Scifi Technology?

Question

Would it be possible to actually create force fields, invisibility cloaks, hyperdrive, zero-point energy devices, and photon/ion weapons if there was proper funding involved?

Answer 1

Hello!!

Not only funds but proper creation of it and it must be environmental-friendly to be able to use.

:-)

Answer 2

Force Fields -- one day space ships may have large magnetic field generators to deflect solar radiation, but it is no where near feasible right now as it would take much too much power than what is actually available to spacecraft.

Invisibility cloak -- the military has projects related to this. The holy grail for military camouflage would be a suit that could put the image from behind the person on the front of the suit... this may be possible one day when the processing power required to make the image believable becomes wearable.

Hyperdrive -- Probably never. Faster than light travel is impossible with todays understanding of physics except though maybe wormholes, but we don't even know if they exist or can be created. I'm gonna say there is a 95% chance we are stuck trudging along slower than the speed of light unless we discover everything we know about the universe is wrong.

Zero-point Energy -- I believe you are referring to Stargate Atlantis with this one. Unlimited energy sure sounds nifty, but common sense tells me its not feasible, but who knows. In a million years humans might finally find God's doorstep, ask for a cup of sugar, and get a perpetual energy machine.

Photon/ion weapons -- photons are light, light can also be in laser form, lasers are used as weapons. They are testing a 747 outfitted with a massive laser that may one day be shooting down ICBMs before they get into orbit... and if they ever develop space combat systems laser will be king. They can be directed precisely over long distances and though it takes a big machine to produce a powerful laser beam spacecraft can't take much of a beating so a little damage will do. Ions are charged particles and they have been used for propulsion for spacecraft with ion drives, but I have not heard of any weaponized uses.

Answer 3

Well amazingly some of these thing have been invented! Though they aren't exactly how they are in sci-fi.

Force Fields) Technically there are force fields: magnets. For instance the magnetic field around the earth protects us from solar radiation.

Invisibility) Scientist have made meta materials that are invisible to microwaves.  This is different then stealth and could be used to hide from radar. Perhaps one day they will make them better to cover the whole spectrum.

Hyperdrive) While we can't make one yet, it is theoretically possible with wormholes and other such gravitational effects. Of all on the list this is the hardest to accomplish and may not even be possible.

Zero-point energy) At the moment we can measure this energy, but we can't harness it. Maybe one day.

Photon/ion weapons) There are these today: Look up ray gun on youtube.

Answer 4

Some Sci-Fi tech is possible while other items like ZeroPoint energy will just remain fictional devices. Alot of things we take for granted now were the stuf of Sci-fi only a few decades ago.

Here's a few Sci-Fi items that are currently being worked on or already exist.

Saw a show recently on a Plasma Window which sounds like a first step toward a force field (at least for a hanger bay door).  Using Plasma (the 4th state of matter) and magnetic fields is is possible to seperate an atmosphere from a vacuum. The current prototype displayed in the TV show was a window only an inch or so across, hey its a start...

Photon weapons i.e. Lasers   are already deployed as part of teh "Star Wars" defense system.

The US Navy has been experimenting with Rail Guns

Sounds like some chaps are working on an invisibility cloak. (see link) My opinion is that you will see  "Invisibility Technology" as advancments in camoflage to fool the eye at a distance.

Answer 5

All except photon weapons (which are being worked on: high power lasers): we don't know.

We do not even know if such a thing as force field is at all possible (there is no physics model that can be studied); same for invisibility cloak, hyperdrive and zero point energy.

Putting money when there is not even a starting point would be like giving a bazillion dollar for unicorn or mermaid research; one can look as much as one want, no one will ever find anything.