Why are we the middle of everything?

Discussion in 'Physics & Math' started by tetra, Feb 20, 2002.

  1. tetra Hello Registered Senior Member

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    Where exactely do you have to be in the universe for you to be still? We are on the Earth, but earth is orbiting the sun/galaxy/cluster/supercluster/etc.

    Because we are already going very fast, doesn't that mean that the speed of light is faster when we slow down?

    We've measured the speed of light, but is that the speed only when we assume Earth is standing still?

    Ive never known a clear answer to this, please enlighten me.
     
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  3. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    right answer I think is - nowhere, because everything in our universe is moving away from other objects at a accelarating speed. (i do think i rememember it was accelarating, there are some theories tht say tht at a constant speed, but I find them not true) . These are such objects as galactics as well as groups of them. the best example is with a baloon. You glue small papers to a unblown baloon and you start to blow it and the sticked papers distance from each other and you would see tht there is no particular centre.
    take a baloon and you'll understand.

    credits-the baloon demonstration is taken from Stephens Hawkings book "Short history of time" (frm Latvian)
     
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  5. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    Isn't this where relativity is brought into discussion.

    The "I'm standing still relative to a spinning world, but the world revolves".

    I had theorised into how Still a point would have to be, and that would only be possible if the gravity of that specific point was so emense that it swallowed all mass and quanta in every direction to it's centre. (Some will say a Blackhole)

    Of course it might be motioned across space by the accumilation of mass in some galaxy.

    (my understanding though, is that blackholes don't exist because they follow a Singularity trait, but dark-matter can "decay" from a parallel space within a multiworlds frame, to "Co-exist in another".)
     
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  7. Boris2 Valued Senior Member

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    tetra wrote:

    "Where exactely do you have to be in the universe for you to be still? We are on the Earth, but earth is orbiting the sun/galaxy/cluster/supercluster/etc. "

    There is no place in the Universe where you can be said to be stationary. There is no reference point in the Universe that you can compare your lack of motion to. You would need a point outside of this Universe as a comparison, and as we cannot "look" outside of this Universe this is not possible.

    And

    "Because we are already going very fast, doesn't that mean that the speed of light is faster when we slow down?"

    No. The speed of light is the same for all observers in all frames of reference. Read up on relativity as this covers this topic. Below is a good site for alot of physics, and the page I have linked to deals with relativity.

    http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html
     
  8. Chagur .Seeker. Registered Senior Member

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    Boris2

    Great site!

    Thanks.

    Take care

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  9. Tyler Registered Senior Member

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    The Hawking book in English is "Brief History of Time"
     

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