Physics of the Impossible
Encyclopedia
Published in 2008, Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel is a book by theoretical physicist
Michio Kaku
. Kaku uses discussion of speculative technologies to introduce topics of fundamental physics
to the reader. The topic of invisibility becomes a discussion on why the speed of light
is slower in water than a vacuum
, that electromagnetism
is similar to ripples in a pond, and Kaku discusses newly-developed composite material
s. The topic of Star Trek
"phasers" becomes a lesson on how laser
s work and how laser-based research is conducted. With each discussion of science fiction technology topics he also "explains the hurdles to realizing these science fiction
concepts as reality".
had no future.” Likewise, Ernest Rutherford
(1871–1937), a physicist who experimentally described the atom
, thought the atom bomb was impossible and he compared it to moonshine (a crazy or foolish idea). Televisions, computers, and the internet
would seem incredibly fantastic to the people of the turn of the 20th century. Black holes were considered science fiction and even Einstein showed that black holes could not exist. 19th century science had determined that it was impossible for the earth to be billions of years old
. Even in the 1920s and 1930s, Robert Goddard was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to go into space
.
Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as well as they would subsequently be. Kaku states that “as a physicist [he] learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” By this definition of "impossible", he poses the question "Is it not plausible to think that we might someday build space ships that can travel distances of light years
, or think that we might teleport
ourselves from one place to the other?"
, and newly developed plasma window
s. These are two of several technologies, which he sees as required for creating a force field. To create a force field these would be combined in a slightly altered form, such as more precise or more powerful. Furthermore, this discussion on force fields, as well as on the pantheon of highly advanced technologies, remains as true to the original concepts (as in how the public generally imagines advanced technologies) as possible, while remaining practical. Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.
Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of physics
today they are able to perceive or imagine a basic outline of future technologies
that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicists today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe." He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today.
A future technology that may be seen within a lifetime is a new advanced stealth technology. This is a Class I Impossibility. In 2006, Duke University and Imperial College were able to bend microwaves around an object so that it would appear invisible in the microwave range. The object is like a boulder in a stream. Downstream the water has converged in such a way that there is no evidence of a boulder upstream. Likewise, the microwaves converge in such a way that, to an observer from any direction, there is no evidence of an object. In 2008, two groups, one at Caltech and the other at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
, were able to bend red light and blue-green of the visible spectrum. This made the object appear invisible in the red and blue green light range. However, this was only at the microscopic level.
Teleportation is a class I impossibility, in that it does not violate the laws of physics, and could possibly exist on the time scale of a century. Today, scientists are able to teleport only information at the atomic level. Information can be teleported from Atom A to Atom B, for example. But this is nothing like beaming Captain Kirk
down to a planet and back. In order to do that, a person would have to be dissolved atom by atom then rematerialized at the other end. On the scale of a decade, it will probably be possible to teleport the first molecule, and maybe even a virus.
Such a technology is time travel. Einstein’s equations do show that time travel is possible. However, this would not be developed for a time scale of centuries or even millennia from now. This would make it a Class II impossibility. The two major physical hurdles are energy and stability. Traveling through time would require the entire energy of a star or black hole. Questions of stability are: will the radiation from such a journey kill you and will the “aperture” remain open so you can get back? According to Dr. Kaku in an interview, “the serious study of the impossible has frequently opened up rich and unexpected domains of science”.
machines and precognition
. Development of these technologies would represent a fundamental shift in human understanding of physics.
, when on home territory, is an effective and gifted dramatiser of highly complex ideas. If you want to know what the implications would be of room-temperature superconductors, or all about tachyons, particles that travel faster than the speed of light and pass through all points of the universe simultaneously, then this is the place to find out."
To Appleyard, the fact that this book uses Sci-Fi technology to open the door to real science is interesting. However, he writes, it also has the added effect of making discoveries that might otherwise end up being obscure as giving us a feeling of being closer to that optimistic future. When bending microwaves
around an object, rather than being just an obscure physics experiment, it creates a feeling that a Star Trek cloaking device is just around the corner. An equally obscure subatomic experiment
means that soon we will be saying, "Beam me up Scotty." He writes, that in this regard, this book helps to “sustain our sense of an increasing acceleration into a future that must be radically different from the present.”
According to Appleyard this radically different and better future "... is what lies at the core of this type of book. The future, conceived as some realm in which contemporary problems have been resolved, is the primary, though usually unacknowledged, faith" that people have always had."
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Michio Kaku
Michio Kaku
is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, the co-founder of string field theory, and a "communicator" and "popularizer" of science...
. Kaku uses discussion of speculative technologies to introduce topics of fundamental physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
to the reader. The topic of invisibility becomes a discussion on why the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
is slower in water than a vacuum
Refractive index
In optics the refractive index or index of refraction of a substance or medium is a measure of the speed of light in that medium. It is expressed as a ratio of the speed of light in vacuum relative to that in the considered medium....
, that electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
is similar to ripples in a pond, and Kaku discusses newly-developed composite material
Metamaterial
Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. Metamaterials usually gain their properties from structure rather than composition, using small inhomogeneities to create effective macroscopic behavior....
s. The topic of Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
"phasers" becomes a lesson on how laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s work and how laser-based research is conducted. With each discussion of science fiction technology topics he also "explains the hurdles to realizing these science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
concepts as reality".
The concept of impossibility
According to Kaku, technological advances that we take for granted today were declared impossible 150 years ago. William Thomson Kelvin (1824–1907), a mathematical physicist and creator of the Kelvin scale said publicly that “heavier than air” flying machines were impossible. “He thought X-rays were a hoax, and that radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
had no future.” Likewise, Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
(1871–1937), a physicist who experimentally described the atom
Rutherford model
The Rutherford model or planetary model is a model of the atom devised by Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford directed the famous Geiger-Marsden experiment in 1909, which suggested on Rutherford's 1911 analysis that the so-called "plum pudding model" of J. J. Thomson of the atom was incorrect...
, thought the atom bomb was impossible and he compared it to moonshine (a crazy or foolish idea). Televisions, computers, and the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
would seem incredibly fantastic to the people of the turn of the 20th century. Black holes were considered science fiction and even Einstein showed that black holes could not exist. 19th century science had determined that it was impossible for the earth to be billions of years old
Age of the Earth
The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years This age is based on evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples...
. Even in the 1920s and 1930s, Robert Goddard was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to go into space
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
.
Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as well as they would subsequently be. Kaku states that “as a physicist [he] learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” By this definition of "impossible", he poses the question "Is it not plausible to think that we might someday build space ships that can travel distances of light years
Light Years
Light Years is the seventh studio album by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It was released on 25 September 2000 by Parlophone and Mushroom Records. The album's style was indicative of her return to "mainstream pop dance tunes"....
, or think that we might teleport
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
ourselves from one place to the other?"
Types of impossibilities
Each chapter is named by a possible, or improbable, technology of the future. After a look at the development of today's technology, there is discussion as to how this advanced technology might become a reality. Chapters become somewhat more general towards the end of the book. Some of our present day technologies are explained, and then extrapolated into futuristic applications. In the future, current technologies are still recognizable, but in a slightly altered form. For example, when discussing force fields of the future, Dr. Kaku writes about cutting edge laser technologyLaser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
, and newly developed plasma window
Plasma window
The plasma window is a technology that fills a volume of space with plasma confined by a magnetic field...
s. These are two of several technologies, which he sees as required for creating a force field. To create a force field these would be combined in a slightly altered form, such as more precise or more powerful. Furthermore, this discussion on force fields, as well as on the pantheon of highly advanced technologies, remains as true to the original concepts (as in how the public generally imagines advanced technologies) as possible, while remaining practical. Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.
Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
today they are able to perceive or imagine a basic outline of future technologies
Futurology
Futures studies is the study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. There is a debate as to whether this discipline is an art or science. In general, it can be considered as a branch under the more general scope of the field of...
that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicists today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe." He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today.
Class I impossibilities
Class I Impossibilities are "technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics." Kaku speculates that these technologies may become available in some limited form in a century or two.A future technology that may be seen within a lifetime is a new advanced stealth technology. This is a Class I Impossibility. In 2006, Duke University and Imperial College were able to bend microwaves around an object so that it would appear invisible in the microwave range. The object is like a boulder in a stream. Downstream the water has converged in such a way that there is no evidence of a boulder upstream. Likewise, the microwaves converge in such a way that, to an observer from any direction, there is no evidence of an object. In 2008, two groups, one at Caltech and the other at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is a German academic research and education institution with university status resulting from a merger of the university and the research center of the city of Karlsruhe. The university, also known as Fridericiana, was founded in 1825...
, were able to bend red light and blue-green of the visible spectrum. This made the object appear invisible in the red and blue green light range. However, this was only at the microscopic level.
Teleportation is a class I impossibility, in that it does not violate the laws of physics, and could possibly exist on the time scale of a century. Today, scientists are able to teleport only information at the atomic level. Information can be teleported from Atom A to Atom B, for example. But this is nothing like beaming Captain Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
down to a planet and back. In order to do that, a person would have to be dissolved atom by atom then rematerialized at the other end. On the scale of a decade, it will probably be possible to teleport the first molecule, and maybe even a virus.
Class II impossibilities
Class II Impossibilities are “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world," possibly taking thousands or millions of years to become available.Such a technology is time travel. Einstein’s equations do show that time travel is possible. However, this would not be developed for a time scale of centuries or even millennia from now. This would make it a Class II impossibility. The two major physical hurdles are energy and stability. Traveling through time would require the entire energy of a star or black hole. Questions of stability are: will the radiation from such a journey kill you and will the “aperture” remain open so you can get back? According to Dr. Kaku in an interview, “the serious study of the impossible has frequently opened up rich and unexpected domains of science”.
Class III impossibilities
Class III Impossibilities are “technologies that violate the known laws of physics." Kaku writes about only two of these, perpetual motionPerpetual motion
Perpetual motion describes hypothetical machines that operate or produce useful work indefinitely and, more generally, hypothetical machines that produce more work or energy than they consume, whether they might operate indefinitely or not....
machines and precognition
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...
. Development of these technologies would represent a fundamental shift in human understanding of physics.
Reception
Brian Appleyard considers this book to be a demonstration of renewed confidence in the possibilities of physics. He also sees the book as a depiction of how the public believes in an especially optimistic view of the future. Discussing the book's author, he writes, "KakuMichio Kaku
is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, the co-founder of string field theory, and a "communicator" and "popularizer" of science...
, when on home territory, is an effective and gifted dramatiser of highly complex ideas. If you want to know what the implications would be of room-temperature superconductors, or all about tachyons, particles that travel faster than the speed of light and pass through all points of the universe simultaneously, then this is the place to find out."
To Appleyard, the fact that this book uses Sci-Fi technology to open the door to real science is interesting. However, he writes, it also has the added effect of making discoveries that might otherwise end up being obscure as giving us a feeling of being closer to that optimistic future. When bending microwaves
Metamaterial
Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. Metamaterials usually gain their properties from structure rather than composition, using small inhomogeneities to create effective macroscopic behavior....
around an object, rather than being just an obscure physics experiment, it creates a feeling that a Star Trek cloaking device is just around the corner. An equally obscure subatomic experiment
Quantum teleportation
Quantum teleportation, or entanglement-assisted teleportation, is a process by which a qubit can be transmitted exactly from one location to another, without the qubit being transmitted through the intervening space...
means that soon we will be saying, "Beam me up Scotty." He writes, that in this regard, this book helps to “sustain our sense of an increasing acceleration into a future that must be radically different from the present.”
According to Appleyard this radically different and better future "... is what lies at the core of this type of book. The future, conceived as some realm in which contemporary problems have been resolved, is the primary, though usually unacknowledged, faith" that people have always had."
See also
- The Physics of Star TrekThe Physics of Star TrekThe Physics of Star Trek is a 1995 nonfiction book by Arizona State University professor Lawrence M. Krauss. It discusses the physics involved in various concepts and objects described in the Star Trek universe. He investigates the possibility of such things as inertial dampeners and warp drive,...
, a similar book by the physicist Lawrence M. KraussLawrence M. KraussLawrence Maxwell Krauss is an American theoretical physicist who is professor of physics, Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of the Origins Project at the Arizona State University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Physics of... - MetamaterialMetamaterialMetamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. Metamaterials usually gain their properties from structure rather than composition, using small inhomogeneities to create effective macroscopic behavior....
- List of physicists
- Quantum teleportationQuantum teleportationQuantum teleportation, or entanglement-assisted teleportation, is a process by which a qubit can be transmitted exactly from one location to another, without the qubit being transmitted through the intervening space...
- Quantum energy teleportationQuantum energy teleportationQuantum energy teleportation is a hypothesis put forward first by Japanese physicist Masahiro Hotta of Tohoku University which proposes that it may be possible to teleport energy by exploiting quantum energy fluctuations of an entangled vacuum state of a quantum field...
- Interstellar travelInterstellar travelInterstellar space travel is manned or unmanned travel between stars. The concept of interstellar travel in starships is a staple of science fiction. Interstellar travel is much more difficult than interplanetary travel. Intergalactic travel, or travel between different galaxies, is even more...
- Superstring theorySuperstring theorySuperstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modelling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings...
- SupersymmetrySupersymmetryIn particle physics, supersymmetry is a symmetry that relates elementary particles of one spin to other particles that differ by half a unit of spin and are known as superpartners...
- List of theoretical physicists