,440 Speaker 1: sounding impossible already. But what's the history of this thing? 453 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 1: Like who came up with it? And why's it so 454 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: hard to find information about it on the internet. It 455 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: has a pretty sketchy history. Um, it comes from a 456 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: guy named Roger Shoyer in two thousand one. He designed 457 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,159 Speaker 1: this thing. He had this idea and he designed did it, 458 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 1: and he built it, and he claimed that it worked. 459 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: He said, I built it and it worked. But he 460 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: didn't really share any evidence of it, just sort of 461 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,879 Speaker 1: claimed this was true. Didn't publish or anything, didn't let 462 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: anyone see the device. No, he never published a paper. 463 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: He could just it was sort of a you know, 464 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 1: always promising something else. He's like, he's promising the next version, 465 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: he's promising the new results, he's promising the next round, 466 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: but never actually delivered. And this guy was just an inventor, 467 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,880 Speaker 1: a physicist or a lawyer. What Tom Cruise's brother. Yeah, 468 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,679 Speaker 1: you know, he's an inventor and so he has some 469 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: technical background and you know, he was shooting meg. He 470 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,120 Speaker 1: was thinking, hey, could I solve a really big problem. 471 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,119 Speaker 1: And he had this idea and he claimed that it worked. 472 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: But you know, in science, you can't just tell people 473 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: that your idea worked. You have to prove it. You 474 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 1: have to describe the details. People want to understand it. 475 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: Other people will want to build it and test it 476 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: for themselves. If this is something which is true and physical, 477 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,359 Speaker 1: it should be true in other people's labs also. And 478 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:58,680 Speaker 1: if we want to build the m jives, we can't 479 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: just rely on one guy in basement. We need to 480 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 1: actually understand the physical basic can actually be impossible. It 481 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: has to be possible. It can't be some magical fairy 482 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: dust that he sprinkled on it in his garage, right, 483 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,919 Speaker 1: And some scientists looked at it, I think, right in 484 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: two thousand six. Yeah, well, in two thousand six there 485 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 1: was a lot of coverage because Robert Joyer's also you know, 486 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: he's good at the pr and so he managed to 487 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: convince the New Scientist magazine, which is a magazine with 488 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,479 Speaker 1: very high readership in two thousand six, to write an 489 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: article suggesting that this thing might really be true. And 490 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 1: that article received a lot of criticism by science writers 491 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 1: because it's sort of glossed over the fact that there's 492 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: a basic problem with this drive, like it violates the 493 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: law of conservation momentum, that it shouldn't work. So the 494 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: fact that he claimed to have built it and made 495 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 1: it work, you know, need to be reported with a big, 496 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: big piece of So they didn't show enough skepticism. Yeah, exactly, 497 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,719 Speaker 1: and so this is roundly ridiculed. But other people were interested. 498 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 1: And so then there was another guy, a guy named 499 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: Guido Feda. He's just a marketing executive, but he got 500 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: really interested in this and he built another version. He 501 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: calls it the Canady Drive, like I can't, like can't 502 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: Kennet like, like impossible was taken. So I'm gonna go 503 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: with can't because that sounds like impossible. Yeah, it sounds 504 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: to me like an Irish expression like you can they 505 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: do that? But I'm not sure the linguistic origins of it. 506 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: But he had some contacts at NASA, and he found 507 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: some folks at the NASA Eagle Work Labs to try 508 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: to test this. What yes, And he's like, all right, 509 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: I built this, Please test this. Tell me if this 510 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: thing can work. Oh wow, So they like big like 511 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: actually NASA gut involved. Now yeah, there's a question about 512 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: whether it's actually NASA or some people at NASA. Right. 513 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: You know, like if I if I do an experiment 514 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: in my lab and I say, oh my gosh, I've 515 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: overthrown the laws of physics, can you say the University 516 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,360 Speaker 1: of California has a we're throwing the laws of physics? Right. 517 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,479 Speaker 1: I can't speak for the whole university, and these folks 518 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 1: at NASA don't necessarily get to speak for NASA. Maybe 519 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,360 Speaker 1: it was the custodian or the cafeteria worker NASA who 520 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: like pressed the button. And then it's like NASA did 521 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: it well. It got a lot of attention because these 522 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,719 Speaker 1: folks that NASA Eagle Works labs, they tested it and 523 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,400 Speaker 1: they saw a little bit of thrust, Like they claim 524 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,640 Speaker 1: that it generates a very small amount of thrust. Now, 525 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: the amount you're talking about are really really really tiny. 526 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 1: Like we measure thrust, it's a force. We measured units 527 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: of Newton's so like a one k object on the 528 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 1: surface of the Earth feels ten Newton's right, So Newton 529 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,479 Speaker 1: is not a small unit. But these guys when they 530 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,080 Speaker 1: measured this thing, they measured like milan Newton's like one 531 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: thousands of a Newton or even smaller like micro Newton's. 532 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 1: So what they measured were really really small effects. Like 533 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: they built this thing, they put it on the table 534 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: and they felt a very small force when they turned it. Interesting, 535 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,360 Speaker 1: but it's not nothing. It's not nothing. I mean exactly. 536 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: A Newton is like the weight of an apple almost. 537 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 1: So it's like, you know, it's like taina bite out 538 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: of an apple. It's like taking a very small bite 539 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: out of an apple. Yeah, exactly. And they put out 540 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: a paper in two thousand and sixteen saying, well, you know, 541 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: we tested this thing and it doesn't seem to be 542 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: impossible because we're getting a small amount of thrust. What. Yeah, 543 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 1: So that made a lot of explosions in minds and 544 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: physics all across the world. Yeah, it was. And then 545 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: it got a wider press coverage. Yes, it got a 546 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,199 Speaker 1: lot of press, and a lot of that press, you know, 547 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,919 Speaker 1: skimmed over some of the important details, you know, you know, 548 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: they were headlines and wired for example saying NASA validates 549 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: impossible space drive, which I'm sure people at NASA woke 550 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,719 Speaker 1: up in his sweat over when they read that. Unless 551 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: unless it's true, then it's like, oh, we'll take the credit. Yeah, exactly, 552 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 1: And Popular Mechanics wrote an article with the title was 553 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: space engine breaks the laws of physics. You see clickbait? 554 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: Do you see clickbait? And so it was very exciting. Right, 555 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: people are like, maybe this is true, and maybe it 556 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,080 Speaker 1: doesn't matter that this drive only gives you a tiny 557 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 1: little force because you can scale it up or we 558 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: can improve whatever we can, you know, pass it onto 559 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,800 Speaker 1: the engineers and said, we've proved it possible. Make it work, right, 560 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: make it better, more make it more efficient. Yeah. Also, 561 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 1: I mean, if you're on a toothpick on your way 562 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,640 Speaker 1: to Alpha Centauri, you know you've got time. So even 563 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: a little push with health, yeah, even a little push, 564 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: a little constant push without the need for propellant to 565 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 1: get you to very high speeds. That's the whole idea 566 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: of a solar sale. Solar sales do not provide a 567 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: lot of acceleration. It's just a long, constant acceleration without 568 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 1: the need for a really heavy rocket can get you 569 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: up to significant fractions of the speed of light. Right, yeah, 570 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: all right, well this sounds maybe like it's not impossible. Daniel, 571 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: Now I'm really intrigued here. I mean, are we going 572 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: to be on our way to alphastri pretty soon or 573 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: is that impossible? So let's get into whether it actually 574 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: can work and what's going on with these impossible physics. 575 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break. All right, Daniel, 576 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: it seems as we left at NASA, or at least 577 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: some people who work at NASA validated this impossible space drive, 578 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: this crazy idea that somehow seems to violate the laws 579 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: of physics, but that could maybe get us to another 580 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: galaxy or another star. So what's going on here, Daniel? 581 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: Is this really possible or is there something here we're 582 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:37,479 Speaker 1: not seeing? Well, you have to sort of hold your 583 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: your enthusiasm in check and apply your skeptical mind, like 584 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: we'd love for this to work, and we wanted to work. 585 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 1: In that sense, we have a bit of a conflict 586 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: of interest. It's just like when you listen to a 587 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: story about aliens. If you want it to be true, 588 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: then you're gonna be less skeptical and you're gonna like 589 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,400 Speaker 1: gloss over problems in the story. So you gotta put 590 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,479 Speaker 1: aside your plans for Alpha Centauri and just ask yourself, 591 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: like does this make sense? And the first thing to 592 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 1: think about is whether the experimental results are done carefully 593 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: enough right, because this is a very small effect. Like 594 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: what they measure is, you know, the equivalent of like 595 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,960 Speaker 1: a fly landing on this thing. So you have to 596 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: remove all other possible sources of experimental area. And when 597 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: you dig into these experiments, they're not done with a 598 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 1: kind of care that you need in order to really 599 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: establish that this small thrust comes from radiation pressure inside 600 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: the drive and not something else like the air conditioner 601 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: maybe was hitting on your device and pushing it a 602 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: little bit. You know that you're not far from the truth. 603 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: Like when you turn this thing on, it heats up 604 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 1: because you're pounding microwaves inside of it. And if it 605 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: heats up, then it's going to cause air currents around it. 606 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: And so those thermal currents, if it's not in a 607 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 1: really really good vacuum, those thermal currents might be what 608 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 1: providing this this micro thrust. Well, I'm trying to trying 609 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: to get a picture here. So somebody actually built this. 610 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: This marketing executive built this device, this machine, and it 611 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: got tested by some people who work in nest, so 612 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: like you know, like this actually happened. It is actually happening. 613 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: There was a room with people from NASA there with 614 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: clipboards and I'm sure they were wearing white lab coats 615 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 1: and safety goggles and protective helmets, and like, I like, 616 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,479 Speaker 1: this thing is humming, it's like it's running, and they 617 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: measured it a force, but you're saying, maybe it could 618 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:25,880 Speaker 1: have been something else. Yeah, it doesn't have to be 619 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: a force from the drive. You have to remove all 620 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,960 Speaker 1: other sources of experimental error to convince yourself the force 621 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: came from the drive. So the first test they did 622 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 1: weren't even in a vacuum. So who even knows if 623 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: those results are just due to the air getting warm 624 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: around it and differentially pushing on it, because one side 625 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: of it is all right, well, um, I mean it 626 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: sounds like you just kind of need to replicate the experiment. 627 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 1: Has anybody tried or nobody wants to touch this? Ye, 628 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: Other labs have tried, Like there's a lab in Germany 629 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 1: and a lab in China, and some of these labs 630 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: can't reproduce the results, like they just don't see any thrust. 631 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 1: Other labs have seen rust. But then they showed that 632 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: this thrust was actually just an interaction between the wires 633 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: that lead up to the e M drive and the 634 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:12,719 Speaker 1: Earth's magnetic few What yeah, oh, I see the wires 635 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,080 Speaker 1: that create the microwaves, not the wires like leading up 636 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: to the device. So no, the wires leading up to 637 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: the device, the ones that like, you know, power this stuff. 638 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: And so we're talking about really small effects here. You know, 639 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,440 Speaker 1: it's like you breathe on this thing, and that's a 640 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,440 Speaker 1: bigger effect than the thrust that they're measuring. And so 641 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: it's very easy to make a mistake. And you know, 642 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: you read these papers, they don't seem very carefully done. 643 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: And I said, they don't give you confidence in the 644 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: experimental setup. It's it's sort of like remember the cold 645 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: fusion thing, Like these guys measured some heat production, but 646 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,280 Speaker 1: there are all sorts of uncertainties and errors and other 647 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: ways that could confuse the results that were potentially bigger 648 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: than the signal they measured. So the signal these people 649 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: are measuring is smaller than the noise in their system. Right, 650 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: you have to be super extra careful. Right like when 651 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:04,000 Speaker 1: you guys built the I Go gravitational wave telescope, you know, 652 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: you had to bury it on the ground, You had 653 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 1: to put in the middle of nowhere. You had to 654 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: track any truck passing by just to make sure that 655 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,879 Speaker 1: that wasn't causing the signal exactly. They can't just build 656 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 1: advice and then it shakes and they say, hey, gravitational waves. Right. 657 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:18,799 Speaker 1: They need to show that they're not sensitive to all 658 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: the sources of noise that are nearby. And that's what 659 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,439 Speaker 1: this these folks have not done. And there's some really 660 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: concerning things about the results, like sometimes they get thrust 661 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,400 Speaker 1: even if the drive is backwards, and they get they 662 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: get thrust the same direction. Yeah, at the level sort 663 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:38,280 Speaker 1: of experimental rigor that we're talking about, maybe it's mind control, Daniel. 664 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 1: It operates on wishes and unicorns, like if you wanted 665 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: to work, it works. Yeah, And so I would not 666 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: say that the results are conclusive, you know, I would 667 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,839 Speaker 1: not say that this thing generates thrust. Well, I mean 668 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: press the actually flipped it around, you know, like that 669 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: shows a little bit of experimental worker. Yeah. I wonder 670 00:34:58,120 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: if that was on purpose or they just sort of like, 671 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:05,000 Speaker 1: you know, put it in backwards. Oh man, we're throwing 672 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,680 Speaker 1: all kinds of shade at these NASA scientists, and these 673 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,359 Speaker 1: are not NASA scientists. These are people at NASA, right, 674 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,480 Speaker 1: NASA did not stand behind this results done in their 675 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: spare time in their garage now with official white lap 676 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: coats from NASA. They bought it off the internet. And 677 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 1: you know, it's hard to imagine how this thing could 678 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,800 Speaker 1: actually work. Right, just because you have photons bouncing around 679 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: inside a bottle doesn't mean that it's going to get pushed, right. 680 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: It violates the law of conservation momentum. You can't, right, 681 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: you can't put yourselves up from your bootstraps. Right. If 682 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,919 Speaker 1: you stand inside a box in empty space, and you 683 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,839 Speaker 1: throw a ball against one wall of the box, Yeah, 684 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: that ball applies a force to the wall, But to 685 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:49,240 Speaker 1: throw the ball you apply to force the other direction 686 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:53,320 Speaker 1: to the floor. Right, So you can't push a box 687 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,359 Speaker 1: from the inside, right, as far as we know, As 688 00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,719 Speaker 1: far as we that's that's what we how, that's how 689 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,880 Speaker 1: we think the univerous works. But as you say, we 690 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: kind of have to keep an open eye, which unfortunately 691 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,279 Speaker 1: kind of leaves you open to these crazy ideas. Ye. 692 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: And so the guys who wrote this paper, they know this, 693 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: and they understand that this thing shouldn't work, but they 694 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,799 Speaker 1: are really Yeah, but they are seeing a result. And 695 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: so in the paper they put this really sort of 696 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,680 Speaker 1: amazing claim and I just have to read it to 697 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 1: you verbabion because it's I don't want to paraphrase. They 698 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: say that their drive quote is producing a force that 699 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 1: is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomena, and therefore 700 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:42,960 Speaker 1: is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma. Well, 701 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: that makes sense now, I totally get it. I was 702 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,720 Speaker 1: totally waiting for somebody to bring up the quantum vacuum 703 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: virtual plasma. Obviously everyone well, I mean, I guess the 704 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: typical person like me wouldn't be able to tell the 705 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: difference if that's something that's real or not. Well, you 706 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: know there is a thing which is the quantum vacuum. Right. 707 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,279 Speaker 1: We know that empty space is not empty, that it 708 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,640 Speaker 1: is filled with energy, right, And we talked about virtual 709 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:13,680 Speaker 1: particles in a recent episode, right, Like virtual quantum particles exist. Yeah, 710 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:16,800 Speaker 1: because this energy that's in empty space can turn into particles, 711 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 1: and these particles live for a very short amount of 712 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 1: time and then they turn back into energy or another 713 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,279 Speaker 1: kind of particle or whatever. So there is this sort 714 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,839 Speaker 1: of energy available This is like frothing foam. But this 715 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: is not a question of having a source of energy, right, 716 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:32,400 Speaker 1: There's already energy in this drive. This is a question 717 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: of having something to push off, right, This is a 718 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 1: question of momentum. Right, But energy, I mean energy is mass? 719 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: Could I say that like energy is mass, like solar 720 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,719 Speaker 1: sales work on photons which have no mass. Yes, but 721 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,600 Speaker 1: this quantum vacuum doesn't have like a rest frame. You 722 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,240 Speaker 1: can't push against it. You can't like change the net 723 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: momentum of the quantum vacuum. That doesn't make any sense. 724 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,240 Speaker 1: What could I maybe capture those energy of empty I'm 725 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:05,640 Speaker 1: rooting for these NASA scientists, so I'm playing devil's advocate. 726 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: Could you like somehow capture the energy of empty space 727 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,840 Speaker 1: and like use it, you know, converted to mass and 728 00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: push it one way? Is that possible? Well? You know, Orry, 729 00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:15,160 Speaker 1: I think you've thought about this more deeply than the 730 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: guy who wrote that paper. But think about what you're suggesting. 731 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 1: You say, capture the energy of empty space and then 732 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,919 Speaker 1: converted into mass and throw it in one direction? Right, 733 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,160 Speaker 1: That would mean it has now some sort of net momentum, 734 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,800 Speaker 1: whereas it didn't have that before, and that's the problem 735 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 1: is that this quantum vacuum has no rest frame. It 736 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,960 Speaker 1: has no like net momentum which you can capture unless 737 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,200 Speaker 1: you're going to break the law of conservation of momentum. 738 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,400 Speaker 1: Then there's no way to gain momentum for this device. 739 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: But I guess you know, is a law of conservation 740 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,000 Speaker 1: of momentum related to the law of conservation of energy. 741 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:50,840 Speaker 1: They're sort of related, right, They are sort of related. 742 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: In particle physics, we think of energy momentum together. We 743 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:56,960 Speaker 1: put it together actually into like a four dimensional vector, 744 00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,400 Speaker 1: the way that you have like a four dimensional space 745 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 1: time three dimensions of space and one of time. We 746 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: think of four momentum three dimensions of momentum from one 747 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,239 Speaker 1: of energy. And so these things are related certainly, so 748 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 1: that the whole vector has to be conserved, but they're 749 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:16,000 Speaker 1: conserved independently, like momentum and x is conserved separately from 750 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 1: momentum and wise conserved separately from momentum and z, and 751 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,320 Speaker 1: then energy conservation is also separate. So they can they're related, 752 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:28,080 Speaker 1: but they're independent. Makes are very powerful constraint, right all right, Well, 753 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:31,719 Speaker 1: their ideas and maybe it's tapping into this impossible drivers. 754 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:36,240 Speaker 1: Maybe tapping into this quantum vacuum, virtual plasma or energy. 755 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 1: Is that possible or is that total bunk? I think 756 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: it's total bunk. And you know, I did some reading 757 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: about this, and Sean Carroll says, quote, there is no 758 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,840 Speaker 1: such thing as a quantum vacuum virtual plasma. So that 759 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: should be a tip off right there. There is a 760 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:52,719 Speaker 1: quantum vacuum, but is nothing like a plasma, you know. 761 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:54,520 Speaker 1: So he's pointing out there the use of the word 762 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:57,280 Speaker 1: plasma means that there may be not even really understanding 763 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,279 Speaker 1: what they're talking about. And I think of the way 764 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:03,680 Speaker 1: you're imagining it is like, can you push off against 765 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,319 Speaker 1: this plasma? Can you like impart some momentum on it 766 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 1: the way you can like with a rowboat, Right, you're 767 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,520 Speaker 1: like rowing against the water, and you're pushing against the water, 768 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:15,120 Speaker 1: so the water gets momentum one way, you get momentum 769 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:17,320 Speaker 1: the other way. I guess maybe it is a good analogy. 770 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:18,880 Speaker 1: Like if you're on in the middle of the ocean, 771 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: you can't just like with a bucket pick up some water. 772 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,200 Speaker 1: Well maybe you could. Yeah, So you can't treat the 773 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,399 Speaker 1: quantum foam like you can the ocean. You can't row 774 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,280 Speaker 1: your way through the quantum foam, because all the energy 775 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,880 Speaker 1: there is virtual. It's like borrowed momentarily and it needs 776 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,719 Speaker 1: to return. It's not real energy in that way, it's 777 00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 1: a it's quantum fluctuations. There's a difference between these virtual 778 00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:45,480 Speaker 1: energy particles and the real particles, and so there's no 779 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,239 Speaker 1: like the way you're imagining it, Like the ocean has 780 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,880 Speaker 1: a rest frame, right, It's like there is an ocean. 781 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,240 Speaker 1: It's a zero velocity in some frame. That's not true 782 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:59,240 Speaker 1: for this quantum vacuum. Right, It's an inherent property of space. 783 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,120 Speaker 1: It has no rest frame, the way that space itself 784 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 1: has no absolute zero. For you to be able to 785 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: row your way through space would mean that space had 786 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,120 Speaker 1: like some rest frame that we've never discovered before and 787 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:15,480 Speaker 1: would violate special relativity. All right, well worth a shot, Daniel, 788 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:18,000 Speaker 1: Totally worth a shot. I mean, I only get to 789 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,600 Speaker 1: do physics two hours a week, so I'm shooting for 790 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,279 Speaker 1: the moon here with the impossible growing through space. That 791 00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:26,320 Speaker 1: they'll be the name of my engine. That would be 792 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,880 Speaker 1: the name of your memoirs. Right, the space or space 793 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:34,759 Speaker 1: or or maybe it's just nonsense, um, but it's totally 794 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: worth a shot. And it's worth these guys thinking about it, 795 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,600 Speaker 1: and I love the ambition, you know. They say, all right, 796 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,120 Speaker 1: we built this drive. We agree it shouldn't work, but 797 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 1: it kind of does. So maybe we discovered something new 798 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,040 Speaker 1: and crazy about the units. Like that's cool, but it 799 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: has to also actually kind of make sense right well, 800 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: you know, but like you said, you have to be 801 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,080 Speaker 1: skeptical but also keep an open mind, like maybe that 802 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,279 Speaker 1: it is kind of you have to admit a little 803 00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,960 Speaker 1: bit possible for you know, our ID is about conservation 804 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,040 Speaker 1: momentum and the vacuum to maybe be a little off 805 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,360 Speaker 1: of maybe there is a little bit of a room 806 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,799 Speaker 1: there to maybe do something that seems impossible certainly, And 807 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 1: we don't understand empty space, and we don't understand this 808 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,120 Speaker 1: quantum vacuum, and there may be a way to interact 809 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:18,400 Speaker 1: with it that allows you to capture momentum in a 810 00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: way that we can't imagine right now. That's true. I 811 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,040 Speaker 1: don't think this e M drive is doing that. I 812 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:26,799 Speaker 1: think this AM drive is just a fun device in 813 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: a lab somewhere. I see. It seems unlikely that a 814 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:33,680 Speaker 1: little copper cone will somehow here's the reality of the 815 00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 1: laws of physics. Yeah, because they've made no connection between 816 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 1: how they've built this thing and this quantum vactual virtual plasma. 817 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:42,680 Speaker 1: It's like saying, hey, who ate my chocolate chip cookies? 818 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,759 Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe it was the quantum vacuum virtual plasma, right, 819 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:48,560 Speaker 1: Like why not? You can't just That's what my kids 820 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:51,120 Speaker 1: say all the time. It's not just an escape clause 821 00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:53,600 Speaker 1: for everything, right, It's not that some of your physics lawyer, 822 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:55,239 Speaker 1: can you get you at of jail? No matter what 823 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:58,719 Speaker 1: you need like an actual mechanism of real explanation for 824 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,840 Speaker 1: how this plasma uh, which you know people think doesn't 825 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:06,759 Speaker 1: even exist, how this virtual vacuum is somehow giving you momentum? Right? 826 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,319 Speaker 1: Why was I late to this podcast recording because you know, 827 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,320 Speaker 1: the quantum plasma was pushing against me and I lost 828 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:16,080 Speaker 1: my space or and that's why. Also I had to 829 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:19,879 Speaker 1: finish the Mission Impossible five on TV. So all right, 830 00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: So I'd say, overall, this thing is most likely hype 831 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:26,000 Speaker 1: and not going to lead to anything. But I encourage 832 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:28,279 Speaker 1: people out there experiment in your garage trying to make 833 00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,640 Speaker 1: up a new drive, because you know, I want us 834 00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:32,720 Speaker 1: to get to Alpha Centauri. I don't want to go myself, 835 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:35,319 Speaker 1: but I want humans to get to explore. You don't 836 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,800 Speaker 1: want to ride that toothpick. You want somebody else, probably 837 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:43,120 Speaker 1: smaller than you, not a lot of lakes. You know, 838 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,000 Speaker 1: until we figure something out, it's gonna be it is 839 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,960 Speaker 1: gonna be impossible to make it to Alpha Centauri within 840 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,960 Speaker 1: a lifetime or a few lifetimes, right, I mean we 841 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,560 Speaker 1: need we need an idea like this, like a crazy idea, 842 00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,560 Speaker 1: otherwise we'll never get there. Well, I'm banking on solar sales. 843 00:43:57,920 --> 00:43:59,759 Speaker 1: I think we build a big laser and a really 844 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,280 Speaker 1: big sale and you can take a really light craft 845 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:04,920 Speaker 1: and accelerated to a high speed. So if I was 846 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,719 Speaker 1: investing money in interstellar transport, I think solar sales are 847 00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:12,240 Speaker 1: currently the best end. Okay, how about a quantum plasma sale? 848 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,120 Speaker 1: That sounds impossible? All right, Well, we hope you enjoyed 849 00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:18,880 Speaker 1: this little trip down impossible lane. And two, it's it's 850 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:21,400 Speaker 1: kind of amazing to think that maybe there could be 851 00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: devices out there that break the laws of physics. This 852 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:25,719 Speaker 1: one seems like a little bit impossible, but you know, 853 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,040 Speaker 1: it is sort of still out there that we don't 854 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,839 Speaker 1: understand the laws of physics enough to know whether these 855 00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,799 Speaker 1: things are really conclusive or not right. That's right. We 856 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,040 Speaker 1: don't know, and we should always keep an open mind 857 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:40,000 Speaker 1: to what might be out there. Sometimes people discover crazy 858 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:42,400 Speaker 1: stuff when they're trying to do something else. There's lots 859 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 1: of times in the history physics when things have been 860 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:48,520 Speaker 1: discovered by accident. And so while I don't think that 861 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:51,400 Speaker 1: this drive has cracked open the secrets of the quantum 862 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:55,319 Speaker 1: virtual plasma, keep experimenting, folks, keep thinking up ideas. You 863 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,520 Speaker 1: may stumble across something amazing. It could be one of 864 00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:59,600 Speaker 1: our listeners who breaks the laws of and we get 865 00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 1: one that's right, and then you can represent them in 866 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,840 Speaker 1: the cosmological court of impossibility. That sounds great. My fees 867 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:08,080 Speaker 1: one percent of your Nobel prize. Is that like a 868 00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:12,319 Speaker 1: nibble of an apple, that's just the core? Yeah, all right, Well, 869 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:15,600 Speaker 1: we hope you enjoyed that, and keep thinking of the impossible. 870 00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:26,200 Speaker 1: See you next time. Thanks for listening, and remember that. 871 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:29,080 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of 872 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:32,919 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. More podcast from my Heart Radio visit 873 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:36,799 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen 874 00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:43,320 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. Yeah,