Speed ​​kills: Do not accelerate

Speed ​​kills: Do not accelerate

We'll have to disappoint the optimists interstellar travel. Calculations show that the entire crew of the ship, moving at near-light speed, will be dead in a matter of seconds. And the theory of relativity nothing to do with.

The problem - in interstellar matter, very low-density gas, filling the space and consist mostly of hydrogen atoms (90%) and helium (10%). The concentration of these particles is very small - less than one atom per 1 cm 3 (for comparison, the same amount of matter on our planet, on average, contains 30 billion billion atoms), but at tremendous speed, and that's more than enough.
Calculations made by an American professor of radiology William Edelstein (William Edelstein), show that a continuous downpour of light particles to kill the crew in a few seconds, and instantly destroy onboard electronics.

For example, if the ship accelerate to 99, 999998% the speed of light to 10 years to reach the center of our galaxy (to him about 50 thousand. Light-years). At that rate, the hydrogen atoms in the interstellar gas will gain incredible energy of 7 TeV - ie, a level that will be achieved, for example, protons in the Large Hadron Collider, when it will reach its full capacity. "For the team it will ship is like to stand directly under the beam collider", - says Edelstein.

Light hydrogen atoms are a very dangerous type of radiation: faced with the molecules of the body, they destroy the bonds in them, causing ionization and disintegration of DNA. Death is considered to be the dose of ionizing radiation in sievert 6, but in this case every second crew will receive 10 thousand. Sievert. [Next]

It would seem possible to use a reliable screening. But it does not help. It is estimated that every 10 cm aluminum layer can absorb no more than 1% of the energy of the particles. It is easy to imagine what should be the ship's hull to protect the crew and tools.

Edelstein says ironically that perhaps this - the same reason that we have still not seen a single ship interstellar wanderers. Theoretically advanced civilizations in the galaxy, there must be a lot.

According to the publication New Scientist
www.popmech.ru/article/6688-skorost-ubivaet/





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