humility Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 I have a spaceship with sophisticated computers and the best science lab money can by. I have the ship parked and the speedo reads 0m/s . I then give the order for my scientists to measure the speed of light. They report back that the speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second. With this news I decide to go for a ride. I give the order to the computer to drive the ship straight ahead and to keep increasing speed at a steady rate. I also tell my science team to record the speed of light when the speedo reachs certain speeds 25,000m/s, 50,000m/s . . .etc. My spaceship goes very fast. So the science time being well aware of the theory of relativity. Have programmed the computers to recalibrate the sophisticated equipment to take into account the effects of length contraction and time dilation. When the ship is getting to a very high speed the scientists inform me that the speed of light has started to increase. I thank them for the info and tell them to report to me If something really exciting happens.I retire to my quarters to get some sleep. I am having a wonderful dream when suddenly the ships intercom appears in it and informs me that I have to wake because the scientists have some important news. I tell the computer to wake me up. I get dressed and go and meet the scientists."What's the big news then?" I asked" Captain, The speed of light has dropped to zero" fred replied." What's our present velocity?" I enquired." We are doing 299,792,458m/s" said Jane." So the speed of light is 299,792,458m/s afterall." I said" No Captain the speed of light is 299,792,458m/s multiplied by 299,792,458m/s" said Mike.Just before we hit 299,792,458m/s we where recording the speed of light as almost C squared when we hit C the equipment can't be recalibrated and gives us 0.We therefore conclude that the actual speed of light relative to rest is 89875517873681764m/s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alxian Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 Jane... i'd like to have a jane in my ear.. hmm.. your story is nice but from the get go you should have stated that c was 0 and you would hvae to catch up to it. but then you mentioned that the machines would not be able to calculate c as being 0.. silly, when your ship likely would be bouncing light off of your hull faster that c [relative to a stationary measurement]. never the less, you also did not address the theory that light may have enough mass that once a ship starts going fast enough that the ship experiences either a drag or wake effect from light and heavier stuff as it slices through space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 ahhh cut him some slack, that's what stories are for. imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humility Posted February 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 Yes I may have used abit of artistic license. Especially the bit about the speed of light being c squared it just sounded good and I couldn't help myself. But the bit in the middle makes sense. The fact that if you take time dilation and length contraction into account and recalibrate your equipment so the conditions are the same as when you started.You probably would record a higher velocity for the speed of light. That said though I've realised that when talking about light, velocity doesn't actually seem to mean anything. So I am gracefully bowing out of this one and saying I don't think I'll ever understand light and good luck too whoever wants to figure it out because at the minute I personally think we're not even close. Cheers,Thanks and good luck :hihi: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAKER Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 The theory of reletivity has been elevated to a divine status. Just because we can measure the speed of light with some degree of certainty, the idea that moving at that speed has anything to do with time travel is merely conjecture. -but I know that wasn't the point of the story. "A rose by any other name is still a rose." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aki Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 Isn't the speed of light constant? Meaning to any observer, the speed of light is always the same. Einstein proved that even when the observer is moving at the speed of light, and he measures the speed, he should get 299,792,458m/s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 weel einstein didn't prove that; he took it as an axiom... Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlameTheEx Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 weel einstein didn't prove that; he took it as an axiom... Bo£$^£&& axiom!!!! Einstein ASSUMED C is constant, and now it is almost a religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreekTTC Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 £$^£&& axiom!!!! Einstein ASSUMED C is constant, and now it is almost a religion. True. Maybe it's possible to slow light down and we don't have the know-how yet...yaneverknow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgrmdave Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 We do know that it is possible to slow light down, and in fact we've done it many times. However, the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreekTTC Posted February 23, 2005 Report Share Posted February 23, 2005 We do know that it is possible to slow light down, and in fact we've done it many times. However, the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant. Haha. Pardon the ignorance. :( I'm no science scholar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aki Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Why would light slow down? According to Newton's first law, an object will remain at rest or at constant velocity unless it is acted on by an imbalance force. There is no frictional force in a vaccumm to slow light down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddog Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Aki, It might be pgrmdave is refering to speed of light in other mediums (say glass)... Maddog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulielmus Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 I have a spaceship with sophisticated computers and the best science lab money can by. I have the ship parked and the speedo reads 0m/s . I then give the order for my scientists to measure the speed of light. They report back that the speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second. With this news I decide to go for a ride. I give the order to the computer to drive the ship straight ahead and to keep increasing speed at a steady rate. I also tell my science team to record the speed of light when the speedo reachs certain speeds 25,000m/s, 50,000m/s . . .etc. My spaceship goes very fast. So the science time being well aware of the theory of relativity. Have programmed the computers to recalibrate the sophisticated equipment to take into account the effects of length contraction and time dilation. When the ship is getting to a very high speed the scientists inform me that the speed of light has started to increase. I thank them for the info and tell them to report to me If something really exciting happens.I retire to my quarters to get some sleep. I am having a wonderful dream when suddenly the ships intercom appears in it and informs me that I have to wake because the scientists have some important news. I tell the computer to wake me up. I get dressed and go and meet the scientists."What's the big news then?" I asked" Captain, The speed of light has dropped to zero" fred replied." What's our present velocity?" I enquired." We are doing 299,792,458m/s" said Jane." So the speed of light is 299,792,458m/s afterall." I said" No Captain the speed of light is 299,792,458m/s multiplied by 299,792,458m/s" said Mike.Just before we hit 299,792,458m/s we where recording the speed of light as almost C squared when we hit C the equipment can't be recalibrated and gives us 0.We therefore conclude that the actual speed of light relative to rest is 89875517873681764m/s. Using a story to convey a thought was worth while; it’s nice to see some variety in ways of telling facts(even it they are warped). Not to mention you probably had fun with it, way to go; it was interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts