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Article #353303Re: Lightspeed constant...
From: cam... Campbell
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 00:00
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 00:00
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4123 bytes
In <SHESS.96N...@howard.one.net> sh...@one.net (Scott Hess) writes: > >In article <569rgm$f...@bigboote.WPI.EDU>, > rasm...@paramount.res.wpi.edu (Frank Sweetser) writes: > : Chris (coop...@cf.ac.uk) wrote: >deleted pi or e. You _cannot_ go faster than the speed of >light while remaining in our universe. Almost by definition, if you >are going faster than the speed light travels in our universe, then >you are _not_ in our universe. [To quickly stop certain types of >responses, if you use a "wormhole" to instantaneously go from "here" >to "there", you are not in our universe. You got from "here" to >"there" faster than light could have, but you did not take the path >light would have taken. Likewise if you do things like time travel or >whatnot. "Faster than the speed of light" means that you got from >"here" to "there" before light would have, using the same path. As >you can see, saying "travel faster than the speed of light" also >implies certain definitions for "travel".] > >To be even more specific, back when the speed of sound was fast, all >velocity and acceleration equations worked fine past the speed of >sound. It's just that nobody figured you could actually ever _go_ >that fast. They could still figure out what accelerations would be >necessary to push a given mass past the speed of sound, at least in >theory. None of our equations work if you use velocities faster than >the speed of light. If you use velocities faster than the speed of >light, the results of the equations _aren't_ consistent with arriving >at your destination before light would have by the same path. > >This isn't really a matter of opinion. To prove that you can't go >faster than the speed of light, I don't have to opine that your >vehicle will fall apart, or your mind cannot take it, or that there's >no mechanical means to connect enough engines, or anything like that. >I can just prove that YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE! You could take >_all_ the mass in our universe, convert every last particle to energy >(for maximum boost) and shoot it all in one direction - and you still >will not manage to accelerate yourself to light speed. The problem is >that the amount of acceleration to add a given amount of velocity >increases exponentially to infinity. > >In some very basic, essential sense, if you ever find yourself going >"faster than the speed of light in our universe", you will also find >that you are indeed not in our universe. > >[I had a roomate who once would start a conversation with something >like "But let's say you _could_ go faster than the speed of light." >How can you start a conversation by invoking magic? I just wonder why >people so seldom say things like "What if pi was exactly 3.5?" or >"What if e was 3.1415926...?" or "What if i was not imaginary?"] > >Sigh, >-- >scott hess <sh...@one.net> (606) 578-0412 http://w3.one.net/~shess/ ><I plan to become so famous that people buy tapes of me reading source code> --------------------------------(You have to write SoooOOO famous) Good writing heah. You are very clear, and they are stupid babies. >From a pest
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From: cam...@ix.netcom.com(A. Campbell) Subject: Re: Lightspeed constant... Date: 1996/11/14 Message-ID: <56dut6$8o0@dfw-ixnews7.ix.netcom.com> X-Deja-AN: 196337835 references: <569rgm$fu1@bigboote.WPI.EDU> <SHESS.96Nov12094002@howard.one.net> organization: Netcom x-netcom-date: Wed Nov 13 8:07:34 PM CST 1996 newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.win95.setup,comp.multimedia,comp.graphics.animation,alt.games.doom,alt.games.descent,alt.games.warcraft,comp.graphics,comp.graphics.animation,alt.fan.bill-gates,comp.os.os2.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.object,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.security.misc,comp.security.unix,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,news.admin.policy,fr.comp.windows.drivers,alt.windows95,soc.culture MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit