Warp drive facts for kids
Warp drive (also called warp technology) is hypothetical technology created in science fiction. It is a way of moving objects faster than the speed of light. There are many examples of how this idea is used. A well-known one is found in the Star Trek universe, where faster-than-light travel is needed to tell the story.
Current technology does not allow anything or anyone to go at, or faster than, the speed of light. Unless the current theories are proven wrong, this will always be true. However warp technology as a fictional idea has been an interesting way of shaping the story line to let spaceships move at speeds greater than 186,000 miles per second (speed of light through a vacuum - the known limit of speed in the universe).
Warp technology, as the name implies, 'warps space' in effect bringing a destination closer by bending space rather than the traditional 'thruster' means of propelling a space craft at high speeds.
Warp technology allows ships move at warp speed. In the Star Trek universe, for example, the measurement of the speed that the spaceship is moving is called the warp factor. However, thrusters and impulse power propel spaceships at sub-light speed. Warp factor 1 is equal to the speed of light. The speed ranges up to warp factor 9.99. In some circumstances Star Trek spaceships can go faster than warp 10, although rare.
Most of that is pure science fiction however and no solid evidence has been produced of a true "warp drive" on a large scale.<ref>
In the field of Quantum Mechanics physicists have produced tiny worm holes but we they don't warp space time in the same way the "warp drive" concept does, rather they connect two separate points of spacetime through quantum entanglement.
Also, there seems to be a lack of clarity as to what a warp drive is because some argue with a warp drive we would travel at incredible speeds if the concept is to warp gravity and "fold" it in on itself then its not speed that's traveled but rather distance that was removed.
Images for kids
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Warp requirements for 10m OD sphere
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Michael Okuda's new warp scale. The bottom of the scale indicates Warp Factor starting at 1 and incrementing by .2 up until Warp 10 (unlabeled). The scale shows the comparison of speed between the old warp system (in green) and the new warp scale in white. The old warp scale (used until approx. 2300) continues past Warp 10 on a logarithmic curve, whereas the new scale becomes vertically asymptotic as it approaches Warp 10 and extends off to infinity. These two lines are scaled by the left of the graph indicating velocity in multiples of the speed of light, starting at 0.1 and ending at 10,000. The yellow line measures the peak transitional phase for each Warp Factor, measured in megawatts/chochrane on the right side of the graph, starting with 102 and ending at 1010. The peak transitional phase of each warp factor is the comparison of the power needed to reach a specific warp factor and the power required to maintain it, e.g. the power needed to reach Warp 1 is about equal to the power required to maintain Warp 4.
See also
In Spanish: Curvatura (Desplazamiento) para niños
