steveb@tekecs.UUCP (06/07/83)
A ship accelerating continually at 1 G (thus forever getting a teeny bit closer to the speed of light) could circumnavigate the known universe in only 56 years, ship time!
faustus%UCBMIRO@Berkeley@sri-unix.UUCP (06/08/83)
From: faustus%UCBMIRO@Berkeley (Wayne A. Christopher) Perhaps it could circumnavigate the universe in 56 years, ship time, but according to the General Theory of relativity, which proposes that the universe is indeed bounded and circumnavigatible, in those 56 years ship time the universe will have collapsed into a black hole (the opposite of the big bang). And if there is not enough matter in the universe to force this to happen, then it is not possible to circumnavigate it (i.e., it is infinite). Does anybody have any detailed support for this? I am just recalling what I heard in an undergraduate physics course. Wayne
gwyn%brl-vld@sri-unix.UUCP (06/09/83)
From: Doug Gwyn VLD/VMB <gwyn@brl-vld> General Relativity itself does not state what global cosmology exists, but in any case it would be unlikely that 56 years of time in any reference system would suffice to reach an "end of the universe". Actually, the simplest cosmology consistent with the natural generalization of relativity theory is a steady-state, isotropic universe. In such a universe, you will find things pretty much the same wherever and whenever you arrive.
sysman@glasgow.UUCP (06/15/83)
Interisting (sic) indeed, however we are told that there are only about 10^80 electrons in the universe and this is somewhat smaller than 10^1200 tons of fuel necessary to circumnavigate the Universe. It would seem that a much more efficient fuel is necessary. Has anybody calculated the amount of matter that would have to be gathered from space for a ship of reasonable size to keep accelerating at 1g? Zdravko Podolski, Glasgow, Scotland