Can anything surpass the speed of light???

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Popcorn8636, Aug 27, 2002.

  1. Gravage Registered Senior Member

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    Yes,but even evolution is not eternal,we will eventually DEVOLVE.
     
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  3. Gravage Registered Senior Member

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    Oh,sorry John I didn't see you last reply about devolving,my sorry.
     
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  5. Gravage Registered Senior Member

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    Would it be possible travel faster than light if you're capable of bending space-time(as well as its bended laws of physics) with magnetic/electrical/electromagnetic field?Or using the subspace like in Star Trek?
     
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  7. John Connellan Valued Senior Member

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    No I never mentioned it. I would imagine u mean evoving back into humans when the environment changes do u? I would doubt that that could happen! Even if the environment is completely the same again, the genetic pool would be so changed that Natural Selection must make-do with its new resources and shape a creature that might look a bit like us again, but still be a different species. But who knows! It all depends on the length of time there are no homo sapiens for

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  8. c20H25N3o Shiny Heart of a Shiny Child Registered Senior Member

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    I reckon the only way to move at least at the speed of light will be a wavelength shift of atoms in any given space. The atoms will need a whack and then they will ripple through space time until they appear at the other end of the wavelength.

    If anyone knows where I can buy an atom whacker ( technical term) please let me know

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  9. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Gravage:

    Yes, it might be possible to travel faster than light if you can work out how to bend spacetime at will.

    As for subspace, that's just fiction right now.
     
  10. Paul W. Dixon Registered Senior Member

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    Time dilation and the speed of light

    It may be that there is a solution to this problem in The Special Theory of Relativity. As the traveler approaches the speed of light in their vehicle, the equations indicate that the passage of time will slow down in this inertial frame relative to the inertial frame of their point of origin. Thus they may age slowly and return to their place of origination having aged only a few years whilst hundreds of years will have elapsed in their absence on our planet. The decay of radioactive particles in cosmic rays progressing at close to the speed of light as a measure of time duration bears out this hypothesis. Thus interstellar travel may be possible for the intrepid.

    Yours sincerely,

    Paul W. Dixon
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2004
  11. eburacum45 Valued Senior Member

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    He's right, in a way; if you travel at a certain fraction of light speed you end up travelling one light year in one subjective year of time; about 80% c I believe...
     
  12. cookiedude Registered Member

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    Hmm... I don't know much about the Special Theory of Relativity so I'm not sure if this idea is possible, but if we were to somehow create a BIG, gigantic, enormous disk and find a way to spin it fast enough in the center of it, couldn't the speed on the outside edge of the disk surpass the speed of light??? I've been pondering this idea for a while now.
     
  13. eburacum45 Valued Senior Member

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    This is an old chestnut; in fact it is quite easily solved- any disk rotating at relativistic speeds could not be rigid, as different parts would rotate at different time rates; such a disk exceeds the possible maximum strength of any real object in this universe and would disintegrate into a disk of rotating particles.
     
  14. Janus58 Valued Senior Member

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    First problem, finding something rigid enough to withstand the strain.

    Assuming this problem is solved, you still have to deal with the energy needed to spin up the disc. As the rim approaches c, the amount of energy needed to get it closer to c increases to infinity as the rim approaches c. Thus you would need to exert an infinite amount of energy to spin the disc up the point where the rim moves at c. Since you are always limited to an finite amount of energy, you will never be able to even get the rim speed up to c, let alone above it.
     
  15. Gravage Registered Senior Member

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    Yes,but everything has its price,who knows what disaster would be caused by bending space-time.
     
  16. Alpha «Visitor» Registered Senior Member

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    There's no such thing as 'de-evolution'. Evolution changes a species to better suit it's environment. What's good for a species in one environment may not be in another. Some previous state may be better, and they may evolve into that state again, but this is not 'de-evolution'. This is still evolution. Evolution has no direction, other than the apparent one we see in the form of a timeline.
     
  17. greywolf The Hellbound Hellhound. AWOOO Registered Senior Member

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    I dont know if anyone said this yet but what about thought. Isnt thought almost instant or pretty close?
     
  18. Gravage Registered Senior Member

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    Maybe yes,maybe no.
     
  19. Alpha «Visitor» Registered Senior Member

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    Whatever. Believe what you will, but 'de-evolution' is nonsense. Any evolutionary process you would call 'de-evolution' is simply evolution. Regardless of whether or not the species has evolved down that path before. Evolution doesn't just go in one 'direction'. It has no direction.
     
  20. greywolf The Hellbound Hellhound. AWOOO Registered Senior Member

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    care to elaborate?
     
  21. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    greywolf:

    Nothing like it. Thought is very slow. It takes place by electrical signals in the brain, which travel at less than the speed of light.
     
  22. Janus58 Valued Senior Member

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    How many times do you need this questioned answered? The answer is 0.96c

    Your comment about the sticks not traveling at near the speed of light is nonsensical; there is no "magic" velocity where relativistic effects "kick in". All velocities are subject to Relativity. If the velocties of the ships were 75 meters/sec, the velocity of ship B to A as measured from A would be 149.999999999990625000000000585937 meters/sec. (not 150 m/s, but since at these velocities the difference is so small, we generally ignore the correction.)
     
  23. beta Registered Senior Member

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    Janus58 is correct, but there is a purely practical consideration to take into account when measuring extremely short time intervals by this method.
    The finite time taken for the signal from the breaking sticks to reach the equipment used to measure the time separation must be taken into account. That is, the path length from either stick to the equipment must be identical or a misleading interval will result.
     

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