4 ms·
Isn't it meant to help a spacecraft accelerate? And if that happens, doesn't that mean that its mass has accelerate? And thus its momentum has increased?
by sopooneo 12y ago
Isn't it meant to help a spacecraft accelerate? And if that happens, doesn't that mean that its mass has accelerate? And thus its momentum has increased?
- ars 12y agoNo. It just makes it move, but in between machine cycles (or if you turn it off) the speed of the spacecraft is zero. It requires no energy or momentum to just change position. Except it's impossible to do in space, but this machine makes it possible (supposedly).
- sopooneo 12y agoVery helpful. Thank you. But then why were they trying to demonstrate efficacy by measuring torque, which I assume is just a proxy for force?
- ars 12y agoI don't know. It should only develop cyclical force (back and forth - but pushing against nothing). I'm not 100% sure this thing actually is real, I'm just going by the description in the wired magazine, plus reconciling it with the statement that it doesn't violate Newton's laws.