Swiming through spacetime
Ok so this is substack and here we are. What to write about?
Well theres this thing about space drives, or propellantless propulsion thats always fascinated me. Is there a wriggle room for breaking newtons third law of motion provided by relativity?
Swimming Through Spacetime | Science | AAAS
Hm.. What does relativity say to someones like me without a physics background`?
Something like, “all directions are not made equal”.
And what does newtons third law of motion say?
Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
So what happens if the action happens in one kind of space and the reaction happens in a different kind of space, do we get friction?
“What if the action happens in one kind of space, and the reaction in another?”
Reminds me of something John W. Campbell (editor of Astounding Science Fiction) used to hammer on: that the speed of light limit might not be a wall, just a blind spot in our current physics. He used to say the job of science fiction—and good speculative thinking—was to explore the edges where physics breaks down, not to genuflect before what’s “settled.”
Campbell saw relativity as possibly incomplete, especially if it couldn’t explain how a ship might “swim through spacetime” instead of burning propellant. If you’re talking about layered spaces, maybe what we need isn’t to break Newton’s Third Law, but to reframe where the reaction goes.
Cool stuff—keep pulling that thread.