It's the future and everyone's taking the kids to Alpha Centauri at the weekend. But you need to plan the trip, just how long is it going to take?
The F40 has a top speed of 210mph, but that's on Earth isn't it? In space there isn't such a thing as wind resistance, so what's to limit the Ferrari's speed? Let's agree on a top speed of a tenth the speed of light. Also without significant drag (the road is made of umm.. Teflon®) what's to slow its rate of acceleration (if we forget gear ratios for a second)?
So lets stop messing about and do some calculations..
Time to c/10 /s: 5.96E+06
Time to stop /s: 1.39E+06
Acceleration Distance /m: 1.79E+14
Braking Distance /m: 4.18E+13
Cruising Distance /m: 4.05E+16
Cruising Time /s: 1.35E+09
Total Time /s: 1.36E+09
Time to c/10 /days: 69
Time to stop /days: 16.1
Acceleration Distance /earth diameters: 14,003,417
Braking Distance /earth diameters: 3,275,043
Cruising Distance /earth diameters: 3,171,832,993
Cruising Time /years: 42.8
Total Time /years: 43
Acceleration (0-60mph) /s: 5.3
60mph /(m/s): 26.66666667
Acceleration /(m/ss): 5.03144654
Stopping Distance /ft: 122
Stopping Distance /m: 37.18605218
Deceleration Rate /(m/ss): 21.51344262
Speed of Light (c) /(m/s): 3E+08
c/10 /(m/s): 3E+07
Distance to Alpha Centauri /lightyears: 4.3
m/lightyear: 9.5E+15
Distance to Alpha Centauri /m: 4.07E+16
Earth Diameter /km: 12,756
s/year: 3.2E+07
640K (RAM) ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates, Microsoft 1981
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atdotcom@dotcomat.com
It may look silly but read it out as you would any email address. Cool eh? Unfortunately the domain dotcomat.com is registered, although there is no website. I must confess I think I read about this years ago, but it came back to me and I had to share.
If you have any questions, please contact me. I really look forward to hearing from you!