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I know it's unlikely that the EmDrive is real, and even more unlikely that the "warp drive" effects that some have been talking about are real. But...I really h

I know it's unlikely that the EmDrive is real, and even more unlikely that the "warp drive" effects that some have been talking about are real. But...I really hope they are. What a world it'd be if these things prove out to be real.

higherpurpose 11y ago
I think even if it proves real, it would still take around 50 years to put in flying cars and such. But perhaps a bit less for using it in satellites. Still it's not too long on the humanity scale of time.
- astrodust 11y ago
  Why would it take fifty years? This isn' the 1800s where it takes a half century for flush toilets to catch on. We're in an era where things go from laboratory to ubiquitous inside of a decade.
  - mahranch 11y ago
    This is less like flush toilets and more like computers. It took nearly 50 years for the first computers to sit in consumer's home offices. It took time for the technology to be miniaturized and cheap enough to make its way to consumer electronics. Or even cell phones. We were using radio signals in hand held devices for nearly 50 years before a vast majority of consumers were walking around with phones in their pockets in the mid to late 90s. Sure, there were early adopters in the late 80s and early 90s, but the technology was still expensive. And the technology (like walkie talkies) had existed for decades before...
    - danielweber 11y ago
      If this were proven true, there would be a completely manic gold-rush of capital into the area. Flying cars that operate at less than 1/10th the energy of cars on the road now? This would very quickly move from "let's wait for NASA to do more tests" to "let's beat NASA to the test." That's all assuming it's real, of course. I'd bet against it.
      - ZoFreX 11y ago
        Who says this will use less energy? The remarkable property of it is the (seeming) violation of conservation of momentum, not its efficiency.
      - TheLoneWolfling 11y ago
        Where are you getting that 1/10th number from? The most thrust anyone was getting was 750mN at 2.5KW. At that efficiency you need to have something that produces >32.7W/g just to hold itself up. That's rocket engine territory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-weight_ratio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-weight_ratio We barely have supercapacitors that'll deliver that sort of power output. For a few seconds, maybe. Not accounting for the mass of the device itself. Hopefully if this ever turns out to be something the efficiency will improve. But I'm not holding my breath. (Number taken from here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9474610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9474610 )
      - astrodust 11y ago
        It is completely useless for flying cars. It has zero use for getting things into orbit. The only thing that's amazing about the EM Drive, if true, is that it doesn't require a propellant. It's extremely energy intensive, but since energy can be derived from a reactor or solar panels, this is often easy to overcome. In an atmosphere solar panels are drag, and a reactor is completely insane.
- ufmace 11y ago
  Even if this turns out to be 100% real, flying cars coming from it seems rather unlikely. The highest amount of thrust they supposedly got from it was 750mN at 2.5KW. Sounds pretty lame compared to an electric motor or jet engine. It might be a world-beater for space propulsion, but unless the efficiency can go up multiple orders of magnitude, it doesn't sound like anybody would bother using it for getting around on Earth.

higherpurpose 11y ago

I think even if it proves real, it would still take around 50 years to put in flying cars and such. But perhaps a bit less for using it in satellites. Still it's not too long on the humanity scale of time.

astrodust 11y ago
Why would it take fifty years? This isn' the 1800s where it takes a half century for flush toilets to catch on. We're in an era where things go from laboratory to ubiquitous inside of a decade.
- mahranch 11y ago
  This is less like flush toilets and more like computers. It took nearly 50 years for the first computers to sit in consumer's home offices. It took time for the technology to be miniaturized and cheap enough to make its way to consumer electronics. Or even cell phones. We were using radio signals in hand held devices for nearly 50 years before a vast majority of consumers were walking around with phones in their pockets in the mid to late 90s. Sure, there were early adopters in the late 80s and early 90s, but the technology was still expensive. And the technology (like walkie talkies) had existed for decades before...
  - danielweber 11y ago
    If this were proven true, there would be a completely manic gold-rush of capital into the area. Flying cars that operate at less than 1/10th the energy of cars on the road now? This would very quickly move from "let's wait for NASA to do more tests" to "let's beat NASA to the test." That's all assuming it's real, of course. I'd bet against it.
    - ZoFreX 11y ago
      Who says this will use less energy? The remarkable property of it is the (seeming) violation of conservation of momentum, not its efficiency.
    - TheLoneWolfling 11y ago
      Where are you getting that 1/10th number from? The most thrust anyone was getting was 750mN at 2.5KW. At that efficiency you need to have something that produces >32.7W/g just to hold itself up. That's rocket engine territory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-weight_ratio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-weight_ratio We barely have supercapacitors that'll deliver that sort of power output. For a few seconds, maybe. Not accounting for the mass of the device itself. Hopefully if this ever turns out to be something the efficiency will improve. But I'm not holding my breath. (Number taken from here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9474610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9474610 )
    - astrodust 11y ago
      It is completely useless for flying cars. It has zero use for getting things into orbit. The only thing that's amazing about the EM Drive, if true, is that it doesn't require a propellant. It's extremely energy intensive, but since energy can be derived from a reactor or solar panels, this is often easy to overcome. In an atmosphere solar panels are drag, and a reactor is completely insane.
ufmace 11y ago
Even if this turns out to be 100% real, flying cars coming from it seems rather unlikely. The highest amount of thrust they supposedly got from it was 750mN at 2.5KW. Sounds pretty lame compared to an electric motor or jet engine. It might be a world-beater for space propulsion, but unless the efficiency can go up multiple orders of magnitude, it doesn't sound like anybody would bother using it for getting around on Earth.