real inertial dampeners?

[flopsies]

Is there a theory to make inertial dampeners, like in Star Trek?

[Halie Satanus]

You mean 'brakes.' Or 'shock absorbers.'

''Like in Star Trek'' would require a whole heap of other technological advances before 'inertial dampeners' became a necessity.

[Elfdude]

I'm not aware of what the star trek dampeners actually are but inertial dampening is part of studying waves and their propagations in physics. You can for example dampen a large force with a suspended weight and use the system to redistribute said force over time into the system. However this is what inertial dampeners really are and isn't what people typically think about when watching sci fi.

In the real world negating inertia is impossible. Though we can redistribute or practically negate inertia in very controlled circumstances trying to achieve it for something as varied, diverse and uncontrolled as a fighter in battle is pretty much impossible.

Theoretically through using waves you could ramp up or down the energy levels of the inertia. It may be possible to use the inertia to cancel itself out in a similar way to using meta materials to redirect light or to redirect earthquake waves via manipulating positive or negative feedback. I haven't the slightest idea if this can be applied to inertia but given it's applied to accoustics, light and earthquakes already I'd imagine inertia could just be regarded as another wave albeit brief. These meta materials however would simply alter the nature of the force it would not negate the force entirely however meta materials are already showing huge advantages in dampening. This would of course require a broadband metamaterial that could handle many types and frequencies which we currently do not have.

Past that altering gravity gives us the best chance of real inertial dampeners. I've heard of proposals for a stutter drive which simply teleports a user incrementally having no inertia but teleporting seems much more difficult than simply altering a gravity field or using a meta material.