Question

Internet scuttlebutt suggest that NASA is experimenting with a potentially workable "warp drive" based on principles developed by Mexican physicist, Miguel Alcubierre. A suitably equipped starship would take 14 days to cover 4.37 light years distance from earth to alpha centauri. determine how many times the speed of light such a ship would be traveling

Answer 1

D = distance travelled by starship = 4.37 ly = 4.37 x 9.46 x 10¹⁵ m = 41.34 x 10¹⁵ m

t = time of travel for the starship = 14 days = 14 x 24 hours = 14 x 24 x 3600 sec = 1209600 sec

v = speed of starship

Speed of starship is given as

v = D/t

inserting the values

v = 41.34 x 10¹⁵ /(1209600)

v = 3.42 x 10¹⁰

c = speed of light = 3 x 10⁸ m/s

v = (3.42 x 10¹⁰ /(3 x 10⁸)) c

v = 114 c