Editing 1404: Quantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | + | {{incomplete|Just describes the science, not the comic. I tried to get the ball rolling but it's late and I'm tired}} | |
| − | + | This comic is a reference to the recent news <ref name="Wired">D. Hambling, "Nasa validates 'impossible' space drive", ''Wired UK'' (2014-07-31) http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-07/31/nasa-validates-impossible-space-drive</ref> 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 according to {{w|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="draft paper">D.A. Brady, H.G. White, P. March, J.T. Lawrence, and F.J. Davies, "Anomalous Thrust Production from an RF Test Device Measured on a Low-Thrust Torsion Pendulum" (conference proceedings). [http://rghost.net/57230791 Pre-print] retrieved on 2014-08-05</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="draft paper" /><ref name="nasa abstract">http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20140006052</ref> is an extraordinary claim on very weak data. This may fall under the category of "Tooth-Fairy (Pseudo-)science",<ref name="tooth fairy">http://www.skepdic.com/toothfairyscience.html</ref> trying to quantify a phenomenon before one has confirmed it exists. | |
| − | The | + | The title of the comic directly refers to this hypothetical new physics mechanism of interacting with the "quantum vacuum virtual plasma," a combination of physics words that don't normally go together. <ref name="Baez1"> J. Baez, "The incredible shrinking force" [https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/WfFtJ8bYVya Google Plus] (2014-08-02) ""Quantum vacuum virtual plasma" is something you'd say if you failed a course in quantum field theory and then smoked too much weed." </ref><ref name="Orzel"> Chad Orzel, "Impossible Thruster Probably Impossible", [http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2014/08/04/impossible-thruster-probably-impossible/ Science Blogs] (2014-08-04) "certainly a collection of four words that turn up in physics papers."</ref> |
| − | 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 | + | 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. The final frame of the comic first makes the observation that "twitching" is an expected outcome for various complex systems, including biological ones, when arbitrarily large electric or microwave power is injected. The 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. Finally Cueball concedes that the complex behaviors of complex systems are not obviously predicable by our first stabs at modeling and suggests (humorously to anyone with an awareness of the history of science) that the answer will always lie in the realm of Man's ignorance. |
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| + | 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 detailed study of the complexities of the system. This runs contrary to generally accepted heuristics of parsimony in science. | ||
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| + | ===References=== | ||
| + | <references /> | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
