Website Review:

Relativity and FTL Travel -

http://www.physicsguy.com/ftl/

I first came across this remarkable site/ when I was writing a science fiction novel that made extensive use of Faster Than Light (FTL) travel. The site was originally set up to discuss the technology described in the Star Trek television series, which explains the quirky animated Starfleet control panel look of the front page. However underneath is a lot of solid information of the kind that writers need in order to produce convincing science fiction.


This site explains relativity, why it appears to prohibit FTL travel, and how writers can get around the problem, in terms that anyone can understand.


Relativity involves mathematics, and I know that there are some people who want to scream and stand on a chair at the first sight of an equation, but this site shouldn't present them with a problem.


Jason Hinson, the site's creator, does include a few equations, but the bulk of the explanation is in the form of clear, well-written description.


Part one introduces special relativity, which is the simpler part of the theory. There are equations here, very small ones, but most of the information uses things that anyone can easily relate to. Jason uses very simple examples, such as moving trains, frames of film, and little diagrams showing rays of light to get across very complex ideas.


If you can draw a triangle on a sheet of paper you can understand relativity once you have read the contents of this site. It really is that simple.


Part two of the site takes us further into special relativity, and introduces two of the common "relativistic paradoxes," which it then explains in such a way that they add to the reader's understanding of the theory.


In part three it introduces general relativity, and shows how relativistic ideas and gravity interact. The maths gets a little more complex here, but the introduction explains that this section can be skipped.


The material of most use to writers is in part four. This opens with a basic discussion of FTL travel, and explains how it could easily cause time-travel paradoxes. This is a fascinating subject in its own right, and a fertile source of plot ideas.


Most SF writers want to send their characters to a place a long way away and then get on with the action without becoming involved in speculation about changing the past. To help with this, the site has a whole chapter on the ways in which FTL travel can be restricted so that it doesn't cause paradoxes. I used this to check my own future technologies and found them catalogued as "special frame of reference". There are plenty of ideas here, the site talks about space folding and parallel universes as well.


The last section is a Star Trek-specific discussion which considers how the technology in the TV series can be reconciled with the theory of relativity.


This is a very useful site for anyone wanting to write fiction that involves interstellar travel. It is readable and understandable, but at the same time contains in-depth information. The non-mathematical reader who skips straight to the discussion of FTL in section four will find a wealth of material, even though there is much more to be found in the earlier sections.


http://www.physicsguy.com/ftl/