Quantum Mechanics

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grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
2331 posts
WA, 2331 posts
25 Jan 2006 11:11am
In a previous post, Hardie complained that ...
quote:
When am I ever going to get serious intellectual discussion here?

Why don't we discuss Literature, say the inaccessibility of "Ulyssess" by James Joyce

Or Philosophy such as does freedom really exist as in "Existentialism" from Satre's perspective

Or where does Quantum Mechanics begin and end?

Was there a Big Bang? What was there before the Big Bang?




So I thought we would start with Quantum Mechanics.
For Instance

These are the props. You own a barn, 40m long, with automatic doors at either end, that can be opened and closed simultaneously by a switch. You also have a pole, 80m long, which of course won't fit in the barn.

Now someone takes the pole and tries to run (at nearly the speed of light) through the barn with the pole horizontal. Special Relativity (SR) says that a moving object is contracted in the direction of motion: this is called the Lorentz Contraction. So, if the pole is set in motion lengthwise, then it will contract in the reference frame of a stationary observer.

You are that observer, sitting on the barn roof. You see the pole coming towards you, and it has contracted to a bit less than 40m. So, as the pole passes through the barn, there is an instant when it is completely within the barn. At that instant, you close both doors. Of course, you open them again pretty quickly, but at least momentarily you had the contracted pole shut up in your barn. The runner emerges from the far door unscathed.

But consider the problem from the point of view of the runner. She will regard the pole as stationary, and the barn as approaching at high speed. In this reference frame, the pole is still 80m long, and the barn is less than 20 meters long. Surely the runner is in trouble if the doors close while she is inside. The pole is sure to get caught.

Well does the pole get caught in the door or doesn't it? You can't have it both ways. This is the "Barn-pole paradox."

If you were to apply this to say "The Windsurfing paradox", is it possible that from the perspective of the viewer, it is possible for someone to perform a double loop forward between two fairly large sets and yet no one other than the performer of the loops was actually able to see them because they were the only person "inside the barn" as such?


HARDIE - any theories????
hardman
hardman
1116 posts
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25 Jan 2006 11:24am
Yes Well at least the Lorentz theory does explain why no-one has ever seen me double-loop at Avi !

You must remember though that most quantum mechanic theorists are dropping acid and can come up with what ever theories they want because they are untestable, so the key to Quantum Mecjanics is the quality of LSD you are imbibing!

That's what I love about Quantum Mechanics, get high as a kitesurfer's kite, go into cognitive psychadelic overload, then say things like, well the end of the universe will see the ever expanding universe contract to less than the size of a pin head.... Then they roll around laughing for 3 hours, ask the editor of the latest physics journal who's sitting in the corner having a bad trip and saying "Mummy" to publish their trips in world renowned journals and we get "Quantum Mechanics"........... Give me a break!!!!!!!!
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
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25 Jan 2006 11:43am
I would suggest that most of the QM theorists are dropping something manufactured in a foiled out kitchen, rather than LSD which is notoriously hard to find these days.

However, without theories we would never move forward in our ways of thinking.

moving on from the double loop paradox, I was also considering whether "Does Antimatter fall up or down"?
This concerns me greatly as it may assist me in actually getting my gut enhanced weight airborne whilst whistling over the top of some chop.

If you believe that General Relativity is the exact true theory of gravity, then there is only one possible conclusion - by the equivalence principle, antiparticles must fall down with the same acceleration as normal matter.

On the other hand: there are other models of gravity which are not ruled out by direct experiment which are distinct from GR in that antiparticles can fall down at different rates than normal matter, or even fall up, due to additional forces which couple to the mass of the particle in ways which are different than GR.

do you have anything to add to this that may assist???
hardman
hardman
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1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 11:47am
You imbecile!

Of course anti-matter falls up, it's what's inside an erect penis, it's what gives you a woody!!!! Sheez the intelligence here!!

Next?
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
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25 Jan 2006 11:49am


I knew you couldn't remain serious for to long.
two posts in fact.


Have a good weekend, I'm off to study up on Existentialism ........NOT
leski
leski
NSW
661 posts
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25 Jan 2006 2:50pm
sorry didn't understand everything.
so where exactly is that Mr Quantum garage my car need to be fixed.
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
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25 Jan 2006 11:52am
Leski,
I would avoid Quantum's garage
they may fix your car, but will you ever be sure????????
hardman
hardman
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1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 11:53am
Well it didn't take long for things to deteriorate as usual, maybe I've dumbed down too much?

An existentialist weekend.... mmmmmmmm .......interesting... did you use free will in making this decision?
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
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25 Jan 2006 11:57am
Perhaps...

My consciousness of existing fed into my underlying anxiety and awareness of death causing me to realise that life is too short and I need to grasp an understanding of these concepts before I fade into the eternal ether
hardman
hardman
1116 posts
1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 11:58am
Any way Grumps you started this, so you can't runaway!!!!!!

Let's get back to gravity theory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Einstein said that light slows down in gravity because time goes slower. But he did not see the implications. Light would slow down approaching a black hole. If time ends at the event horizon(Schwarschild Metric) then light would stop there and wouldn't enter; neither would matter. You cannot fall as fast as light.

Gravity changes the space-time metric. But it is of course limited. The processes that slow time slow. Increasing matter density in falling goes slower because falling goes slower. And light's energy goes down in slower time also(Einstein.) If falling goes slower the strength of gravity begins to go down after its limit. Another way to see it is that increase in gravity is increase in speed. But after a while since falling builds up in collapse you can't increase in speed any more. This is the equivalent of "addition of velocities" in gravity. I hate writing and even thinking about this schit. Acceleration as change in speed can happen faster and slower. Acceleration is defined as rate of change of speed. If time goes slower so also your rate.

Changing metric by speed up has the opposite effect. Faster than light space-ships can be designed. How? The change in metric caused by their speed up. If your time goes slower you can traverse more space than light does in an equal time. Reminds me of boring Uni lecture when I write this crap. Anyway, It happens when matter reaches 86% the speed of light in lights time. But gravity can be used to speed things up that continue to move after you have left its changed metric.

Special Relativity is for inertia. General Relativity is for its change. There is more than one way to change inertia. Einstein didn't realize the Difference in his Equivalence Principle. You'd think he coulda got this one right, sheez. So, acceleration and gravity are not completely equivalent. Amazingly and quite Ironically acceleration resists while there is no resistance for gravity(falling.) Not like in getting woodies. It moves any amount of mass equally potentially infinite.

If not falling is an acceleration equivalent if sitting still in gravity(weight) is equivalent to an accelerating frame such as the space ship then the equivalence must be a timeless one. Weight is matter not moving in gravity. How can you have an acceleration equivalent without a change in movement? If change in movement happens in time then the acceleration equivalence for weight(stillness) is one without time. So for a non moving frame in gravity you take the Rate out of acceleration. It looks thus: change in velocity. But this acceleration is limited. And the limit of course is a light speed change.

Einstein the idiot didn't see the limit of gravity. He saw gravity as then same as acceleration, sheesh!!!!. And by his exact equivalence(principle) where acceleration is rate in change of velocity then weight can be timeless, the fool. Weight for the accelerating frame is time dependent. There is always a rate for this change(in motion.)

When you think about it Einstein was a bit of a dumb c#nt really!!
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
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25 Jan 2006 11:59am
OK, read through your thesis and unfortunately can't really find anything wrong with it.
Yes he was a bit of a dumb .... but he was european after all just funnin

Now, explain if you can the workings of the infinite probability drive.
hardman
hardman
1116 posts
1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 2:49pm
quote:
Originally posted by grumplestiltskin

OK, just funnin

Now, explain if you can the workings of the infinite probability drive.



You got me there bud, as ignorant as an ignorant......... sort of ignorant person on that one

What about James Joyce's Ulysses, so raved about, yet so inaccessible in it's reading, have yet managed to get through the bloody, three quarters is all I've managed before I'm totally bored with it. I geuss what Joyce was trying to do was create a Dublin of Ulysses imagination. While critics have argued (Though I never quite understand this?)that Dublin of Ulysses is a tidy fictional arena, creating a stage for demonstrating perennial aspects of the human comedy. I geuss you could say the novel undertakes an ambitious work of aesthetic transfiguration and redemption. When you look at the exile's gaze it is not merely a skepsis, but becomes visionary. The novel attempts to capture or invent a poetic essence of Dublin as a ‘place’ just before it disappears into the anonymous technological and capitalistic ‘space’ of contemporary cityhood, a space that is already felt encroaching in the omnipresence of advertisement in the novel. I think he does this well, though the language loses me at times. No city can live without its myth. Joyce more than any other, his vision cleared by distance, forged a mythic vision of the city, which has become a precious reference as daily developments exile us from a more humane past. When I went to Dublin, I got a small sense of what he was talking about? Apparantly, what was squalid to the first readers of the novel touches us now as having the authenticity of a relic, the tang of original Dublinhood. But in reality I just can't finish the bloody thing, I think it's the thing of academics, I'd rather read a good comic anyday!!!!
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
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25 Jan 2006 3:03pm
Can't say I've ever managed more than a casual glance at the cover as I passed by a bookshop (usually on the far side of the mall in case the over zealous bookwork (my wife) drags me in there) I always thought it was something to do with Greek mythology.

However, I did feel (from my glance at the cover) that this tale of an advertising salesman in Dublin was a remarkable conflation of mythology, symbolism, philosophy, social realism, and humanity. The hero's relationships with his wife and surrogate son reflect the simple decency of the common man.

I felt that the common reader would be reluctant to face Joyce's great panorama. It seemed to be laden with obscure references and destined to be dogged by an ever-growing body of secondary literature. I also feel that the book's reputation as a "difficult" work has placed a barrier between the book and its potential audience. This is a shame, because as far as I could see Joyce was writing for a general readership, and his novel offers a remarkable experience even for the reader with no prior familiarity to his world.
hardman
hardman
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1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 3:28pm
Look Grumps, I'm sick and tired of people trying to defend Ulysses!

The book has a reputation as a "difficult" work because it is bloody difficult work, own up to it grumps, stop trying to hide behind literary fans of this treatise!!.

"This is a shame, because as far as I could see Joyce was writing for a general readership" What Bollocks, he was writing for himself and academia, he was trying to be inventive and radical and in turn ruined in for the general readership!!!!!!!!

If this is the sort of stuff your going to put up for an intellectual discussion then I'm going windsurfing with Elmo, and believe me that is no intellectual joyfest either!!!!!!
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
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25 Jan 2006 3:43pm
my brain now officially hurts

have fun with Elmo.

did you hear the tale of a chick who got a job at the "Tickle Me Elmo" factory.

she got fired for sowing red furry balls on to him when all she was supposed to do was give him two test tickles.

decrepit
decrepit
WA
12885 posts
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25 Jan 2006 6:50pm
quote:
Originally posted by grumplestiltskin


Now, explain if you can the workings of the infinite probability drive.


Wasn't that the infinite improbability drive????

The more improbable it is, the easier it is to make happen, that's why you can get whenever/whereever you want to be,very fast.
hardman
hardman
1116 posts
1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 6:57pm
quote:
Originally posted by decrepit

quote:
Originally posted by grumplestiltskin


Now, explain if you can the workings of the infinite probability drive.


Wasn't that the infinite improbability drive????

The more improbable it is, the easier it is to make happen, that's why you can get whenever/whereever you want to be,very fast.



No true intellectuals allowed, get off this topic Decrep, you'll steal my thunder!

Was tempted to go out this arvy, but couldn't be bothered, on the promise of what's to come.
junior freestyle
junior freestyle
QLD
546 posts
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25 Jan 2006 9:14pm
going bak to the speed of light is it true that if someone was to go at the speed of light the ship or craft would have to be made entirly of energy now how is that possible
hardman
hardman
1116 posts
1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 7:43pm
Here's a bit of theory.

Is it possible to move faster than the speed of light even if we had the technology? Can any thing move faster than the speed of light? Can any sub atomic particle (electrons, protons and protons) move faster than light. Well I can say I thing most of them are possible. Every where in the vacuum of space there is evidence of the fact that sub atomic particles can move faster than the speed of light, if astronauts in orbit around the planet had speed guns to find how fast the particles from stars which had exploded millions of years ago which are now bombarding the outer parts of earth’s atmosphere everyday, they would undoubtedly find many particle moving several times faster than light.

Ok! A million years in a distant galaxy a star the size of our sun or large and the supply of hydrogen on the sun runs out. And more complex nuclear reactions starts to take place and it start to become unstable, and explode spectacularly with tremendous force and energy scattering the large amount of matter (atoms, ions and molecules), which made it in every direction into the vacuum of space. Assuming that when the large star exploded it generated enough energy and force to launch its constituencies (atoms an molecule making it up), out in to space at the speed of light. If these atoms and molecules continued to move at light speed for several thousand years and suddenly and randomly the atoms started to decay or disintegrate radioactively. Isn’t it possible that the decaying atoms or elements, which are still moving at light speed, could launch some or most of its radioactive particles at the speed of light in different directions? The very fast moving atoms when decaying could start to produce, emit or release fast moving (close to the speed of light) beta, alpha particles and rays, gamma rays, loose fast moving electrons, protons and neutrons and photons, and launching some of these particles and rays in a straight line directly along or in front the path it is traveling. In other words imaging a super sonic air force fighter jet in space at its maximum speed of 4 time the speed of sound moving in a straight line and this plane fires one of the bomb from its pay load directly in front of it and the bomb is propelled by a rocket which can get it up to speeds of 2 time the speed of sound when launched from rest. Now with the bomb having the ability to move 2 times the speed of sound and the plane is already moving at 4 times the speed of sound, the bombs actual speed when launched from the plane which is at maximum speed will be a whapping total of six times the speed of sound (2 plus 4). Now back to the decaying atoms moving at light speed, the super sonic fighter jet would represent the decaying atoms and the fired bomb would represent the radioactive particles and rays. The decaying atoms are already moving at light speed or faster so when the radioactive particle and rays are released from them at light speed the total or actual speed of these particles and rays would be about 2 times the speed or higher. Now say some of these particles (neutrons, protons, and alpha and beta particles), which are move at 2 times the speed of light, were heading directly towards the earth. These sub atomic particles would collide with or crash directly into the atoms in the outer parts of earth’s atmosphere. These extremely moving particles could then overwhelm the atoms, which they had crashed into, causing these atoms in the outer atmosphere to start to decay or disintegrate radioactively releasing large amounts of energy in the form of beta, alpha particles and rays, gamma rays, loose fast moving electrons, protons and neutrons and photons back out into space in the form of blue jets and on the lower atmosphere they would release energy in the form of large energy releasing chain reactions consisting of the decaying of certain atom. Now these chain reactions of decaying atoms in the upper atmosphere could then produce large amounts of energy, enough to supply the electrically charged storm clouds in the lower atmosphere causing the electrically charged clouds to release extremely large amounts of energy close to surface of the earth in the form of lightning bolts (electrical discharges from clouds). Now these chain reactions of decaying atoms and the end product a bolt of lightning produces large amounts of energy close amounts produced by nuclear bombs.

Now to answer the question if humans will ever reach the speed of light, well that is still up for debate.

hardman
hardman
1116 posts
1116 posts
25 Jan 2006 7:52pm
The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3*10^8 (3 hundred million) metres a second. So at this point everyone would still see you travelling in a spaceship at 10^6 m/s.
So let's take your idea to the point where relativity would take affect coz you can't answer your question without looking at the theory of relativity - I'm too lazy to give a lecture on relativity right now, so the basics, as far as i'm concerned:

The first idea that you're dealing with here is that the speed of light is the same in every inertial frame - that is, when i'm out there travelling at a million m/s or whatever, and you're here on earth, we will measure the speed of light to be the same, even if i am travelling very close to the speed of light myself. Of course, the closer you get to the speed of light, the more massive you get, and hence the harder it is to accelerate. So, in this situation, you would never reach the speed of light, as that would require an infinite force. There fore a ship could never be made of mass, which is what we would understand to be a spaceship, so if it was just made of energy it wouldn't be a spaceship as we know it, might be just bloody photon particles, but that ain't no spaceship, so as far as we know today, IMPOSSIBLE!!

Can someone give me a question that I can tax my brain with please?
elmo
elmo
WA
8894 posts
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25 Jan 2006 8:15pm
With the Speed of light I think the author Steven Donaldson summed it up nicely.

Basically it goes something like this:

If things accelerated like in Star trek we would end up as a verticle puddle on the closest bulkhead behind us.

So in application to this what you need to first calculate is how much of a run up would the person need to get to light speed with out dissolving themselves.

How would they trigger the door opening mechanism? radio signal wouldn't work as you are already traveling faster than the signal, Infra red such as your TV remote wouldn't work as at best it's traveling at the same speed as you. Throwing something at a bidg shiney red button wouldn't work as you couldn't see the big shiney red button, plus you would catch up with the object you have thrown anyway.

Realistically you wouldn't need to open the door any way. you should just cut up the pole into easily managable bits bung it in the back of the ute and drive around the back of the shed. Just because a shed has dorrs on it dosn't meen you actually have to use them.

Now I've got a more serious issue to solve which is far more important.

The boss has got the "List" out again and procrastination can only work so long, Ah well I'll figure that one out tomorow
fish
fish
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25 Jan 2006 8:34pm
timothy leary
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
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25 Jan 2006 9:07pm
The one minor problem with all these theories, IMO, is that we are assuming that space is an absolute vacuum.

Is this actually true?

Aren't we held in the gravitational pull of the sun? doesn't that mean that the particles, atoms, electrons etc in and around our vicinity are also affected by that same gravitational pull??? in order for there to be gravity we can't therefore be in an absolute vacuum.

also, with the plane travelling at 4 times the speed of sound, and then launching a projectile possible of 2 times the speed of sound, isn't it going to be subject to the resistance of the atmoshphere (no matter how small) that surrounds it therefore slowing it gradually back to it maximum velocity of 2 times?

Just questions, I unfortunately dont have the luxury of a university degree that may have helped to answer these questions.
elmo
elmo
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8894 posts
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25 Jan 2006 9:26pm
quote:
Originally posted by grumplestiltskin

The one minor problem with all these theories, IMO, is that we are assuming that space is an absolute vacuum.

Is this actually true?

Aren't we held in the gravitational pull of the sun? doesn't that mean that the particles, atoms, electrons etc in and around our vicinity are also affected by that same gravitational pull??? in order for there to be gravity we can't therefore be in an absolute vacuum.

also, with the plane travelling at 4 times the speed of sound, and then launching a projectile possible of 2 times the speed of sound, isn't it going to be subject to the resistance of the atmoshphere (no matter how small) that surrounds it therefore slowing it gradually back to it maximum velocity of 2 times?

Just questions, I unfortunately dont have the luxury of a university degree that may have helped to answer these questions.




Interesting questions you pose

Firstly I do not believe space is an absolute vacumm as an absolute vacuum would require the total absence of gas yet in space there is minute quantities of gas (yes, you can hear a fart in a space suit)


Yes the sun or any large body (such as Hardy) does exert a gravitational pull (even I pull to some extent), gravity can also bend light this is how they Identify Black holes (no, not the skid marked freckle) now there is a major difference between the effects of gravity and that of a vacuum. Gravity Pulls a Vacuum Sucks (hope I've cleared that one up now).

Regarding the problem with the Plane, no matter what speed you are travelling, If you stick you head out the wiondow and spit the direction your flying then its gonna come back at you.

Hopefully this helps, I also don't have a University edumacation, so therefore I typed this slowly so that those that do may be able to understand these real verld theries.
grumplestiltskin
grumplestiltskin
WA
2331 posts
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25 Jan 2006 10:30pm
was thinking again about the plane and bomb

if you are travelling at 4x and then fire something off at 2x isnt actually travelling at 4(to the power of)2 or 4x4x4????
sh1t I should have paid attention at high skweel
poor relative
poor relative
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25 Jan 2006 10:51pm
I really liked harry potter.
I'm starting to read the new one..
elmo
elmo
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26 Jan 2006 10:08am
quote:
Originally posted by grumplestiltskin

was thinking again about the plane and bomb

if you are travelling at 4x and then fire something off at 2x isnt actually travelling at 4(to the power of)2 or 4x4x4????
sh1t I should have paid attention at high skweel



It will start at 4x without a fixed piont on the plane for it to use it's 2x thurst against but will decellerate back to 2x.

Nowe if it was full time four wheel drive ite would work far better with low range


quote:
Originally posted by poor relative stiltskin

I really liked harry potter.
I'm starting to read the new one..



Artimus Fowl is pretty cool as well


Air Catcher
Air Catcher
WA
60 posts
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4 Feb 2006 3:22pm
i have a question if u say to move at the speed of light u need a ship or some form of energy. would it be possible to harness that energy in the form of light by some type of massive sail or kite that can catch light like material catches wind, that somehow also repaires itself, might, with a small solid ship attached be able to manage that speed

now also this would not shoot off an be at the speed of light at that very instant the light hits the sail. but with the steady pull, pick up speed. as with kite surfing u cant jus put the kite in the power zone an be at top speed at the very sec. And with the sail being able to repair itself. it would be able to survive anything that should punch through. eg: it being a living organisim with an eccelerated rate of self healing. which also brings in the topic of "clones".
And the ship placed in front, in the middle, or behind.

Could this be possible...........
decrepit
decrepit
WA
12885 posts
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4 Feb 2006 7:48pm
This will take some thinking about, cause the strange thing about light, it always arives and leaves at the same speed, not matter how fast you are going (or coming). So no apparent wind, and no loss of power as you accelerate downwind, hmmm interesting -----------
nebbian
nebbian
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4 Feb 2006 10:28pm
quote:
would it be possible to harness that energy in the form of light by some type of massive sail or kite that can catch light like material catches wind, that somehow also repaires itself, might, with a small solid ship attached be able to manage that speed


This is called a "Solar Sail", and has been dealt with in many science fiction stories. One was built last year, but the booster rocket failed after launch so this concept hasn't been tested in space yet.
www.planetary.org/explore/projects/lightsail-solar-sailing/

It's quite a clever idea, you don't need to make it self-repairing as most meteors in space are very very small so you just end up with pinholes in the thing. An idea for solar sails is to get a spacecraft into orbit around earth, then get it to deploy the sail when it's going away from the sun and then stow it when it's going back towards the sun. After a few thousand orbits you would get a measurable increase in altitude. The problem is that the solar wind is very very faint.

Note:
Have you seen those little glass balls with 4 mirrors inside that spin around when you hold them in sunlight? Next time you see one, pay close attention to the way they spin. They actually spin the wrong way!! That is, it's like sunlight is pushing the black side instead of the mirrored side. This is because sunlight heats up the black side more than the mirrored side, which heats up the remaining air molecules inside the sphere, so the air molecules push the black side like a jet. If you were to really put a vacuum inside the ball then it would spin the other way, based on the photons pressure.
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