In honor of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2, a tour of the physics
By Regina G. Barber|Berly McCoy|Rebecca Ramirez
Season 2 of the critically acclaimed premiered June 15 (). So today, boldly goes where many, many nerds have gone before and explores the science — specifically the physics — and the science- of . Scientist in Residence chats with two Trekkie physicists about why they love the franchise. Astrophysicist is the science consultant for , and is a theoretical physicist and author of the book .
This episode, the trio discusses the feasibility of warp drive, global cooperation and representation and how the transporters that beam crew members from the surface of a planet to the ship might be breaking fundamental laws of physics. They end at the galaxy's edge — and discuss why its portrayal in Star Trek might be problematic, scientifically.
. One bubble for warp 1, another bubble around that first bubble for warp 2 and so on.Transporters
It would be great to teleport to work, as Star Trek characters do thanks to their transporters. Upside? No traffic. Downside? The fear that once you've been broken down into particles and beamed across the city, you might not be rearranged in the right order.
In order for a transporter to work, users would have to know both where a given particle is and its velocity. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to a well known physics conundrum, the . Star Trek plugs this plot hole with something they call a that is connected to their transporter mechanics. How it works is never explained. All we need to know is that, in the universe ... it does!
So, transporters require a little more suspension of disbelief than warp drive — or good-humored humility if you're Chanda. "I don't think transporters will ever be a thing that we can do. But I always say that it's important for me as a scientist to be humble, and so it may be that there is some science beyond the uncertainty principle that we are just not aware of at this point," she quips.
Galactic Barrier
Warp drive can get ships to light speed and faster in the Star Trek world but space is still HUGE. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years across so, even at Warp 9, it would take the Star Trek crew to travel the galaxy. It's pretty rare that any starship gets near the edge of our galaxy, but in the 1960s, writers had the crew arrive at the "." According to the show, this barrier doesn't let communication signals through, is dangerous and gives characters "."
