(1888PressRelease)
May 15, 2006 - Copyright May 13, 2006 Cleared for redistribution with UPIT News Credit
Bexley Physics Students Get 1st Peek at Warp Drive Tech
by Sonia Chering for United Press Internet News
Dateline Bexley, OH: On May 11, beginning at 9 AM, the physics students of Bexley High School got a historic opportunity to be the first to learn of the development of a prototype for warp drive technology. Though the presentation got off to a jerky start during the first class, due to technical problems with controlling the VCR so the students could properly analyze the footage, by the second period it was fairly smooth sailing for presenter Marshall Barnes and the classes of science teacher Craig Kramer. The multimedia and interactive presentation was a new part of the SuperScience for High School Physics program, which began last year. Jokes and references to sci fi icons Star Trek and Star Wars aside, the presentation covered information provided by the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/ and the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts http://www.niac.usra.edu/ , as well as video documentation of electromagnetic propulsion research from both Ohio and Canada. It was the first public presentation of the analyzed footage prior to the official symposium, scheduled Sunday May 26th at 11:30 AM, at the Hyatt Regency http://columbus.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/ in downtown Columbus, Oh.
The main feature was the analysis of a series of experiments of a device called the STDTS. Invented by Marshall in 2001 it has gone through a series of developments and testing, culminating so far with the footage that the students saw where it accelerated an automobile with the specially modulated electromagnetic field it produces. It is the fact that the field seems to be contracting space in front of the vehicle, and expanding out the back, that makes it appear that it is the first functioning warp drive prototype. The physics foundation of this new development is linked to Einstein's unfinished Unified Field Theory of electromagnetism and gravity.
In each class the students were allowed to view the footage without being told what to expect. "I wanted the students to be a part of it," said Kramer. In fact it was the test footage that was presented first by Marshall after a brief introduction from Kramer to the class.
"What you're going to see is the interior of a car with the dashboard speedometer for about 11 seconds," Marshall would begin, "then the camera will pull up and you'll have a view through the windshield to the outside where you'll see a white minivan and a radar sign beyond that. If you pay good attention you'll see that the radar sign will agree with the speed that you'll see on the speedometer except for the second time because from that camera angle it's hard to tell that the car is going 26 miles per hour but the radar sign will catch the difference in speed and that distance will be noticeable because of a change in the distance covered in the same elapsed time frame, which is 13 seconds. The third time something else will happen, and that's what we'll discuss..."
The first time the car has reached the rear of the white minivan after 13 seconds has passed and the radar sign registers a speed of 25 mph, which agrees with what the speedometer showed. The second time the car has passed the minivan just barely and is approaching the radar sign. Marshall, while pointing out that from the camera angle it was difficult to see that the speedometer was showing 26 mph, had a student volunteer mark the spot on the TV screen, where the radar sign was, with a piece of masking tape.
"Now this is how we have the controls in this experiment," he explained. "The speedometer looked like it said 25 mph but we had clearly gone a farther distance in 13 seconds, and the radar sign showed that we had been going faster. Now watch what happens next..."
The third time, everything seemed to be the same as the first time until the camera began to show how far the car had traveled as it approached the 13 second cut-off time. Not only was the minivan passed, but at 13 seconds the radar sign was about to be passed. The radar sign had also registered the speed at 25 mph but then showed 24 mph as the car got closer. The students in all of the classes were baffled.
"Now what do you think happened here? How was this possible?" Marshall asked them all.
"Magic," came one reply, but others actually came closer to the truth.
"Something was done to the space/time continuum," one student offered. "The radar got jammed somehow", another said.
When they all ran out of guesses, Marshall explained his invention and how it worked. The STDTS seems to warp or contract space in front of a vehicle while its moving and expand it out the back. If it were applied to a space craft and modified so that it could pulse the field, it would accelerate that craft without any fuel expenditure and it could theoretically do so past the speed of light. Marshall explained how it seems to function as part of Einstein's Unified Field Theory of gravity and electromagnetism. Through use of the black board and other video tapes he revealed how it has long been thought that there was a coupling effect between gravity and electromagnetism.
Until now, scientists have assumed that the only way to warp space was through the use of exotic energy http://members.tripod.com/da_theoretical1/exoticfields.html but if it could be done, it would also open the door for such things as wormholes and time machines. Marshall pointed out, however, that since the Unified Field Theory of gravity and electromagnetism implies a relationship between the two, then it would explain how he is able to get the kinds of effects he is. He also showed video material of experiments conducted by Canadian researcher John Hutchison http://www.hutchisoneffect.biz/ which result in antigravity effects, among others, as another example.
On the subject of the radar sign showing the wrong speed, Marshall pointed out that it was actually the correct speed for the car, since it agreed with the speedometer and indicated that the chemical fuel being used was enough to produce the speed of 25 mph. However, the field was accelerating the car to almost 27 mph by the warping of space. Just as required by all models for warp, the car wasn't really moving faster, it's that space was moving as well.
The students had many questions, ranging from what it would mean for space travel, to if they could buy one for their personal cars.
"Well, that was my original idea," Marshall began", to sell it as a device to allow for faster travel without going faster, but that was when I thought it was only effecting time. Once I realized that it was actually accelerating the car and then doing so invisibly to radar, that blew all plans for selling it for cars or trucks. I couldn't even get police or the State Highway patrol to get involved with the testing, because the idea of a technology that could accelerate a car invisibly to radar just blew their minds and scared them. With the right amount of power, a person could be clocked at 65 mph but really be doing 95 mph or more."
The whole day was a part of the SuperScience for High School Physics program that exposes high school students to advanced concept research ideas from the real world in hopes to inspire more students into higher physics and math oriented career paths. The main sponsors are Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease http://www.vssp.com/ , Time Warner Cable http://timewarnercable.com/ , Interhack http://www.interhack.net/ , and Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur http://www.porterwright.com/home , Hugh White Honda http://www.hughwhitehonda.net/ , and Plaza Properties, Inc. http://plazaproperties.com/ . Additional support was given by PC Direct http://www.pcdirectinc.com/ , Reis Design http://riesdesign.com/ , and Lubell Labs http://www.lubell.com.
A new phase of the program will begin this summer with some new sponsors and an expansion of the program's reach to include exhibits outside of the classroom. In the fall, SuperScience for High School Physics kits will be made available for teachers for the first time. The kits will be marketed nationwide and include activities, DVDs, CDs and access codes to download special, updated files online. There are also plans for SuperScience for High School Physics events that can tour the country.
