[Mike Carey]

Mike Carey  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Dave answered a question, on the July 31, 2009 podcast,  about moving somebody from the equator to the north pole, the speed deceleration would be like hitting a brick wall at 1000mph.

My add-on question to this is - in the future, if you were to teleport somebody from the equator to some place further north or south, there would be this massive deceleration, correct? Would this cause injury to the person ?

Mike Carey

What do you think?

[lyner]

I think that this effect would be the very least of their problems and could easily be compensated for - if that impossible machine could be made. If every atom were to be transported 'instantly' from one point to another, you already have huge acceleration. A bit more in the appropriate direction wouldn't be a problem.

[syhprum]

Only minor modifications to the vastly complex software would be needed to compensate for the centripetal force etc.
If it was built in America it would be just as well if they used S.I units

[lyner]

What's afoot?

[LeeE]

What's afoot?

Singular offeet.

[Don_1]

What's afoot?

A strange shaped thing on the end of your leg.

[Nizzle]

What's afoot?

about 30cm

[krytie75]

It depends on the method of teleportation but I don't believe being teleported from the equator to the north or south pole would be 'like hitting a brick wall at 1000mph'.  If a teleport system was ever built, it would most like at it's early stage be a system where you entered an area, were dematerialised by static apparatus which was moving at zero velocity relative to yourself and then rematerialised in a similar 'booth' somewhere else at 0 velocity relative to the 'receive' booth.

Naturaly this raises the obvious question - where does the energy go and how is it removed from the system?

[Soul Surfer]

Firstly the possibility of teleportation of a large complex object like a person is so incredible that I doubt that it could ever be achieved so the question is pointless. 

However laying this aside  I would expect that the process will require two machines the sender and the receiver and assuming that the sender is in one location and the receiver is in a different location with a different velocity  the deconstruction and reconstruction would normally be done with respect to the machine.   The "star trek" process only uses a machine at one location but  as always they thought it out first and to do the teleporting process they have to get a fix on the location they are sending and delivering to, so presumably this fix sorts out any velocities required.

[LeeE]

I think it's probably fair to say that if you reach the point where you can do teleportation then compensating for a few 1000 kph difference in speed would be a trivial matter.  It would be like making an interstellar spaceship without having first figured out how levers and wheels work.

[astrohawk]

I'm almost certain that this question was asked and answered in one of Larry Niven's novels about Gil Hamilton where teleportation booths were the general mode of transport. I can't quite remember but the problem of velocity was solved by 'inertial dampers' or something like that. Guess I'll have to go back and read the stories again. []

[LeeE]

The teleportation booths and stepping-disks featured in many of Larry Niven's stories did have problems coping with different kinetic velocities, but we need to remember that they're purely fictional, just as practical teleportation is likely to remain.  Practical teleportation, as a reality, would require a different understanding of the way the universe works, and that's assuming that there is a different understanding to be found.

[Mr. Scientist]

Mike Carey  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Dave answered a question, on the July 31, 2009 podcast,  about moving somebody from the equator to the north pole, the speed deceleration would be like hitting a brick wall at 1000mph.

My add-on question to this is - in the future, if you were to teleport somebody from the equator to some place further north or south, there would be this massive deceleration, correct? Would this cause injury to the person ?

Mike Carey

What do you think?

This depends on what teleportation is involved. Are we allowed to have a machine involved which invokes itself a safe teleportation? What is a safe teleportation, and indeed what kind is insured allowed?