Editing 1404: Quantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 8: Line 8:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
−
This comic is a reference to the [http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/08/jscs-stealthy-s.html recent news] of a {{w|Quantum vacuum plasma thruster|microwave thruster}} which allegedly produces thrust without expelling any propellant or microwaves, a violation of {{w|Momentum#Conservation|conservation of momentum}}. This type of thruster would provide delta velocity without conventional limits. After researchers hooked their device up to a measurement apparatus in an air-filled stainless-steel chamber, applied RF input and measured changes in the apparatus, their interpretation of the results as a tiny ''thrust'' explainable under the moniker of "quantum vacuum virtual plasma" was at best controversial.  An official statement by NASA's {{w|Johnson Space Center}} is still [http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/08/jsc-is-still-si.html missing.]
+
This is in reference to the recent news of a microwave thruster which produces thrust without expelling any propellant, a violation of conservation of momentum. This type of thruster would provide an infinite delta velocity according to Tsiolkovsky rocket equation since the initial mass and final mass are the same. And indeed, the authors of a recent presentation at a NASA conference waxed lyrical about the space applications of such a device if it worked as claimed. <ref name="draftpaper"> http://rghost.net/57230791 </ref> But while they hooked it up to a measurement apparatus, applied RF input and measured changes in the apparatus, their interpretation of the experiment conducted in an air-filled stainless-steel chamber as a tiny ''thrust'' only explainable in terms of new (undefined) physics under the moniker of "quantum vacuum virtual plasma" <ref name="draftpaper" /><ref name="nasaabstract"> http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20140006052 </ref> is an extraordinary claim on very weak data.  
  
−
The title of the comic directly refers to this hypothetical new physics mechanism of interacting with the "quantum vacuum virtual plasma," a [http://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/WfFtJ8bYVya combination of] [http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2014/08/04/impossible-thruster-probably-impossible/ physics words] that don't normally go together.
+
This may fall under the category of "Tooth-Fairy (Pseudo-)science" <ref name="toothfairy"> http://www.skepdic.com/toothfairyscience.html </ref>, trying to quantify a phenomenon before one has confirmed it exists.
  
−
The first part of the comic has Megan commenting on how the engine was, in layman's terms, "twitching," and states that with that much power she'd expect something more forceful.  "Twitching" is an expected outcome for various complex systems, including biological ones, when arbitrarily large amounts of electric or microwave power is injected. The last panel is a joke about the scientific method, where equivalence between twitching and the hypothetical new physics is pooh-poohed, because Megan was not previously revealed to operate by the principle of "quantum vacuum virtual plasma," to which Megan responds that she is a complex entity and very well might have new physics inside her.
+
===References===
 +
<references />
  
−
The title text suggests that the authors of the NASA paper subscribe to the principle that unexpected behaviors of complex systems should best be explained by invoking new physics rather than by making a detailed study of the complexities of the system. This runs contrary to generally accepted approach in science.
+
==Transcript==
 +
{{incomplete transcript}}
 +
[Cueball and Megan are walking together in the foreground.]
 +
Cueball: Hear about that "impossible" microwave thruster?
 +
 
 +
[Still walking together.]
 +
Megan: Yeah. Let me get this straight---they pumped 20 kilowatts into a box under ambient conditions...and it only twitched a ''little''?
 +
 
 +
Cueball: Yeah.
 +
 
 +
[Way zoomed out, but still walking together.]
 +
Megan: ''That's'' surprising. If you pumped 20 kilowatts into ''me'', I'd twitch a ''lot''.
  
−
==Transcript==
+
Cueball: But you're not pushing on the quantum vacuum.
−
:[Cueball and Megan are walking together in the foreground.]
+
 
−
:Cueball: Hear about that "impossible" microwave thruster?
+
Megan: I ''might'' be. I do a lot of things.
  
−
:[They stop walking and Cueball turns to face Megan.]
+
Cueball: I guess we can't be sure.
−
:Megan: Yeah. Let me get this straight — they pumped 20 kilowatts into a box under ambient conditions
 
−
:...and it only twitched a ''little''?
 
−
:Cueball: Yeah.
 
  
−
:[Zoomed out - they are seen in silhouette walking together again.]
+
Alt Text: I don't understand the things you do, and you therefore may represent an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma.
−
:Megan: ''That's'' surprising. If you pumped 20 kilowatts into ''me'', I'd twitch a ''lot''.
 
−
:Cueball: But you're not pushing on the quantum vacuum.
 
−
:Megan: I ''might'' be. I do a lot of things.
 
−
:Cueball: I guess we can't be sure.
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Templates used on this page:

Retrieved from "https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1404:_Quantum_Vacuum_Virtual_Plasma"