From: aberigan@nde.unl.edu (A. Berigan)
Subject: Re: warp speeds
Organization: Ord High School, Ord, NE
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 20:06:46 GMT

humor@gnu.ai.mit.edu (The Ever-Mirthful Man of Mayhem) writes:
>jwindley%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jay Windley) writes:
>>Michael Joseph Harris <mh6g+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

>>>have we forgotten that in an episode ( The Traveler,  I think ) in which
>>>the Enterprise went faster then Warp factor 10 and ended up in another
>>>galaxy?

>>Data's line notwithstanding, here's what the Tech Manual has to say
>>about this:
>>
>>"(By the way, we estimate that in 'Where No One Has Gone Before' the
>>Traveler was probably propelling the ENTERPRISE at about Warp
>>9.9999999996.  Good thing they were in the carpool lane.)"  p. 55,
>>footnote.

>I don't remember if it was the book 'Ghost Ship' or in one of the very early
>TNG episodes, but I recall mention of a ship that was travelling at Warp
>14. Now, they say that warp 10 is infinite speed...how inconsistent.

According to a restructured version of the more-accurate formula (see
.sig), WF 14 ~= 6613c, which is about WF 9.89934.  Still pretty damn
fast.  (Just because WF10 is infinite-c doesn't preclude speeds faster
than that -- Einstein said as much about light speed, and it troubled
him.)

>Side Note: Can anyone tell me the formula for calculating the various
>warp speeds in terms of the speed of light?
>i.e. Warp 1 = Light Speed
>     Warp 2 = ?

Well, technically WF  1    ==    1.000317038, so it's just faster than c.
                  WF  2    ==   20.07985668
                  WF  3    ==   38.94153512
                  WF  4    ==  101.5950694
                  WF  5    ==  213.7497293
                  WF  6    ==  392.5042488
                  WF  7    ==  656.1532012
                  WF  8    == 1024.078745
                  WF  9    == 1517.381107
                  WF  9.1  == 1574.746556
                  WF  9.2  == 1633.912966
                  WF  9.3  == 1695.215559
                  WF  9.4  == 1759.417538
                  WF  9.5  == 1828.543831
                  WF  9.6  == 1909.126080
                  WF  9.7  == 2029.077498
                  WF  9.8  == 2379.629531
                  WF  9.81 == 2462.119838
                  WF  9.82 == 2565.719325
                  WF  9.83 == 2698.018451
                  WF  9.84 == 2870.035651
                  WF  9.85 == 3098.124862
                  WF  9.86 == 3407.175175
                  WF  9.87 == 3836.159972
                  WF  9.88 == 4448.134127
                  WF  9.89 == 5349.051814
                  WF  9.9  == 6725.043149
                           ::
                  WF  9.99 == 21546494.16
                  WF 10    == infinite (division by zero)

Oh, between WF 10 and WF 10.12193380 exclusive, the speed is in the
negative c area, according to my calculator.  Because of this narrow
band, time travel by travel faster than WF 10 is very difficult, due to
the WF accuracy that is required.  Indeed, I'm not sure if we've seen
the E-D travel at a warp factor more accurate than 2 decimal places, and
still the speed differential between WF 10.12 and 10.13 is quite large
(eyeballed at about 500c).

Oh, and this is at 100% engine efficiency, which in practice is rare.

-- 
     __o          (10/3)  1/      (11/3)
  __p\<,_       WF      + /(10-WF)
__(")/ (`)__     
~~~~~~~~~~~~ aberigan@nde.unl.edu (Greg Berigan)