The concept of teleportals has been around since the beginning of science fiction. They come in all shapes and sizes. A teleportal is not like the transporter of Star Trek fame. It doesn’t disassemble the object going through it and then reassemble it somewhere else. It’s a zero distance interface that connects two separated locations. The ones in Teleportal have some interesting properties. Here’s a look at some of them.
––– # –––
This image shows the basic concept. The portal in the dining room on the left is connected to the portal at Lake George. Notice anything peculiar? They appear to be oriented in the same direction. A person going in the visible side of the portal at Lake George would step through into the table side of the one in the dining room and vice versa. If either one of the portals were rotated, the view through the other would change along with the exit direction.
Another peculiarity to consider is air pressure. The portals would almost certainly have an air pressure differential. Without an enclosure around at least one of the portals the differential would result in a breeze to hurricane force wind, or worse. Imagine trying to get back to earth from outside a space station.
Which brings up another concern, gravity. A person in the International Space Station would be attracted toward a portal connected to one on earth. Maybe it would be practical to embed portals under the flooring of a space station as a way of providing localized gravity.
One issue is connected to conservation of momentum. Since everything is moving through space in some direction and speed, what happens when an object passes through an interface that is moving in a different direction and speed? And that could apply to two portals on earth. What is the difference in momentum between Anchorage and Rio? I’ll leave the solution of that problem to the persons who assemble the first practical teleportals.
Finally, the team in Teleportal was able to filter the interface so that only photons of a specified frequency range and power density could pass through, giving them the capability of opening the portal in visual-only mode. Perhaps there-in lies the solution to some of the problems inherent in such a device. Something to think about, isn’t it?