Issues with your account? Bug us in the Discord!

Speed Of Light Broken With Basic Lab Kit

RandyRandy Master Storyteller
[url="http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992796"]http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992796[/url]

Comments

  • WOA!!! Don't scare me like that!

    "While the peak moves faster than light speed, the total energy of the pulse does not. This means Einstein's relativity is preserved, so do not expect super-fast starships or time machines anytime soon."

    I was afraid everyone I know in the Physics Dept was going to have to start school all over. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/smile.gif[/img]

    But wait, doesn't that mean that relative time for the signal slows down? This time and the speed of light stuff is so confusing.
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]

    we'll find a way past Einstein...

    nothing in this Universe is hard and fast rulewise.

    remember nothing heavier than air can fly...

    nothing made of iron will float...
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    The thing is, the signal is just a wave. A wave is a byproduct of motion; it doesn't actually have any intrinsic motion in it; i.e., there's nothing actually moving that can be identified as the "wave object." Thus, there should be absolutely no relativity effects outside of the motion that creates the wave, which doesn't have to be even close to relativity speeds.

    ------------------
    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Pulse data going faster then c is not new...as long as the pulse itself is c. We've know of this for a long while.
  • "Signals also get weaker and more distorted the faster they go, so in theory no useful information can get transmitted at faster-than-light speeds..."

    Too bad, don't think I'd want a network where you'd have to run the cable through a repeater/hub every 5 meters [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/eek.gif[/img]

    ------------------
    There are 3 things in life I never forget: my friends, my enemies, and my access codes.
    Never put gasoline in a fire extinguisher.
    "No government, no dictator can hold an imprisioned population by force of arms forever. There is no power in the universe greater than the need for freedom. Against this power, governments and tyrants and armies [i]cannot stand[/i]." - G'Kar, [i]The Long Twighlight Struggle[/i]
  • [quote]Originally posted by shadow boxer:
    [b]nothing in this Universe is hard and fast rulewise.[/b][/quote]

    1+1=2

    That isn't hard and fast, rulewise? [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/smile.gif[/img]
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    No. Take for instance time dialation. Assume v=0.99c

    The time of the first event is 1 second after the the start of the clock. The time of the second event is 1 second after that. IN the frame that is at rest.

    Now in the frame that is moving a 0.99c, you do not find that the second event occurs at 2 seconds (1+1). Instead it occurs at 100.5 seconds.

    [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I also read somewhere that the speed of gravity is also faster than the speed of light.
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    John,

    Add a little chaos to anything and it gets interesting.

    One is an abstract description of a state of 'singularity'. Is there ever a case where there is one of anything ?

    If I put a 'one' and a 'one' together isn't that the numeral 'eleven' ?

    Rules are great things, like gravity, they stop us flying off into space, let us move about the surface of the planet without holding on and it keeps the Newspaper flat on the table so we can read the sucker. That doesnt mean to say we shouldnt find ways to downshift and negate gravity so we can do cool shit in orbit.

    Same with FTL transport.

    There is no better way to not acheieve it than to say it can't be done and not explore every idea out there to the contrary of the Rule Einstein has been good enough to write is.

    There's not much difference between a four ladders and a cage... Unfortunately I think E=mc2 is pretty much a cage. We need to turn it back into a ladder...

    somehow.

    S'funny how I'm always having this same conversation with everyone.


    'Chaos' and the distinctly positive stuff it does for us, and irony of all ironies, how much 'Order' offers much more restriction and stagnation than anyone gives it credit for.

    Without throwing Nastersiums at anyone, John is the pretty much typical Engineer type. Always the pillar and bastion for tradition, laws and order.

    Cool, we need about 75-80% Order to keep society functioning. John and guys and girls cut from that same kind of cloth keep the machines and structures of life in place and well maintained.

    What pisses me off more than perhaps anything else in this world is for people cut from Engineering stock have so little respect and understanding of the other side of the equation. The other 'missing' 20%, the "Creatives", the arty farty, airy fairy, loopy loopies.

    Those little nicknames are telling indicators in themselves. You try thinking of an equivalent for a Engineer or one of the other 'square' Trades and Professions.

    For human progress you need 'gifted fools', people who's impact on life is usually at best... spotty.... they, by thier very nature find it bloody well nigh on impossible to turn up for work on time everyday. For thier lack of consistency, thier lack of respect for tradition and for rules and ways of being and doing, they are ore often crucified rather than deified.

    It's the nutcakes who make the big leaps, ask the questions or 'dare to suggest' the way past an impasse in life.

    The Wrights are a good example.

    They flat out rejected the commonly held belief that things heavier than air could not possibly fly. Ask any Engineer of the day if they thought Orville and Wilbur would sucseed, they would scoff and laugh about it over thier spectacles and then they'd get out thier slide rules and paper and pencil and 'prove to you' why it wouldnt work.

    The same will apply to FTLT and it won't be an Engineer in the sense I have described that will find the intelectual keys to the 'space rocket'. That person won't be the one who will build the first one from scratch, they will have a legion of Engineers to make the idea real.

    The Universe needs both.

    Chaos, Order

    Engineer, Creative

    Yin, Yang

    One IS two.
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    RC: It's the other way around. Events occuring in the .99c frame appear vastly slowed down in the rest frame.

    'Course, I always kinda wondered why this doesn't make relativity contradict itself. Given that there is a discernable difference between the two frames based on velocity, then how can velocity really be measured as "relative" to something or other? If you can conclusively state that one frame's velocity is faster than the other (and you can, otherwise there would be no discernable difference in the passage of time in the two frames), then doesn't that imply a universal constant "absolute zero" velocity?

    ------------------
    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [quote]Originally posted by JohnD:
    [b] 1+1=2

    That isn't hard and fast, rulewise? [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/smile.gif[/img][/b][/quote]

    1 + 1 = 11. It all depends on what system you do it in. It is possible to make 2 + 2 = 1 if you want, it just involves very different mathematics.

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    [quote]Originally posted by Biggles:
    [b] 1 + 1 = 11. It all depends on what system you do it in. It is possible to make 2 + 2 = 1 if you want, it just involves very different mathematics.

    [/b][/quote]

    How can light move faster than light? Thats kinda like Preheating an oven, How can you heat an oven, BEFORE you heat an oven!




    ------------------
    ..And so it Begins

    http://www.firefoot.com
  • samuelksamuelk The Unstoppable Mr. 'K'
    Actually, 1+1=10

    [quote]How can light move faster than light? Thats kinda like Preheating an oven, How can you heat an oven, BEFORE you heat an oven![/quote]

    Look at it this way. Let's say the top speed of a Ferrari is 210 mph (I know that's not a real figure, but I'm just using it as an example).

    Now let's say you attach a rocket engine to the Ferrari. Now you've just figured out how to make a Ferrari go faster than a Ferrari.

    [This message has been edited by samuelk (edited 09-17-2002).]
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Can I help it that I was half asleep when I did those calculations? [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    1+1!=2 if you add 2 vectors together!
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/smile.gif[/img]

    Doesn't 1+1=10 ?
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    It depends on your definition of addition. You all thought I was doing binary.

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • PJHPJH The Lovely Thing
    Say what you want but Green Aardvark is Green Aardvark!

    [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]

    - PJH
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    If you add 1 green aardvark to 1 green aardvark, you get lunch, right?

    So, 1+1=Lunch

    [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
  • David of MacDavid of Mac Elite Ranger Ca
    Pig + X = Cow
    Chicken + X = Reality
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    1 Human + 1 Human = Child = 3 Humans
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Well, with the proper manipulation of the effect we might at least have FTL communication. This is a possibilty long before traveling FTL.

    [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/wink.gif[/img]
  • ArgoneArgone Genuine Klingon
    Like Shadow Boxer said, We need more Free thinkers. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/wink.gif[/img]

    Most of the established mundane company scienctists never think outside the box.

    The ones who do usually, not always, face criticism and or loss of funding.

    Just because someone says its a rule doesn't mean it can't be broken.

    Argone
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    David: Woo! I love that game!

    ------------------
    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • PJHPJH The Lovely Thing
    [quote]Originally posted by Random Chaos:
    [b]If you add 1 green aardvark to 1 green aardvark, you get lunch, right?[/b][/quote]

    No, you get a Vorklift! [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]

    - PJH
Sign In or Register to comment.