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Asked by worldwidedave to Gioia, Iain, Jo, Leo, Mariam on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
Question: What is a 'wormhole'?
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Mariam Orme answered on 22 Jun 2010:
Something to do with space and time and stuff like that. Hopefully one of the others will give you a good answer and teach me something too!
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Joanna Watson answered on 23 Jun 2010:
I was hoping Leo might have answered this question because it sounds like something he might know. I’ve only heard about them in movies – and that’s not a great place to get scientific information from 🙂
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Iain Moal answered on 23 Jun 2010:
I’m no physist, but my understanding of a wormhole is that it is a hole in the fabric of space-time that connects two otherwise distant regions of space time. It is concievable that we could enter a wormhole at point in time and space, and come out at a completely different point in time and space, allowing almost instant travelling through time and to the far corners of the universe.
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Leo Garcia answered on 23 Jun 2010:
A wormhole is a hypothetical (that is, we haven’t yet actually seen one in real life) ‘bridge’ between two points in space-time. This has been jumped on by science-fiction (the one that stands out for me is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which, as I recall, was a space station near a worm hole) as a useful plot device, because it would allow time-travel and faster than light space travel.
The theoretical evidence for wormholes comes out of the equations of general relativity (itself a fascinating topic, and well worth reading up on):
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/general-relativity-and-wormholes-doorways-in-space.html
http://physics.about.com/od/glossary/g/wormhole.htm
http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sp_sl.html
Comments
thepatrickhennessey commented on :
they are in everything and if we can make one big enough we will be able o time travel well that is what steven hawkings said