Faster than a speeding photon...

[Xander Harris]

Seems there are hardly ever any scientific debates here... figured I'd try to start one. There's gotta be some science nerds lurking around here someplace...


Do you believe that humanity will ever find a way to create faster-than-light spaceships? Einstein says 'no', but some disagree. NASA has recently begun a ten-year study (I think they're in the second year now) to look into the possibility.

So, what do you think? Can E=MC^2 ever be overcome?

I personally think that if some kind of hyperspace travel could be developed, this would be possible.

[Retribution]

In my opinion, no, I don't think humans can achieve faster-than-light speeds and survive -- let alone speak of the craft's condition from such speeds. Einstein had good reasons, which I don't feel like bringing up right now, but seem logical. He was right about alot of others things, why not this one?

Then again, humans thought it impossible to break the speed of sound. Maybe this is the same deal.

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]I don't think so either. Like altron said, humans would probably not survive in such speeds. Back before I learned what the E=mc^2 equation actually meant. I used to think if someone went at the speed of sound, or the speed of sound squared, their mass would be converted into energy. Yes I had a freaky imagination when I was younger :D.

But when you think about it, there's really no point of trying to achieve the speed of light anyway, from an anstromic point of view. It won't get us anywhere. The nearest star to the Sun is over 2 million light years away. So unless you travelled at the speed of light for 2 million years, you'll never get there. Simply escaping our solar system in a small amount of time (less than 11 years!) seems like a huge goal as it is.[quote name='Altron']Then again, humans thought it impossible to break the speed of sound. Maybe this is the same deal.[/quote]True, but sound has much different properties than light does. Its waves actually need something material to travel through, while light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation do not. The speed of sound (355 m/s) is quite incomparable to that of light (300000000 m/s). The force needed to drive a spaceship at this speed would be massive![/COLOR]

[Retribution]

Who knows? Maybe there is a way to defy the time-space continuum. Like 'ripping' a whole in space, so that the ship doesn't have to undergo the stress of that speed. People thought alot of things back in the day. We have no idea what turns and twists science will take. Who knows? Maybe we will figure out how to teleport large objects before we can break the light barrier. We've already transported like single protons and electrons or something like that. Maybe... just maybe... we can make this technology more advanced so that someday in the next few hundred years, we can teleport things. Wouldn't that rock?

It could happen. Computers used to be the size of entire rooms -- commmunity centers were dedicated to two computers. And now, we have computers that you can fit on your lap, and are exponentially faster than those hunky computers with only MS-DOS installed on it.

[Morpheus]

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]I don't think so either. Like altron said, humans would probably not survive in such speeds. Back before I learned what the E=mc^2 equation actually meant. I used to think if someone went at the speed of sound, or the speed of sound squared, their mass would be converted into energy. Yes I had a freaky imagination when I was younger :D.

But when you think about it, there's really no point of trying to achieve the speed of light anyway, from an anstromic point of view. It won't get us anywhere. The nearest star to the Sun is over 2 million light years away. So unless you travelled at the speed of light for 2 million years, you'll never get there. Simply escaping our solar system in a small amount of time (less than 11 years!) seems like a huge goal as it is.True, but sound has much different properties than light does. Its waves actually need something material to travel through, while light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation do not. The speed of sound (355 m/s) is quite incomparable to that of light (300000000 m/s). The force needed to drive a spaceship at this speed would be massive![/COLOR][/QUOTE]

What the heck are you talking about? Light from the sun reaches pluto in 4 hours, and the nearest star is prixima centauri, 4 light years away. Our entire galaxy is 100,000 LY across.

[MissWem]

[QUOTE=Altron]Who knows? Maybe there is a way to defy the time-space continuum. Like 'ripping' a whole in space, so that the ship doesn't have to undergo the stress of that speed. People thought alot of things back in the day. We have no idea what turns and twists science will take. Who knows? Maybe we will figure out how to teleport large objects before we can break the light barrier. We've already transported like single protons and electrons or something like that. Maybe... just maybe... we can make this technology more advanced so that someday in the next few hundred years, we can teleport things. Wouldn't that rock?
[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed]Actually I do believe there has been some rather promising research on the development of teleportation. I kinda got my information second hand but from what was described, rather than literally making the partical physically move across the obstacle, they did the next best thing which was to turn one an atom on the other side into an exact duplicate by 'sending the information' across. It was called entanglement unfortunately the obvious problem is that, it isn't [i]really[/i] teleportation, but more a form of cloning and well.. that would be a silly way of teleporting people.[/COLOR]
[QUOTE]
It could happen. Computers used to be the size of entire rooms -- commmunity centers were dedicated to two computers. And now, we have computers that you can fit on your lap, and are exponentially faster than those hunky computers with only MS-DOS installed on it.[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed]Yes. However increasing the speed/efficiency of energy is completely different to making an object with a large physical mass, to go faster.

By my understanding, you can't travel at the speed of light because then you'd have infinite mass..? At least not in the current dimensions we understand physics in, because as you get faster the energy required to do so converts to mass, hence the infinite mass once you reached the speed of light (assuming it's possible) then that would cause the universe to cease to exist. We'd have to discover a 'new dimension' that has a differing set of limits that would allow us to do it.

Basically you would be too heavy to push : P

If someone would like to correct me I'd be happy to think about it, considering it's amazing I even passed physics at all x^D

Another way as I think someone mentioned is rather than make ourselves do the moving, we can make space move for us. But then we wouldn't technically be travelling, we'd be sitting there.. but I think that's relativity.

Btw, would someone explain to me what E=mc^2 is?[/COLOR]

[Morpheus]

energy=mass times the speed of light squared

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='DerelictDestiny][COLOR=DarkRed']Btw, would someone explain to me what E=mc^2 is?[/COLOR][/quote][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]E = mc^2 is Einstein's equation for energy that tends to hold true for really small masses. Energy's units are kg*m^2/s^2, so it's easy to see how, with the speed (m/s) of light squared (m^2/s^2) being a constant value, the effect mass has on energy.

Put this equation alongside E = 0.5mv^2 (also of kg*m^2/s^2 units), and you can also relate the concept to how much energy a particular mass needs to travel at the speed of light. However, working with E = mc^2 and because the speed of light is constant, the only way for a particular mass to increase its energy is by increasing it's mass, thereby also increasing the amount of energy necessary to travel the speed of light. This loop continues until infinity.

And hence, we arrive at the paradox, heh. Hope that made sense![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Delta]

[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]I'm not much of a Physics person but here's my try at it:

Has anyone read "A Wrinkle in Time"? It proposed some sort of a dimension in which one could travel from a place to another just by bending the space between them. That, I think is possible. We may not be able to breach the c limit but I think we could find a detour of sorts around it.

Love and Peace!
[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Corey]

[size=1]The truth of the matter is, is that no one understands the physics of our universe.

[i]e.x.[/i]
What is inertia? Inertia is the tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line motion to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force.
Why does that happen? No one knows.

Physicists will rattle off equations and terms like there's no tomorrow, but no one can actually explain why the universe (from galaxies to muons) does what it does.


In order to go faster than, or as fast as, light, a tremendous amount of energy would be needed (like someone already said). As of now, we don't have anything that makes that big of a power source. As of now.
A hundred years ago, the were burning oil and coal in powerplants. Granted they still do it today, but now we have nuclear power as well. Whose to say that we won't have fusion before long? And after that?
As science progresses, so will technology. As science progresses so does our knowledge. No one can say for sure that we'll never be going as fast as light.

I will post again, but right now I'm very tired.[/size]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]A bigger barrier than most things to travelling at or above the speed-of-light is G-forces. People black out around 8-9G's and travelling at light-speed would require some kind of method for overcoming this.

And as for accessing other dimensions, the idea is nice and could well be plausible.

But possible? Not iminently. We don't even know about other dimensions. In regards to accessible, traversable dimensions, that is.[/size]

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f][quote name='Morpheus']What the heck are you talking about? Light from the sun reaches pluto in 4 hours, and the nearest star is prixima centauri, 4 light years away. Our entire galaxy is 100,000 LY across.[/quote]Really? :confused: I thought I read 2 million light years somewhere. I've read that the light from most of the stars we see at night is millions or even billions of years old. It's understandable that everything in our solar system is within a few hours range of the sun's light, but there must be a huge distance between our solar system and the next if all the stars appear as tiny white dots in the sky. But still, you might be right. I hope your are, since its nice knowing that some of the stars aren't millions of light years from us. Meh.[/COLOR]

[Corey]

[size=1][i]The distance from the Earth to the Sun varies because the Earth's orbit about the Sun is elliptical.At it's closest, the distance is 91,402,000 miles and it's farthest distance it is 94,512,000 miles.This gives an average distance of 92,957,000 miles. Light travels at 186,282 miles per second. Dividing the average distance by the speed of light gives 499.01225 seconds which is 8.3168708 minutes.
-Source: Answered by Joe Thomas ([url]http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae48.cfm[/url])[/i]

[i]Other stars are so much farther away that it is convenient to express the distance to them in units of the distance traveled by light in one year. This unit is called a light year. The next closest star to us is Proxima Centauri. This star is 4.3 light years away which means that light from it takes 4.3 years to reach us. Our galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. This means that it can take tens of thousands of years for light from some stars in our galaxy to reach us. For stars that we can see in nearby galaxies it can take millions of years. The farthest objects we can see are quasars. They are so distant that the light we see from them today left billions of years ago.
-Source: Answered by Damian Audley ([url]http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970710c.html[/url])[/i]

Morpheus, you really didn't half to be so demeaning in your responce. Chabichou [i]was[/i] wrong, but you could have said it in a nicer way. No one knows everything. We can learn from eachother, but people tend not to listen to you if you're an *** about it.[/size]

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f][QUOTE=Freude][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]I'm not much of a Physics person but here's my try at it:

Has anyone read "A Wrinkle in Time"? It proposed some sort of a dimension in which one could travel from a place to another just by bending the space between them. That, I think is possible. We may not be able to breach the c limit but I think we could find a detour of sorts around it.

Love and Peace!
[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]I loved that book! It was stated that you must travel through the 5th dimension, which is the bending of space and time. It was called the tesseract. I think this theory is actually being researched. For instance, you can never find the exact location of an electron. Why? An eletron is everywhere at the same time within the atom. Freaky huh? So some scientists think that it uses this concept of the fifth dimension to travel. Quantum chemistry is pretty neat. :) [/COLOR]

[Drix D'Zanth]

The speed of light is about 2.998 x 10^8 m/s.
(oops.. somehow 2.998 was turned into 9.88 in my mind, Azure called me on this one)

E=mc^2 refers to energy with relation to matter... not really breaking the speed of light.

Could we go faster than the speed of light? Discounting artificial gravity produced, the fact that speeds like that would require some sort of energy generation, friction... space is not an absolute vaccum... the fact that you would eventually collide with matter....yup.. you could go as fast or possibly faster than light.

One problem, everything would go pitch black or pitch white. Concievably, everything around you would freeze, not in time, but as you reached the speed of light, the photons would have a hard time catching up to your eye.. until... they cannot.

I think the most prevailing hypothesis is the utilization of black holes and the energy within them to send us beyond our current physical limitations. The only problem: a black hole would squeeze earth into the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

[AzureWolf]

[FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]I can't seem to find who said it, but the idea about going through wormholes is exactly what Einstein saw as the best means to travel through space. Unlike on Earth, quite a few people believe that the universe is curved, so the shortest means from point A to point B is not a straight line, since, when you unfold the universe, it would be an extraordinary (almost parabolic) direction.[quote name='Drix D'Zanth]The speed of light is about 9.8 x 10^8 m/s.[/QUOTE]Where did you hear this from? Are you sure you aren't confusing acceleration due to gravity with the speed of light, which is a little less than 3 x 10^8 m/s? [QUOTE]Could we go faster than the speed of light? Discounting artificial gravity produced, the fact that speeds like that would require some sort of energy generation, friction... space is not an absolute vaccum... the fact that you would eventually collide with matter....yup.. you could go as fast or possibly faster than light.[/QUOTE]Could you elaborate on your idea, explaining how you think this is possible? I know you are ignoring the listed variables, but even then, where would the energy generation come from? [QUOTE']One problem, everything would go pitch black or pitch white. Concievably, everything around you would freeze, not in time, but as you reached the speed of light, the photons would have a hard time catching up to your eye.. until... they cannot.[/quote]Wouldn't the person going as fast/faster be freezing up as well, and why would things turn white at all if there's no light?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Retribution]

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']A bigger barrier than most things to travelling at or above the speed-of-light is G-forces. People black out around 8-9G's and travelling at light-speed would require some kind of method for overcoming this.[/size][/quote]
Very true. And THIS is the reason why Gundam comes in handy! ^.^
You would need some sort of G-nullifier, which reduces the G's to something humans can withstand. Doesn't need to be comfortable, but survivable. Maybe 2-3 (about a roller coaster).
Maybe a gel or something that can some how absorb the Gs. Or... better yet, and more creative would be a floating section within the craft, that way there would be no Gs. The problem with this is that the acceleration would make the section hit the craft, and the people would slam into the wall coming towards them.
Do you think that cryogenics could be a more plasible solution? You're already knocked out, therefore the G's wouldn't mess you up (unless we're talking light speed), and you could be awaken when you reach your destination.
The sad, sad fact of the matter is, however that we dont have a source of energy to propel a craft that fast, and we dont have materials strong enough to keep the craft in a solid shape. I'm thinking that a rip in the time-space continuum is humanity's best bet.

[Drix D'Zanth]

[quote name='AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]I can't seem to find who said it, but the idea about going through wormholes is exactly what Einstein saw as the best means to travel through space. Unlike on Earth, quite a few people believe that the universe is curved, so the shortest means from point A to point B is not a straight line, since, when you unfold the universe, it would be an extraordinary (almost parabolic) direction.Where did you hear this from? [/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote]

Well, I remember reading a book by a scientist restricted to a wheelchair, who must use some sort of vocalizing machine? I can?t recall his name; Steven Hawkings or something like that...

It was in a book titled ?Ooh, look at the pretty stars!? Or ?Black holes and you..?

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]
Are you sure you aren't confusing acceleration due to gravity with the speed of light, which is a little less than 3 x 10^8 m/s? [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
I edited my post.. my bad. You are right with that number.. approx 2.998 x 10^8 m/s

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]
Could you elaborate on your idea, explaining how you think this is possible? I know you are ignoring the listed variables, but even then, where would the energy generation come from? Wouldn't the person going as fast/faster be freezing up as well, and why would things turn white at all if there's no light?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Well, I don?t really have much of a quantitative theory. I could only suggest that a wormhole is the only possibility. Perhaps the energy between a matter/antimatter reaction? *Shrug* I?m just saying it?s possible because I don?t really see how it could be impossible. Granted, the hurdles to overcome our current physical restraints may *seem* impossible?

I think you are right about the ?freezing up? effect. I know that electricity itself may be insufficient to power such a mechanism for travel. As for the vision turning ?white? I?m referring to the electrons continuing to fire in the brain despite the disability of any sensory organ. This usually occurs when your occipital region strikes an object hard enough so that you cannot see anything for a short period of time; it is described as blinding light, rather than pitch blackness.

[Delta]

[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1] Now that G's are mentioned...

We've read about Newton's Laws right? That force is mass times acceleration and that the body moves towards the direction of the net force.

How about this:
We create a machine within the craft that will house the equipment and at the same time counteract the acceleration of the craft. Thus, as the result of these opposite accelerations, we can make the G's approach tolerable levels.

EDIT: Yes, there's an author named Stephen Hawkings and he wrote "A Brief History of Time." Sometimes the fastest way to get from point A to point B is not a straight line. I've heard about a curve called an [u]inverted cycloid[/u]: it's said that the quickest way to get from point P (placed somewhere in the curve) to point Q (the lowest part of the curve) under the influence of gravity is traced by this curve, not a straight line. It's sometimes called "the curve of quickest descent"
Sorry for rambling.

Love and Peace!
[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1][quote name='Chabichou']For instance, you can never find the exact location of an electron. Why? An eletron is everywhere at the same time within the atom.[/quote]
Unless I'm off the mark, you are mistaken here. Not in the fact that scientists can never know exactly where the electron is at the exact moment it is there, but in why. The why is that the tiny photons they fire at the electorn to determine it's location actually push the electron away. They alter its course.

Something else interesting I've heard is that some particles [like electrons, or quarks, or something] actually react to being observed. I think this may be something to do with the whole re-direction by the photons, but I can't quite recall at the moment.

[quote=Altron]You would need some sort of G-nullifier, which reduces the G's to something humans can withstand. Doesn't need to be comfortable, but survivable. Maybe 2-3 (about a roller coaster).
Maybe a gel or something that can some how absorb the Gs. Or... better yet, and more creative would be a floating section within the craft, that way there would be no Gs. The problem with this is that the acceleration would make the section hit the craft, and the people would slam into the wall coming towards them.
Do you think that cryogenics could be a more plasible solution? You're already knocked out, therefore the G's wouldn't mess you up (unless we're talking light speed), and you could be awaken when you reach your destination.
The sad, sad fact of the matter is, however that we dont have a source of energy to propel a craft that fast, and we dont have materials strong enough to keep the craft in a solid shape. I'm thinking that a rip in the time-space continuum is humanity's best bet.[/quote]
I've seen a video about some guy who was moving super, super-fast. His face was so distorted, it wasn't even funny. G-forces react to the Law of Inertia. Essentially, until you reach light-speed you would be experiencing massive G-forces. Unsurvivable ones. And if you wanted to turn in a faster-than-light ship, not only would you be a thousand miles beyond the point by the time you turned it, the directional G-forces would be seriously nasty. G-forces are essentially the effect that occurs, as a body tends to remain at rest or continue in a straight line until another force is applied.

Even if you're in a floating section of the craft, you're still going to get G's. And cryogenics...well, the effect is that when you reach your 'G-limit' you pass out. Also, you can often not balance, as the minerals in your ears that are used for balance crystallise. Happens to Nascar drivers. Now, imagine the types of G's at faster than light speed. G-forcs don't culminate in you being blacked-out. That is a side-effect. G-forces culminate when your body is ripped apart.

And I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at that last sentence. It is just such a catchphrase. Any sci-fi inclined six year old could tell me that. Do you even know what the 'time-space continuum' is? I'm not being nasty here....it was just funny, but at the same time very unrealistic. And...silly, lol.

[quote name='Freude']We create a machine within the craft that will house the equipment and at the same time counteract the acceleration of the craft. Thus, as the result of these opposite accelerations, we can make the G's approach tolerable levels.[/quote]

Thats a wonderful idea, lol. But, how are we going to do that? Is there any method to do it? No. Or at least, as far as I'm aware. I imagine that if some way of overcoming massive G-forces had been found, someone would have said something.

This reminds me of a book I read. About the shortest path from A to B is not a straight line, but if you 'crumpled' the distance between them. The book was about some secret US project involving invisibility applied to a ship in WWII, I think. Nasty side-effects for the men involved, apparently. But the thing is, I'm not sure at this stage if it was fiction or not, or based upon true occurrences...[/size]

[Adahn]

[font=Courier New][size=2][color=blue]I apologize in advance if all of this seems like it's being pulled out of my -ss, because, well, it is.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Courier New][size=2][color=#0000ff][/color][/size][/font]
[font=Courier New][size=2][color=#0000ff]Aren't 'g-forces' dependent upon gravity? Gravity is the attraction between objects. Gravity tends to lose a bit of its magnitude once you move away from the celestial body (leaving the earth's atmosphere, for example). What I'm thinking is that you can go as fast as you want and not have to worry about 'g-forces' if there aren't any celestial bodies within a certain proximity. You could probably do a calculation for the effect of a speed or direction change on the 'g-forces' felt by an object, in relation to the proximity and size of celestial bodies. So, if you want to escape our universe, you choose a speed and path that keep the 'g-forces' minimal. When you get somewhere without any applicable gravitational pull, you can kick it in high gear, stop and start however fast you want, because without nearby celestial bodies, 'g-forces' simply don't apply. You would have to take into account the mass of the ship, though, just in case at extremely high speeds, relatively small amounts of matter have a significant gravitational pull on nearby objects.[/color][/size][/font]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]To tell the truth Adahn, I was thinking that myself as I wrote it. But still, at faster-than-light speeds, what kind of system would you need to control, plot, and steer your spaceship? One that operated way faster than however fast you were travelling.i.e a system that operated faster-than-light speed as well.

I don't imagine that hitting something at such a speed would produce a positive result.

However, in regards to effects upon your body, the law of inertia still works... you'd need a very long distance to speed up to light-speed on. Wouldn't you? Because an astronaut can continue on his path as long as it isn't interrupted...and an astronaut at rest would need to begin moving at light-speed. Because when the ship started, he'd remain floating. And be hit by a wall moving at light-speed. Right?

I think it could be...but I'm not sure, lol.[/size]

[Corey]

[size=1]G-forces aren't dependant on gravity, they are gravity, or at least how we measure gravity. 1g=earths gravity. 2gs=twice earth gravity, etc, etc... If you're sitting there in completely g-less space, meaning there's nothing around you to make any kind of noticable pull, and you suddenly jump to lightspeed, you'd be suddenly pushed forward at about [i](if someone else could crunch the numbers and either confirm or deny my results I would feel better. I did it three times and came out with the same answer but that doesn't mean anything.)[/i] 30,591,001.94 times earths gravity. *

Enough to crush you into something completely unrecognisable.

Think about it this way Adahn. Here on earth horizontal motion, anything not upward or downward, is not affected by gravity at all. If I were to roll a ball off of a table while there was no gravity on earth it would just keep going until it got lost out in space somewhere.
Now thinking about the same principle, if you're in a car going at about 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) and you suddenly hit a brick wall, you're going to feel you slamming into the wall at about 2.7 g's (given the car might absorb some of the impact, but work with me here). G-forces outside of a planet (or other heavenly body) are independant of gravity. They're just called that because it's what we measure our gravity by.

*[i][b]The Math[/b]
186,282 miles/second...
...coverted to...
299,791,819.008 meters/second.
Gravity (1g) = 9.8 meters/second.
299,791,819.008 meters/second...
...divided by...
9.8 meters/second...
...equals...
30,591,001.93959184[/i][/size]

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

Well, since the 9.8 is ACCELERATION, the 9.8's would compound every second. So if you need to go 20 m/s, it will take 2 seconds if you accelerate from 0 m/s at the rate of g. That is, instantaneously jumping to 300,000,000 km/s would destroy you utterly, but you could always just take your sweet time getting there. Assuming you can handle 8 g's, it'd take you 121 years to get to that speed. Which is a bit past your lifespan, but bah who cares. Anyway...

[Adahn]

[font=Courier New][color=blue][/color][/font][font=Courier New][size=2][color=blue]I know I'm thinking 'out of the box' here, but I'll keep going. I may be wrong, but I'll say it anyway. What you're describing is momentum. This momentum is caused by gravity (I think). If you are in a ship with it's own micro-environment, and you are going 300k miles an hour, and you stop instantly, what happens to the micro-environment (assuming there are no nearby heavenly bodies)? Is there any reason for everything to slam forward and turn into wall-pizza? What force would cause this to happen? I think the reason you are slammed into the front of the car when you hit a wall has something to do with the downward pull of gravity. Without that force, you should feel as many g's as you would hitting a fly.[/color][/size][/font]