Explaining the science behind science fiction and fantasy—from the probable to the impossible
From space elevators to interstellar travel, science fiction and fantasy writers have come up with some brilliant, innovative ideas. Yet how plausible are these ideas—for instance, could Mr. Weasley’s flying car in the Harry Potter books really exist? Which concepts might happen, and which ones wouldn’t work? From the works of Ursula K. Le Guin to Star Trek and Avatar, this book delves into the most extraordinary details in science fiction and fantasy—such as time warps, shape changing, and rocket launches—and shows readers the physics and math behind the phenomena.
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780691196374
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: 11-19-2019
Pages: 392
Product Dimensions: 5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)
About the Author
Charles L. Adler is professor of physics at St. Mary's College of Maryland.
What People are Saying
What People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
"A rewarding and thought-provoking read."—Paul Sutherland, BBC Sky at Night
"The physics is well explained and Adler offers entertaining examples."—Noel-Ann Bradshaw, Times Higher Education
"Adler does a grand job of showing just how powerful even basic maths and physics can be."—Robert Matthews, BBC Focus Magazine
"As a text for a course or as a vehicle for self-study, this book makes for interesting, educational and thought-provoking reading."—Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews
"For those who want to learn the hard facts about the realities of space travel or the chances for alien life . . . Wizards, Aliens, and Starships would be an admirable choice."—Sidney Perkowitz, Scientists' Bookshelf
"Invaluable for anyone wanting to write really accurate science fiction."—Popular Science
"What a fun book!"—Keith Cooper, Astronomy Now
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1 PLAYING THE GAME 1 1.1 The Purpose of the Book 1 1.2 The Assumptions I Make 3 1.3 Organization 4 1.4 The Mathematics and Physics You Need 5 1.5 Energy and Power 6 I POTTER PHYSICS 11 2HARRY POTTER AND THE GREAT CONSERVATION LAWS 13 2.1 The Taxonomy of Fantasy 13 2.2 Transfiguration and the Conservation of Mass 14 2.3 Disapparition and the Conservation of Momentum 16 2.4 Reparo and the Second Law of Thermodynamics 21 3WHY HOGWARTS IS SO DARK 27 3.1 Magic versus Technology 27 3.2 Illumination 28 4FANTASTIC BEASTS AND HOW TO DISPROVE THEM 38 4.1 Hic sunt Dracones 38 4.2 How to Build a Giant 39 4.3 Kleiber's Law, Part 1: Mermaids 45 4.4 Kleiber's Law, Part 2: Owls, Dragons, Hippogriffs, and Other Flying Beasts 49 II SPACE TRAVEL 57 5WHY COMPUTERS GET BETTER AND CARS CAN'T (MUCH) 59 5.1 The Future of Transportation 59 5.2 The Reality of Space Travel 61 5.3 The Energetics of Computation 63 5.4 The Energetics of the Regular and the Flying Car 64 5.5 Suborbital Flights 68 6VACATIONS IN SPACE 71 6.1 The Future in Science Fiction: Cheap, Easy Space Travel? 71 6.2 Orbital Mechanics 74 6.3 Halfway to Anywhere: The Energetics of Spaceflight 74 6.4 Financing Space Travel 82 7SPACE COLONIES 86 7.1 Habitats in Space 86 7.2 O'Neill Colonies 87 7.3 Matters of Gravity 89 7.4 Artificial "Gravity" on a Space Station 93 7.5 The Lagrange Points 103 7.6 Off-Earth Ecology and Energy Issues 106 7.7 The Sticker Price 112 8THE SPACE ELEVATOR 115 8.1 Ascending into Orbit 115 8.2 The Physics of Geosynchronous Orbits 116 8.3 What Is a Space Elevator, and Why WouldWeWant One? 118 8.4 Why Buildings Stand Up—or Fall Down 119 8.5 Stresses and Strains: Carbon Nanotubes 122 8.6 Energy, "Climbers," Lasers, and Propulsion 123 8.7 How Likely Is It? 125 8.8 The Unapproximated Elevator 127 9MANNED INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL 130 9.1 It's Not an Ocean Voyage or a Plane Ride 130 9.2 Kepler's Three Laws 131 9.3 The Hohmann Transfer Orbit 134 9.4 Delta v and All That 136 9.5 Getting Back 137 9.6 Gravitational Slingshots and Chaotic Orbits 138 9.7 Costs 142 10ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS 145 10.1 Getting There Quickly 145 10.2 Why Chemical Propulsion Won'tWork 146 10.3 The Most Famous Formula in Physics 147 10.4 Advanced Propulsion Ideas 148 10.5 Old "Bang-Bang": The Orion Drive 153 10.6 Prospects for Interplanetary Travel 155 11SPECULATIVE PROPULSION SYSTEMS 157 11.1 More Speculative Propulsion Systems 157 11.2 Mass Ratios for Matter-Antimatter Propulsion Systems 168 11.3 Radiation Problems 173 12INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND RELATIVITY 176 12.1 Time Enough for Anything 176 12.2 Was Einstein Right? 178 12.3 Some Subtleties 182 12.4 Constant Acceleration in Relativity 184 13FASTER-THAN-LIGHT TRAVEL AND TIME TRAVEL 188 13.1 The Realistic Answer 188 13.2 The Unrealistic Answer 188 13.3 Why FTL Means Time Travel 190 13.4 The General Theory 193 13.5 Gravitational Time Dilation and Black Holes 195 13.6 Wormholes and Exotic Matter 198 13.7 The Grandfather Paradox and Other Oddities 205 III WORLDS AND ALIENS 215 14DESIGNING A HABITABLE PLANET 217 14.1 Adler's Mantra 218 14.2 Type of Star 221 14.3 Planetary Distance from Its Star 226 14.4 The Greenhouse Effect 229 14.5 Orbital Eccentricity 232 14.6 Planetary Size and Atmospheric Retention 233 14.7 The Anna Karenina Principle and Habitable Planets 237 14.8 Imponderables 239 15THE SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR SPOCK 242 15.1 Exoplanets and Exoplants 242 15.2 Doppler Technique 246 15.3 Transits and the Kepler Mission 249 15.4 The Spectral Signatures of Life 250 15.5 Alien Photosynthesis 251 16THE MATHEMATICS OF TALKING WITH ALIENS 255 16.1 Three Views of Alien Intelligences 255 16.2 Motivation for Alien Contact 259 16.3 Drake-Equation Models and the Mathematics of Alien Contact 267 IV YEAR GOOGOL 273 17THE SHORT-TERM SURVIVAL OF HUMANITY 275 17.1 This Is the Way the WorldWill End 275 17.2 The Short-Term: Man-Made Catastrophes 275 18WORLD-BUILDING 292 18.1 Terraforming 292 18.2 Characteristics of Mars 294 18.3 Temperature and the Martian Atmosphere 295 18.4 Atmospheric Oxygen 299 18.5 Economics 301 19DYSON SPHERES AND RINGWORLDS 303 19.1 Dyson's Sphere 303 19.2 The Dyson Net 305 19.3 Niven's Ringworld 311 19.4 The Ringworld, GPS, and Ehrenfest's Paradox 318 19.5 The Ringworld Is Unstable! 320 19.6 Getting There from Here—and Do We Need To? 324 20ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS AND THE KARDASHEV SCALE 326 20.1 The Kardashev Scale 326 20.2 Our Type 0.7 Civilization 327 20.3 Type I Civilizations 329 20.4 Moving Upward 331 20.5 Type II Civilizations 332 20.6 Type III Civilizations 334 21A GOOGOL YEARS 336 21.1 The Future of the Future 336 21.2 The "Short Term": Up to 500 Million Years or so 336 21.3 The "Medium Term": Up to about 1013 Years 338 21.4 The "Long Term": Up to a Googol Years 341 21.5 Black Hole-Powered Civilizations 344 21.6 Protons Decay—or Do They? 346 21.7 A Googol Years—All the Black Holes Evaporate 346 21.8 Our Last Bow 349 Acknowledgments 351 Appendix: Newton's Three Laws of Motion 353 Bibliography 359 Index 371