So my free month of Netflix is coming to an end… and not finding anything new that entices me I decided to go back and view the first season of ST:TNG…

… and I am continually struck about how not-attached-to-reality these “sci-fi” shows can be.

A big disconnect (in Star Trek in general) with reality is the total disregard for Newton and all of the foundational knowledge of physics. For example, Picard says that the Enterprise is “travelling on impulse power”. For some reason, in the Star Trek universe, Newton’s Laws don’t apply.

And that “some reason” is this: as a show, ST is an Earth surface naval adventure (of the 18th-20th centuries) but set in space outside of Earth.

On a ship on water, one needs to be ” travelling on impulse power” to go in any direction in which the wind is not blowing, because the friction with the water will cause any ship momentum to be transferred to the water, thus the ship will stop relative to the local water.

But of course that is only due to travelling through water. In a nearly complete vacuum any ship will just keep on moving, no “impulse power” is needed, with whatever velocity was the initial value.

Star Trek is far from the worse, but it is pretty bad when it comes to reality.

Most of what goes by on TV (and large screen) as “science fiction” is, in my opinion, just alternative religion.

Anyway, “impulse power” is only needed for acceleration. But here’s the thing with Star Trek spaceships - once a thing is going some decent fraction of the speed of light (say .5c), it is very very difficult to increase one’s speed wrt light speed by any transfer of momentum. In the real universe, it becomes increasingly difficult to increase speed the faster one’s speed already may be… and this relativistic understanding of the rocket equation is why going to another star in any acceptable-to-human-lifespans is not going to be possible.