breaking the speed of light article on howstuffworks.com

Just for the record... I intend to be a meteorologist when I grow up, not a physicist.

I looked at it...

It's certainly seeming to be a controversial topic. I'm keeping an open mind. Maybe, maybe not. But I don't really agree with the thinking that the cable could move things faster than lightspeed.

In however many billion years, the Sun will become a supergiant and will engulf the Earth. At that time, humans will probably need to relocate. By then, if it is possible, we might be able to teleport or something. It can be disputed that we might be extinct by then anyways, but from my religious beliefs (the Baha'i faith) humans will still exist then. Please, nobody start an argument over the link between science and religion or something, I will let you think what you think in peace. Different opinions are okay.

I find all this interesting, but I just enjoy meteorology more. This is a little too abstract for me.

It is compelling to believe that there could be some way to exceed C. On one hand, it's great to be "pushing the envelope" by researching such things, but on the other hand, don't let simple lust blind you into believing something is real when it is not. Any theories are just heresay until proven otherwise. This reminds me of a post I saw here recently which went something like this... (use a monospaced font like Courier):

Scientists Discover New Waveform: /-------------------------------\ | . | | \\ | | \ \ | | _______) \______ | | Time--> | \-------------------------------/ The Sharktooth

Here's my two cents. Einstein's Time/Frame notion - and the notion that light can travel faster than C with respect to other light - seems to be consistent with observations made scientifically. i.e., measure the speed of light on two opposing edges of an expanding universe from the center, and they have an escaping velocity *delta* faster than C. But no light actually travels faster than C in it's frame.

The other idea is that if string theory is correct, what if "FTL" is simply the

That said, also interesting the the propagation speed of EM radiation with respect to C in various mediums. Research for instance, the speed of "c" in an iron powder medium; the answer might surprise you.

-- "I think the state of the universe at the moment of conceptulization determines part of how an entity further interacts with the rest of its reality, and hence our experience with it." MCJ 200311

Also, there's too much math with all this, and I don't particularly enjoy math. Meteorology involves significantly less. I worked so hard to pull off a B this term in math. If it wasn't for a notebook check and a few other easy A's, my report card would have looked like this; A, A, A, A, D (the D being math of course) I make so many careless errors it's ridiculous, so I wouldn't be a trustworthy physicist.

"It's the "del" operator of vector Calculus. See page 3 of..."

Oh, great, the calculus again. There's no escaping. Of course, it had to be a calculus operator. (groan)

The timer just went off, I have to go take my pasta salad off the stove. I'll check back in a little while.

In the Baha'i faith no one of any age is permitted to ingest wine or any other alcohol. (no one reply to this, I just had to say it. Stay on the topic of breaking the light speed barrier, please) :)

Travel

thing

without

possible

wormholes

appeared

Google.

speed

is

matter,

the

Meaning that those that use calculus are useless to a 15 year old with Algebra experience.

E=MC^2-GammaMV is the full equation. Gamma is proportional to how fast you are going. It effects length contraction, time dilation, and apparent mass. Basically, by looking at the equations, as you get closer and closer to the speed of light, you're apparent mass gets larger and larger with your mass equalling infinity at the speed of light. Hence it would take an infinite amount of energy for you to get to the speed of light. Photons get around this by being massless.

Calculus was necessary for physics to really begin. Newton created calculus, which then helped him create classical physics. Calculus by definition is the mathematics of changing variables, which is kinda necessary to describe anything in the real world. The only thing constant in life is change.

It's the "del" operator of vector Calculus. See page 3 of...

http://35.9.69.219/home/modules/pdf_modules/m479.pdf

...Jim Thompson

Why trouble? Put the trigger device midway between the shutter and the detector and run coax (or any other signal medium) to both. By symmetry, they are triggered simultaneously regardless of separation. There are lots of simple ways to do this.

There's really no doubt that ordinary photons travel at C, and there are no known non-ordinary photons. Maxwell determined this in 1873,

C = 1/sqrt(Eo*Uo)

and Einstein agreed, on other grounds.

If anything could travel ftl, it wouldn't be a photon.

John

With your obvious mental talents, I'd aim a wee bit higher... unless you want to be on the TV news hour ;-)

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

...Jim Thompson

That quantum physics test is not very good. I took a course on quantum physics and the test has some issues.

And ~~SciGirl~~ can cook, too ;-)

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

Einstein's theory of Special Relativity prevents anything with mass or information from travelling faster than light. It is possible that one day this theory will be proved wrong, but it has been validated by many experiments over the last 100 years. The FAQ on Wang's webpage states that his experiment does NOT contradict current theory, and cannot be used to send information faster than light. See:

For a very good demonstration of how light can appear to travel faster than light have a look at the Java applet in the link below:

The Java applet also shows what happens if you try to send information by modulating the beam.

There is some more information on superluminal phenomena here:

Gareth.