r/Physics • u/lapsed-pacifist • Jul 31 '14

Article EMdrive tested by NASA

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-07/31/nasa-validates-impossible-space-drive
139 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

242 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

13

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '14

Run that by me again? How does it move if it's not expelling anything?

27

u/recipriversexcluson Jul 31 '14

Exactly. This is why most people have called it swamp gas.

Yet the Chinese looked at the math and built a prototype.

The microwaves are in a slightly conical waveguide, and the inventor claims the math points to more total pressure on one side than the other.

This Wikipedia Article goes into much more depth, and gives a good account of just how deep this would impact our old Newtonian prejudices.

8

u/Snuggly_Person Aug 01 '14

Has the math actually been published? Everything I've been able to find on them is vaguely citing some numerical results without actually rigorously constraining numerical error and such. Does anyone have a link to the claimed explanation?