Test Question: What is faster than the speed of light, anything?

Of course that can't exist. In reality things flex and that flexing is subrelativistic. It's actually the speed of sound.

 

What a bunch of nonsense.

 

Are you suggesting that matter can move greater than 186,000 mps? Please elaborate, because you have made the greatest discovery in the history of mankind.

 

No, I'm not suggesting that.

 

Matter can't move through space faster than light. INFORMATION can't move faster than light. So have we exhausted the universe of every concept worth thinking about? If you say yes, go away. We're done with you, you're right, congratulations. We can't travel faster than light, and we can't send messages faster than light.

But the expansion of space-time can shift locations of things faster than light. The locus of points describable in many USEFUL ways can move faster than light. The rate at which the cutting point moves (when we cut a sheet of paper) can move faster than light. Is that cutting point a "thing"?

 

Since when does it cut faster than light? When you close scissors the entire blade does not move as one. It flexes. For it to cut faster than light it'd need to be made out of material that doesn't flex and that doesn't exist.

 

Try thinking about the problem first, OK? Imagine two lines extending out into space. Can you imagine them not flexing? After all, they aren't being asked to move very fast. The speed of the intersection point between them is a function of their angle as well as their movement. The cutting point isn't a physical object, it is composed of no particles at all. It transfers no information. It MOVES (or it can) faster than light. It really does.

And the whole point of this illustration is that there are describable phenomena, which are not material and which do not represent any particles traveling at such speeds, which move faster than light.

Consider two flashlights shined off into the night sky. Now, we both agree that the light emitted can't exceed light speed. Move the two light beams so that they overlap (like scissor blades). We agree that the beams themselves flex, and can't move faster than light. But the point of intersection of those beams CAN move faster than light. It's not a material thing.

 

Can you at least say why it is? That is a really obnoxious post in my opinion ...

 

Nope...because you (or any strong man) could not exert enough force to move the poles faster than light.

The faster something moves the more mass it has. Or you could say the faster something moves the more it weighs. It takes more and more force to move anything faster and faster. When you get to the speed of light you can not move it any faster because it is too heavy.

If you do not think this is so place a baseball on your foot...then drop it on your foot from shoulder height.

 

Who are you talking to? Can you press Reply with Quote next time ?

 

Hmmm that is an interesting take on the thought experiment! Hmmm' yes you are also correct I was taking artistic liberty with the threads question when I imagined materials that do not exist etc. I was wondering if the ends of the poles would violate special relativity by exceeding light speed. Anyway that’s why I added all the impossible properties, I wanted it to be scientifically correct, so I also intentionally made the poles ‘massless’ but still a material. The reason I made them massless was because as poles gained velocity to where relativistic properties began poles with mass would gain mass rapidly and finally be of infinite mass at c i.e. light speed in a vacuum. Anyway I have yet to read more than just the last comment. Oh.. ; thanks to the OT author for being forgiving for my butchering of his thread!) ...lastly I hope this is readable because I just got out of bed (its 5am). Hello again domestic issues called… now its 8:06 ~

reva

 

With all due respect ;Wrong-oh my fellow member. Did you fail to think of Quantum Entanglement? AKA Spooky action at a distance…(Albert Einstein's quote). Einstein refused to accept quantum indeterminism even though he was one of the founders of quantum theory...but I digress. QE is truly a strange thing, but maybe not so strange when we consider the other weird implications of quantum physics! Information may not travel faster than light but it can 'go' faster than light, infinitely faster (to abuse and misuse the word ‘infinite&#8217. Allow me an example? This is kind of long...; Say we have a virtual particle, like all virtural entangled particles it has a twin. One is in the lab and another is across the galaxy. If we measure the one in the lab causing it to be either a particle ie or by observing it or measuring it we cause what is known as the “collapse” of the wave function. That means the particle must assume an wave or a particle state etc. Say it chooses a particle state. The other particle (in superposition) will instantly collapse and choose either a particle of wave. This conversion takes place instantly, even if the particles are separated by millions of light years. All this has been confirmed numerous times by experiment. Fantastic eh?

So there you have it; Faster than light speed information exchange via QE.

Lol, spooky action at a distance.

reva

 

Indeed. But as I understand it, quantum entanglement cannot be used to transfer information. Wikipedia says "The outcome of A's measurement is random. A cannot decide which state to collapse the composite system into, and therefore cannot transmit information to B by acting on one system. Causality is thus preserved." As for distances, theory says they can be "arbitrarily large." I vaguely recall reading that tests have established that the disentanglement of entangled objects has happened (between objects) faster than light can travel.

So, like the hypothetical cutting point of scissors, disentanglement is another "thing" that can exceed light speed, though of course no particle is physically doing so.