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An Alpoesque observation on the speed of light...


Three Foot Johnson

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Supposedly, nothing can exceed the speed of light. Let's say two objects leave the green planet in opposite directions at 186,282 miles/second. From your point of view on the planet, no laws of physics have been broken, but if you shift your observation point to either spaceship, the other will be moving away from you at twice the speed of light. How can this be?

 

SpeedOfLight.jpg

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Each ship is moving at the speed of light. Period. There is no “twice the speed of light“ in this scenario. It would be physically impossible to look at either ship from any vantage point...they are traveling at the speed of light. ;)

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Simple, despite the fact that the spaceship is "moving away from you at twice the speed of light," relatively speaking, it is not actually moving that fast.

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"If" you shift your point of observation TO either spaceship - you would then be moving at the speed of light in a given direction, observing an object that is also moving at the speed of light in the OPPOSITE direction.

 

Purely from a 'point of observation' context - the ship you are viewing would be then be moving away from you at two times the speed of light. 

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BTW, according to the theory, if you were on one of those ships, watching the other ship, it would disappear (or appear frozen) as soon as the combined speed hit the speed if light because the reflected light from the other ship would need to move faster than the speed of light to get to your eye...which cannot happen.  

 

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Who's to say the ship on the left isn't stationary, and the other two are moving? A fixed point in space would seem to be completely arbitrary, and no more than a designated spot to reference from. If I drive down the Interstate at 80 mph, it appears I'm moving forward at 80 mph from my point of view in the driver's seat, but if I'm traveling due east or west, that isn't true, as the planet is spinning and I'm actually moving backwards... or not. From a larger point of view, Earth is moving around the sun, the solar system around the galaxy, and the galaxy around the universe. What's moving and what isn't?

 

If nothing can go faster than the speed of light, then such a thing can be neither measured or observed, so... how do we know there AREN'T things going faster than that?

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34 minutes ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

Supposedly, nothing can exceed the speed of light. Let's say two objects leave the green planet in opposite directions at 186,282 fps. From your point of view on the planet, no laws of physics have been broken, but if you shift your observation point to either spaceship, the other will be moving away from you at twice the speed of light. How can this be?

 

 

Pard, you just asked the question that ultimately led to Einstein's theory of relativity.

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When something reaches the speed of light it becomes light.

 

I truly understand your question. If you are traveling East at 186000 miles a second, and I am traveling West at 186000 miles a second, while it is true that we are separating at the rate of 372000 miles a second, neither of us is going that fast.

 

If I'm driving East at 40 miles an hour, and you're driving West at 40 miles an hour, when an hour has gone by we will be 80 miles apart. But neither of us was going 80.

 

Your perspective is wrong.

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3 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

Supposedly, nothing can exceed the speed of light. Let's say two objects leave the green planet in opposite directions at 186,282 fps. From your point of view on the planet, no laws of physics have been broken, but if you shift your observation point to either spaceship, the other will be moving away from you at twice the speed of light. How can this be?

SpeedOfLight.jpg

The speed of light is 186,282 MILES per second NOT feet!

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Simple, just bend light like a horse shoe and both will be coming at each other at the speed of light. No collision, light passes through each other. So, wave real quick.:lol:

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2 hours ago, Alpo said:

When something reaches the speed of light it becomes light.

 

I truly understand your question. If you are traveling East at 186000 miles a second, and I am traveling West at 186000 miles a second, while it is true that we are separating at the rate of 372000 miles a second, neither of us is going that fast.

 

If I'm driving East at 40 miles an hour, and you're driving West at 40 miles an hour, when an hour has gone by we will be 80 miles apart. But neither of us was going 80.

 

Your perspective is wrong.

It is entirely dependent on your point of reference. If your points of reference are the vehicles, each is going 40 mph. If your point of reference is Earth (and you're on the equator), one is going ~1040 mph, and one is going ~960 mph.

 

A fixed point is space is whatever arbitrary point is chosen to take measurements from, as nothing is stationary. Everything is moving, relative to whatever fixed point is designated. If the fixed point designated for the measurement is the ship on the right, the ship on the left is moving away from it at twice the speed of light.

 

Remember the Mythbusters episode where they shot a soccer ball out of an air cannon in the back of a pickup at the same velocity as the pickup was going forward? From the bed of the truck, the appearance was the ball shot out of the cannon at XX mph, but from the observer's viewpoint standing on the ground, the ball was completely stationary as the barrel slid off of it and it dropped straight down on the ground. What was the muzzle velocity of the ball - XX mph, or 0 mph?

 

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2 minutes ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

t is entirely dependent on your point of reference. If your points of reference are the vehicles, each is going 40 mph. If your point of reference is Earth (and you're on the equator), one is going ~1040 mph, and one is going ~960 mph.

Why is one going 1040 and the other 960, I don't get it!:o

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The planet is spinning about 1000 mph at the equator, relative to the sun, so, in relation to the planet, one car is going about 1000 mph - 40 mph, and the other is going about 1000 mph + 40 mph. If they're driving north/south, they're both going about 1000 mph sideways, as well as 40 mph north and south. 

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6 minutes ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

The planet is spinning about 1000 mph at the equator, relative to the sun, so, in relation to the planet, one car is going about 1000 mph - 40 mph, and the other is going about 1000 mph + 40 mph. If they're driving north/south, they're both going about 1000 mph sideways, as well as 40 mph north and south. 

Okay, I still don't get it but thanks.:blink: To my mind if a car is going 1000mph, it's going 1000mph period no matter which direction it's going in! I don't see where relation to the sun has anything do with it.-_-

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4 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

So we know the speed of light, does anybody know the speed of DARK?

0 miles per hour:P

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4 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Okay, I still don't get it but thanks.:blink:

If you're in an airliner flying 400 mph, and walk to the back (or front) at 2 mph, you're going 2 mph, relative to the airliner. But, from the outside, you would be going 400 mph while sitting stationary in your seat, 402 mph walking one way, and 398 mph walking the other.

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34 minutes ago, Muleshoe Bill SASS #67022 said:

Show  me someplace in quantum mechanics where exceeding the speed f light is impossible. 

IIRC from college physics and the theory of relativity, matter cannot attain light speed, at which point it becomes energy, not matter. Not that I claim to be much of a physicist. I've been trying my best to forget that crap!

JHC

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Perception of reality, OR, reality of perception.

 

In reality, we have established what equates to a single MPH.   Therefore, our perception

of MPH is based on something established by us to help us all have a general  'perception' of speed.

 

So, if an object is traveling at the speed of light, our perception of what is or isn't 

possible is based on what we are able to comprehend.

 

In other words, our vision (our eyes reception of light) would restrict us from ever having

the ability to see anything that would travel faster than the speed of light.

In essence, if you were on a space ship going east and the other space ship were going west,

once you both zoom off at the speed of light, each space ship would actually disappear, VANISH.

 

BUT, although it has vanished from your perception of sight, that space ship still exist.

 

Then answer to your question is........ I don't have clue!

 

..........Widder

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Muleshoe Bill SASS #67022 said:

Show  me someplace in quantum mechanics where exceeding the speed f light is impossible. 

 

You won't find it in quantum mechanics. You'll have to consult the special theory of relativity.

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10 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

If you're in an airliner flying 400 mph, and walk to the back (or front) at 2 mph, you're going 2 mph, relative to the airliner. But, from the outside, you would be going 400 mph while sitting stationary in your seat, 402 mph walking one way, and 398 mph walking the other.

No you're going 2 mph INSIDE the airliner but still going 400mph within the airliner. I'm sorry I respectfully disagree with your theory.;)

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36 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

If one could attain the speed of light in a black hole, would it really matter?

Stephen Hawking said if we went into a black hole we would be turned into spaghetti!

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The original Starship Enterprise had a maximum speed of 0.73 light years per hour, which is about 6395 times the speed of light. This corresponds roughly with warp 9.975 of the Okuda scale and the established maximum warp of the starship USS Voyager.

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31 minutes ago, LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L said:

If you're traveling at the speed of light, and you turn your headlights on...does anything happen?

 

Your taillights come on. If you're Canadian, only the left turn signal comes on and stays on for the 20 minutes.

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2 hours ago, Smoken D said:

The original Starship Enterprise had a maximum speed of 0.73 light years per hour, which is about 6395 times the speed of light. This corresponds roughly with warp 9.975 of the Okuda scale and the established maximum warp of the starship USS Voyager.

Interesting, you realize this is just a show right??:P

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15 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

So we know the speed of light, does anybody know the speed of DARK?

 - 186,282 miles/sec. :P

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