A new means of space propulsion... closed loop pulse propulsion... here's the idea

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60. This thread is a great example on how AI chats can create utter nonsense and make it look good.

If a bullet enters a black box with momentum m and exits the black box with momentum -m, then momentum of 2m was transferred to the black box. You can't just wave it away with "oh I used arcs". It doesn't matter what you used.

So if I'm an astronaut in a spaceship with a gun and a contraption to turn the bullet around (arc or otherwise) then

First I fire. Bullet goes away +m, I recoil -m

Then the black box captures the bullet. At some point halfway through the process, the bullet has zero momentum, but the black box has gained +m momentum. If the black box is attached to the spaceship with the astronaut, which is now always moving with -m momentum, then the spaceship is now stopped with momentum 0.

Then the black box does the rest of its reversal and now the bullet is traveling back, -m. But this can't happen without the black box gaining +m momentum. So the spaceship, astronaut included, is now reversed heading +m.

Finally the bullet hits the astronaut. And the -m from the bullet and the +m from the astronaut combine to halt both.

AI is good at generating arguments that sound convincing. It's not good at validating them.