I'm toying with the concept of a science fiction novel centered on a cattle rancher who discovers a wormhole hidden in the desert. I aim to adhere as closely as possible to the laws of physics, so there will be no use of it for infinite energy or time travel.
I envision the wormhole as a four-dimensional hyperobject with a single side, similar to a Klein bottle. The segment intersecting the three-dimensional plane would manifest as a pair of spheres, looking like some sort of offset mirror when they are close together.
The spheres possess a magnetic field. When isolated, they act as magnetic monopoles and can be manipulated with magnets. In fact, the rancher discovers them adhering to opposite sides of a large piece of lodestone.
An object that enters one sphere immediately exits the other with its velocity and direction rotated by 180 degrees. For instance, a thrown ball would act as though it had bounced off something but would end up on a path parallel to its original trajectory.
Momentum must be conserved; therefore, the wormhole openings would start to move away from the ball's original trajectory like a single object that the ball had collided with, which is what they are. I haven't yet come up with an explanation of how exactly the momentum transfers.
In reality a wormhole about half a meter in size might have a mass similar to Jupiter's. However, in my story, the wormhole has negligible but nonzero mass, maybe a few milligrams. So, if it were not attached to something it would fly away at high speed when touched.
If wormhole openings were brought together, they would annihilate releasing their mass equivalent in energy in the same manner as matter and antimatter, as they are their own antiparticles. If allowed to happen it would result in an explosion similar to a nuke. The characters in my story suspect as much and take precautions to not let that happen. Maybe at the end of the story it does?
If one opening were at the bottom of a hill and the other at the top, an object would have difficulty passing through the lower one, requiring the same kinetic energy needed to go up the hill normally. Passing through the opening at the top would give an object energy. For instance, if a lake were situated atop a hill and had one wormhole opening placed in it, the water would flow out through the lower opening, similar to how it would be siphoned through a hose.
If the openings of a wormhole were widely spaced on Earth, passing through it would need the same energy required to decelerate and then accelerate an object to match Earth's rotational velocity at those points. For example: With the openings at the equator on opposite sides of the earth a rifle bullet fired at 900m/s through one would just plop out the other at a few m/s. Speeds less than that would cause the bullet to get stuck with part of it on both sides.
In the case where the bullet got stuck it would have decelerated rapidly and may experience some deformation, or maybe not. I haven't worked out the specifics on that yet. If a steady force was applied to the stuck bullet, it could be forced the rest of the way through.
The problem of requiring energy (work) to pass through the wormhole can be avoided if something of equal mass is passed through the other opening at the same time. The characters in the story use things like water and a heavy iron rail for the purpose.
Speaking of time, wormholes that allow instant transport between great distances opens the possibility for all sorts of time travel paradoxes. I don't want to deal with that, and I suspect the real universe would not allow it either.
In my story a distant observer would see an object disappear when entering one opening and then reappear some time later at the other. It would look like light speed travel but not faster. If the portals were separated by a light year, the observed travel time would be one year. However, for an object passing through, there would be no experience of time; it would appear instantaneous.
Someone standing directly behind an object passing through would perceive it as freezing in place. Should you extend your arm through, it would seem to compress as if pushing a spring against a wall, but it would not feel too unusual and could be withdrawn without injury.
Anyway, that's what i have for now, its 4:10am as of writing this and I should be getting to bed, I may update this later.
let me know what you think.
Mikhi6
2024-08-25 08:42:35 +0000 UTCZappadow
2024-08-25 07:33:07 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-25 05:43:32 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-25 05:41:49 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-25 05:40:37 +0000 UTCKyle Purintun
2024-08-24 23:14:51 +0000 UTCSavageBeard
2024-08-24 21:39:42 +0000 UTCSavageBeard
2024-08-24 21:37:31 +0000 UTCPithonian
2024-08-24 19:29:50 +0000 UTC123456789
2024-08-24 17:34:29 +0000 UTCStephen B. Sullivan
2024-08-24 14:58:35 +0000 UTCPatrick
2024-08-24 14:45:00 +0000 UTCTony B
2024-08-24 14:29:45 +0000 UTCHovado_Lesni
2024-08-24 13:42:38 +0000 UTCJenny, Ari, & Dov
2024-08-24 13:09:53 +0000 UTCDavid K
2024-08-24 12:46:16 +0000 UTCDavid LeCount
2024-08-24 12:07:19 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-24 11:09:04 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-24 11:08:11 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-24 11:07:13 +0000 UTCPaul Black
2024-08-24 11:01:01 +0000 UTCZappadow
2024-08-24 10:51:18 +0000 UTCUrbane Myth
2024-08-24 10:44:00 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-24 10:38:03 +0000 UTCUrbane Myth
2024-08-24 10:35:59 +0000 UTCAvand Fardi
2024-08-24 10:30:20 +0000 UTCCodyDon Reeder
2024-08-24 10:24:58 +0000 UTCEffigy
2024-08-24 10:24:46 +0000 UTCAvand Fardi
2024-08-24 10:22:54 +0000 UTCGilbert MΓΆrn
2024-08-24 10:13:52 +0000 UTCChauncey
2024-08-24 10:12:25 +0000 UTC