many star trek episodes mention and use photon torpedoes and quantum torpedoes
were heavily referenced in deep space 9 and tng it seems logical to assume that if phasers are
possible then torpedoes are too think about it we already have submarine torpedoes and missiles
so what's so hard about firing tnt into space well it's not as easy as it seems a lot of research has
been done in order to make these however no one has ever succeeded in making them here's elon
musk who's capable of doing something out of the ordinary now he thinks it might be possible to
build a photon torpedo well stay tuned to the end of the video and get to know more about it
hello everyone and welcome to elon musk evolution if you're a musk fan and don't want to miss
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that you will be notified whenever a new video is uploaded in today's video we are going to tell you
about musk's theory on the existence of torpedoes certainly there is a lot to take into account here
and the technology doesn't seem to be as clear-cut as simple lasers as a matter of fact in memory
alpha and in the star trek technical manual they refer to photon torpedoes as anti-matter warheads
surely just by that claim alone photon torpedoes will be more difficult to attain assuming that
such an assertion is correct let us see how musk explained that if photon torpedoes are technically
possible or if realistic science ultimately blows them out of the water according to musk the goal
of technology is to take yesterday's fantasy and turn it into today's reality in fact it isn't
unusual to see things like this homemade laser shotgun popping up in backyards like little bits
of science fiction on the other hand there are university laboratories in which students theorize
how to build a staple of science fiction photon torpedoes it is no secret that photon torpedoes
have been an integral part of star trek stories ever since they first appeared but who would
have thought that it might actually be possible to build a photon torpedo elon musk conducted a study
that has provided insight into the possibility of building a photon torpedo as well as the materials
that are likely to be required for it to work specifically musk determined that photon torpedoes
probably worked through a reaction called annihilation in its core this reaction occurs when
antimatter and matter collide with one another to eventually produce a chain reaction that
results in an explosion because of the scarcity of anti-matter and the high cost of its production
musk hypothesized that an electromagnetic cascade would have to be the mechanism used to liberate
the energy this is a situation when high-energy particles interacting with a metal such as iron
uranium or lead can mix with one another in order to produce matter and anti-matter pairs
electrons and positrons which are converted into photons torpedoes upon collision in other words he
said that photon torpedoes are metal casings that suspend positrons a form of antimatter that reacts
violently with electrons in an internal magnetic field which collapses on impact and is ejected
into the normal matter bringing it into contact with its host it can be concluded that when both
types of particles collide with each other an explosion of incredible violence is generated
considering that the average nuclear warhead contains one milligram of anti-matter a photon
torpedo would have released energy of 180 million kilojoules equivalent to 43 metric tons of tnt
if we were to construct a torpedo that would have a yield like this and keep in mind that we are
only dealing with only one milligram of antimatter the result would look something like the explosion
of 50 tons of tnt in 1963 according to musk a photon torpedo when used as an explosive device in
space would have the advantage that you won't have combustible oxygen and as a result of this the
combustion of explosive fuel sources including tnt requires oxygen as a reactant and such a reaction
cannot occur in the absence of oxygen which is why fire cannot occur in a vacuum let alone in outer
space immediately after this he also raised a problem relating to the use of explosives in space
without oxygen to ignite the agent how can this be done without causing too many deaths in the
process and explain that unlike other reactions matter antimatter reactions do not require oxygen
in fact anti-matter annihilation occurs spontaneously at the quantum level
so anti-matter weapons are effective in any atmosphere fundamentally the absence of oxygen
in space does not make any difference to the explosive outcome of anti-matter annihilation
he stated the use of photon torpedoes in space would be identical to that of photon torpedoes
in an atmosphere star check proves once again that they are unwavering in their devotion to science
however as musk claimed we can indeed produce anti-matter at the present time
and it is a science concept that is based on real life experiments the fact remains that antimatter
can be produced in large particle colliders such as those found at cern and fermilab even though
only a few nanograms have ever been produced and maintained for only a few milliseconds
it seems that the prospects of creating photon torpedoes appear to be getting brighter since
anti-matter can be created even though he is so indulged in it he explained that it is very
possible that photon torpedoes will be a science fact in the near future though there are severe
limitations which mean that photon torpedoes are less likely to become a reality in the near future
than phasers despite its amazing benefits anti-matter has a very steep production cost
it can cost up to 25 billion dollars per gram due to the fact that antimatter is one of the
rarest resources in the universe it would also be impractical to harvest antimatter
he said i think it is not a good idea for mankind to use photon torpedoes in the future
because mass production is out of the question since there may not be enough antimatter to make
more than a few torpedoes each carrying only a few micrograms or even nanograms of antimatter there
is a possibility that we may have to deal with much lower yields of antimatter than we would like
he further explained that torpedoes in space are also difficult since newton's first law of motion
states that an object in uniform motion or at rest will remain in its current state until it is acted
upon star trek's photon torpedoes are known for their accuracy and maneuverability they track down
and destroy their targets with deadly precision however missiles and jets get their aerodynamic
ability from air resistance that's why musk explained that an object can't make sharp turns
loops or change direction without a force pushing against the direction of the object's motion and
another force pushing in the opposite direction this is why planes have wing flaps so they can
take advantage of air resistance and adjust airflow as mentioned before space is a vacuum so
air resistance doesn't exist so according to musk firing a torpedo in space will simply make the
torpedo travel in a straight line with or without thrusters forever and ever until it hits something
and if the torpedo were to thrust left while forward motion it wouldn't change its direction
completely to the left it'd travel diagonally so when you apply a force in a new direction it
doesn't cancel out the previous vector unless you act against the torpedo's forward motion
in fact musk explained the reason behind this he said the reason for this is because vectors
are additive force vectors applied in both forward and left directions result in a net
vector in the diagonal left forward direction so assuming that the enterprise and the romulan
bird of prey do not move musk indicated that a torpedo shot at the ship's face will destroy it
musk ended his argument by saying that this does not mean we can't use photon torpedoes
in the future it simply means that space combat would no longer be as exciting as star trek ds9
so i guess we know that musk will come up with a way to make this in the future
so it would not be a surprise that he will be able to find a way to do this
in star trek style anyways folks that's it for today's video if you're interested in watching
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