So, somehow, I have discovered a process that makes an objects mass negative. Not its weight, its mass (although, I guess that the weight would also become negative). The thing is, before I try it, I want to know if this is a bad idea.

A number of scary words spring to mind, such as "strange matter", "white holes", and maybe even "naked singularity". However, I am not really the sort of guy who can do special relativity, so I have no idea which of these might happen. They never taught that at school.

Why might it be a good idea? Well, everyone loves themselves a good space opera. To get a space opera, you need FTL. A number of theoretically possible FTL drives need some parts to have negative mass to work. Another thing that could use this might be airships or planes. Just stick a lump of processed material in it, and you don't need to worry about going down because of engine failure in the case of planes. Or, in the case of airships, you don't need to have such a large balloon, which makes potential tourists nervous. You can even make floating islands in the sky! (tie them down though, unless you want them floating away into space). Oh yes! you can also use this method to get to space and back for almost free! Just collect enough mass while you're up there, and you can come back down again. If you feel like you are going down too fast, you can always use a parachute.

So, yeah. a lot of reasons that it might be useful.

But, this matter is going to be quite strange. Does it qualify as strange matter? If so, will it cause a chain reaction, like shown in a certain Kurzgesagt video?

Basically, what I'm asking is the following:

If a process* can multiply the mass of any** object by negative 1, does special relativity or quantum mechanics, or basically any other sub-field of physics cause this process to have drastic consequences?

*: the process, while the setup takes a long time, works through about one cubic meter of any material per millisecond. (you can change the rate for your answer)

**: This is something artificial, and I am no supervillain. I won't do it to anything bigger than, say, a brick.

Assumptions:

• negative mass gets repulsed by gravity. I guess that means that it should also be repulsed by any acceleration?
• The mass-reversal either works completely, or not at all.
• this actually happens.

posted about 4 years ago

Mark Gardner‭

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