Displacement Part II

I wanted to expand a little on the idea of Energy Displacement.

Matter is energy and quite a bit of energy at that.  Although an atom is mostly empty space there is still a large amount of energy and according to our models of atomic structure that energy is constantly moving.  Thus we have a spherical field of energy (electrons) around a center mass of condensed energy (protons & electrons) that can be represented by a ball.  Any ball will do really.

This ball has mass which is just a grouping of energy large enough to create a gravitational field.  I think we'll hold off on gravity for another time.  Anyway, the ball.  Much like an atom, our ball has energy passing through it constantly.  Radiation in many forms can travel through the ball as if it wasn't there.  The waves and particles travel through the ball because they can find the tiny gaps in the energy structure and do not have to deal with displacement.

If we move our ball we have to expend energy.  We push the ball and the ball rolls.  As it rolls, it displaces the air around it easily as the mass of the ball is much greater than the mass of the air.  We can start to understand the total energy equation of the ball.

Y=M+E

Y is the total energy of the equation where M is mass energy of the ball and E is the energy applied to make it attain motion.  If Y is greater than the total energy acting against this motion, the ball will move.  Gravity must be taken into account down the line but I'm not getting into that mess now.  The energy acting against the mass energy of the medium it is passing through and any energy that is affecting that mass as well.  This would be the same equation basically but we'll label it X instead. So:

if Y > X then movement is achieved; if Y< or = X then no movement is achieved.

It is energy versus energy in the end that concerns us most.  Remember, mass is energy.

Our ball will increase in speed if energy is applied constantly or increased.  It will slow down when applied energy is decreased and Y gradually approaches equality with X.  Kinetic energy is the equation coming back into balance over time when applied energy is ceased.

So that's the basics of movement.  Energy Displacement becomes clearer when the mass of the medium increases in the middle of our balls journey.  Say we were to roll our ball across a concrete sidewalk and into a grassy yard.  Across the concrete part we are dealing mainly with the medium of air, which is easily passed through.  When the ball enters the grass, it encounters a new medium of air and blades of grass.  Suddenly the mass energy of the medium shoots up significantly and the equation balances quicker because the total energy of medium increases.

This is the 'stopping' force that the grass imparts on our ball.  The energy of the ball fights against the energy of the grass it is moving through.  The energy used to move the ball is lost as the medium absorbs the excess energy in the equation and eventually the ball comes to a stop.  If we wanted to keep the ball accelerating when it moves into the grass, we would have to put more energy into it's side of the equation.  Simply walking over and throwing it again would suffice.

These are the basics.  I refrain from using what we consider traditional physics terms for these things because we will be dealing more in the quantum level later which of course plays by it's own rules.  Eventually we will get to warp travel.  I promise.

A few notes on speed...

The speed of light is considered to be the fastest that anything in this universe can travel.  This has remained true for all of history but perhaps we can do better.  The warp drive might actually be the key but we are still a ways off from making it happen.  How does it work?  The concept is simple.  

The speed an object travels is determined by the amount of energy the object has dedicated to it's motion.  This can be object generated energy such a human being walking or energy imposed on an object such as the effects of gravity on a rolling ball.  This is the simplest way of looking at it but there is another important factor.  Energy displacement.

Energy displacement could also be called matter displacement since mass is energy in a different form.  This is an easier way of understanding how it works.  When we travel at speed, we are traveling through a medium.  On Earth, the typical mediums traveled through are air and water.  

Air is a medium that is easily moved through by humans and their vehicles.  Despite our freedom moving around in it, there is actually quite a bit of matter that has to be displaced when traveling through it.  In water, there is even more matter that has to be displaced to allow us to move and thus slows our progress. 

If we are to expend the same amount of energy moving through water as we would air, we would travel at a slower speed.  There is more matter that needs to be displaced to allow our matter to occupy the new space.  So not only does the energy expended determine our speed but also the medium in which we are traveling.  Seems pretty sensible.  

If we travel in space, things become a little more complex but the general idea remains the same.  In space there is very little mass or energy that we have to displace when traveling.  This allows for much greater speeds with little energy needed to be expended.  Light traveling through a vacuum is considered the fastest that anything can travel.  It makes sense since it is pure energy traveling through a seemingly empty medium and the photon itself has basically no mass.  It is the perfect vehicle for achieving speed.

If we are to attempt to travel at that speed we run into a problem.  We have mass, which is energy trapped in a tightly packed ball that interacts with other energies in a problematic way when you want to go fast.  In space, as well as on Earth, that much energy must displace the majority of the energy it comes in contact with before it can move forward.  A photon can slip past the miniscule amount of energy in the universe because it has little to no mass and rarely interacts with other energies.  It barely exists.  It displaces almost nothing and thus achieves an impressive top speed.

A human wishing to travel at those speeds would have to be expending a huge amount of energy to attain those speeds because we would be constantly displacing energy we encounter.  The faster we go, the more energy we are encountering at any given moment which leads to more energy needed to increase our speed. This eventually leads to a balance problem when the amount of energy needed to overcome the energy displacement is unimaginable.  Our mass can no longer displace the energy in the medium and we are considered to have 'infinite mass'.  It's like hitting a brick wall while running flat out.  This problem kills our ability to travel the stars with any efficiency.  Unless you have a warp field.  

More on that later...

Soon?

The base ship sketches for CosmoViking are all drawn and inked now.  I'm not sure how long it will take to get them scanned and finished on the computer.  I hate scanning things.  It's a slow and terrible process that involves not doing very much.  Next week I plan on getting it all done if possible since I am taking a little time off of work to catch up on various projects.  Go CosmoViking!

Yes, vacation.  It's not a proper vacation by any means but it is time away from work.  It's been nearly a year since my last vacation and that was when I moved into my new house.  As fun as that was, it was still a hectic activity and not really the sit back and relax type of vacation I need right now.  The real trick of course is staying motivated on this stay-cation as they call it.  I could easily burn through a few days doing nothing of importance but that wouldn't be very good at all.  

Big things to get done:  

- Basement.  I have to get that thing finished up and then the room cleaned up.  Sadly this means boxing up all of my Warhammer stuff.  So sad.  I just worry about them when they're not safe on their shelves.  

- CosmoViking.  Sketches need to get done.  This will be a nice first day of Vacation project I think.  I'll set up the scanner in the living room and watch bad movies until they're finished.  That sounds like a perfect Monday.  

- Prep for the gig.  Yes, I have a show next week play with The Seasonals.  Friday, May 3rd at the legendary Bridgid's Pub, downtown Bemidji.  It's going to be a fun evening and I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy the spring air by walking around downtown taking in the local culture.  I need to brush up on some songs but overall I feel good.  More than anything I need to get used to the new bass pedal.  It's just so solid and well built it feels weird under my foot.  It's going to take a little bit to get the feel for it.  

Well.  That's about it really.  I'm sure there will be some partying and all that as well.  Hopefully some gaming at some point.  Woot.

Have a good day kids.

Spring?

Snow!  Yes, there was snow yesterday but a quick check of the 10-day forecast was a little surprising.  High temps in the fifties at the end of this week.  Yes, fifties.  Amazing.  I think it's finally coming to a close, this winter of everlasting.  Highs in the forties for the majority with partly cloudy skies and no sign of snow.  Glorious.

If this is the case, I look forward to a pleasant and productive week.

Another Friday...

Another Friday and thus begins the month of events.

It's going to be a fairly exciting few weeks here as spring seems to possibly coming our way finally.  Tonight is gaming night, hopefully, where the lads will face their most hated enemy to date.  Will they live?  Will they have their revenge upon him who betrayed them?  Always a good time and I hope it goes well.

Roller derby starts up again tomorrow night.  I'm pleasantly surprised by the increased interest in getting me help for the NSO crew this spring.  There seems to have been a real push to get the staffing issue under control.  It will still be a frantic affair but I will actually pull it off this time without too much issue.

After that there is a little bit of a break in the action as the weather starts to warm up and I get cracking on house things.  I still have a little interior patching to get done and get some much needed spring cleaning done.

Then, after that is done I'm thinking of taking a few days off of work for a mini-vacation.  If the weather holds, I'll be cleaning out the garage and enjoying some much needed head clearing time.  Work is being quite the pain in my brain lately and it would be good to worry about Minecraft rather than garment orders.

That would be capped off by my triumphant return to the stage.  A wild and crazy evening with The Seasonals at Bridgid's Cross on May 3rd.  It's a Friday.  Bigger energy now with me punching things up a notch and bringing my signature louder is awesome style.

After that it's back to derby action training and then hopefully Out of the Hat coming up mid-May.  May 18th as I have heard.  I think there was something on the 11th too that was pretty important but I have forgotten now.

In the middle of all of this I have two very special projects to be working on.  First, the sketches for all the regular ships for CosmoViking are finished.  Huzzah!  Now to get them scanned, colorized and stuff.  That will be fun.  Secondly, my new book idea is really taking off.  Things are bouncing in the brain and after purchasing a ridiculous sketchbook to use as idea journal, I'm not losing my ideas anymore.  Notes I'm jotting down at work are transcribed into the tome of awesomeness at night and saved.  The plot is coming together and I would expect I can start putting some actual words down soon.  I just need some character studies and then I can get writing.  It's very exciting.  I owe it all to Froyd and his wonderful whiteboard for making that little idea explode and become a real story.

Anyway...time to get to work.  Just a few hours and this crazy weekend will commence!  Good luck to you all.


(Edit) P.S.  The Wi-Fi card is working again...sort of.  It will work fine for awhile then randomly disappear for a few then come back after it's shut down for at least a half an hour.  I'm wondering if there's a heat issue or some sort of incompatibility issue with something else that only pops on randomly once in awhile.  Unknown.

Ups and downs

Tuesday turned out to be a day of ups and downs.  On the upside, went to my first band practice in over a decade and it went rather well.  I'm a bit rusty and having trouble remembering how certain limbs move at certain times but overall it was fun.  I need to do some studying before gig day but I think it will be a good show.

On the downside yesterday, the wi-fi on the wife's laptop crapped out a day after I finally got it working right!  It wasn't long after we got the thing that the internal wireless just wouldn't connect.  It would see networks but never be able to connect.  I pulled the card, checked the antenna connections but still nothing.  I checked the drivers and such but nothing seemed out of place.  We had a USB Wi-Fi adapter sitting around so she just used that until that got damaged.  So I ordered a new half-card, mini-card wireless adapter for five bucks and dropped that it.  What happened?  Perfectly connected up, no problems, top transfer speeds across the board.

That worked great for an entire day!  I came home last night, picked it up and connected to a minecraft server and played for an hour.  No issues whatsoever.  I put the thing down to eat some toast and watch some IT Crowd and when I picked it back up the card was gone.  

Yup...the card was no longer listed in the device manager.  Poof....gone.  I popped the back off just to make sure it hadn't been stolen by pixies but it was still there physically.  Odd, I thought, it's still there!  I restarted and now the computer is trying to tell me I have a unrecognizable USB device attached to the computer.  What the heck?  Somehow, in the span of making toast, the system decided that the wireless card wasn't a wireless card but rather a mutant USB device.  I am a titch angry.  If I can install it manually rather than relying on the plug-and-play awesomeness that is modern computing maybe that will clear it up.  It's a fix I will try tonight.  

Sadly though I fear it's a bad port and never repairable.  I guess it's back to USB adapters.  So sad.  

At least Bioshock: Infinite downloaded the day it was working. ;)

Coffee

There's coffee all over my shirt now.  I hope you're happy.  

I really have to get the brain working again.  I think we all expected to be hopping rain puddles and putting away the winter wear by now.  This snow stuff really has to end soon.  I keep doing little things to keep me feeling like I'm being productive but it's a bit like shoveling out a ditch with a spoon.  I need a backhoe to get caught up.  

Things to do:

- Get my room back in order!  I'm almost there.  After some rearranging I need to seal up on more crack and then I shouldn't be needing that damn dehumidifier anymore!  Priority level:  Half a year late...

- Music Music Music!  I need to write a few more tracks for the dominant species project.  I don't know if it's even being worked on anymore.  You know what though?  I'm finishing that damn project!  

Priority level:  Pretty important...at least for the ego.

- DRAW!  Cosmo Viking will be released and if I don't get off my ass I'm going to hold that whole project up.  Priority level:  Go Team Venture!

- All the other things on the plate!  Seriously.  Derby, new band, new dance album, work, housework, learn to golf better as to not embarrass myself at golf weekend this year, make cookies, build a wood box, build garage shelves, flush and fill my transmission, get oil change, get my marriage officiant paperwork approved by the state...an more!  F.