Star Wars Physics

[Felldrake]

Specifically so that Han Solo's quotes are not complete crack.

On the fishing trip, I realized that the parsecs quote could be salvaged by invoking general relativity. This is something that makes geeks twitch because it uses a unit of distance as though it were time. However, according to general relativity, one traveling at relativistic speeds has their subjective time compressed, but remains at the same speed subjectively as from outside. From this it follows, both by logic and according to Einstein, that distance is also so compressed. Therefore, the subjective distance of a known trip may in fact be a less confusing measure of speed than time, and is certainly as valid.

So now all I needed was a theory of FTL travel which could describe hyperspace and which embraced relativity instead of throwing it out.

So... hyperspace by its name sounds like some sort of alternate space. What if it is exactly that? A 3-space lying just n-ways of the main Star Wars universe, which is relativistic, but has different constants? Specifically a larger c. That way, the huge trips made through hyperspace would still take some subjective time, as they do, but still take far less outside time than otherwise. Given a large enough alt-c, even short enough to be as manageable as they seem in th movies.

Also, the description of the Falcon as making "point five past lightspeed". The most obvious assumption is that the unit is lightspeed--c. However, given just how damn fast Star Wars ships seem to go, that is far too small to be a fast ship. I think more likely the unit is the alt-c. In relativistic speeds here, half to three-quarters c gives you a noticible but manageable time dialation. If Star Wars ships were in that range with alt-c, probably the same would be true--but they would get there a lot faster outside.

Interesting opportunities for fanfic here... at the very least, it make the age of someone like Han pretty moot...

[Dances With Dentaquills]

I also seem to vaguely remember it being mentioned several times in the books that "you don't age" while travelling in Hyperspace.
Also if you fell out of a ship during Hyperspace, you would continue to exist in a sort of non-state, and your body would lose its coherent mass, basically meaning the physical laws that held your body together would no longer apply in Hyperspace, enforcing the idea that the laws of physics there are simply just not quite the same.

...I have no idea how this information affects your theories, derr hurr..

[Felldrake]

Well, with the first one, that would be technically innacurate, but an easy mistake to make with a relativistic hyperspace--everyone can see that people who take a lot of interstellar trips age slower, so it's an easy inference.

On the other, I have no idea. It sounds like crack, but I have clearly not read the appropriate book. I so have no idea how that would impact my theory >_<