Theory of the Speed of Light?
If as you get closer to the speed of light time slows down, if you were to go faster than the speed of light would time go backwards and if so would you end up just before you went as fast as the speed of light so never realise you have broken the light barrier?
Just had a few drunken night coversations about this and thought it was time to find out some logic, thanks
A common misperception is that as you go faster than the speed of light, time slows down. That’s not true. Time is relative. If you were on a ship going .99999999 the speed of light, you and your buds would perceive no changes in the perception of time. However to someone who was not moving, 1 of your seconds would tranlate into 2 of their hours. Now there are theoretical particles called tachyons that travel faster than teh speed of light, but they remain theoretical. If you could reach the speed of light, time would cease to exist. That is to say one second that you’d measure while travelling at the speed of light would be an infinitely long time to someone not moving.
October 24th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
i think if you go faster than it you will not age but when you come back 100s of years could have passed
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October 24th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
It is not possible to go faster than the speed of light.
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October 24th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Lol problem with that is, according to Einstein, the speed of light is the fastest speed possible. But some great scientific ideas were made by drunken guys. So who knows? If you can find a way to exceed the speed of light, then you can become a famous scientist and tell us all about it.
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October 24th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Why would time slow down?????
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October 24th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
look up einstein’s theory of relativity. This is what it sounds like u are talking about. I wasnt aware that bending light caused time to go backwards. You really got me thinkign and i wan tto know more.
Be b your answer rocks. I think I am smart and then someone else come salong and says something profoud.
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October 24th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
An important thing to remember, is, the speed of light is constant, and cannot be exceeded….according to one man, who lived a short time, on a small planet, in just one solar system.
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October 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
its because of that question that people have theorized that it is impossible to go faster then the speed of light. thats what i believe.
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October 24th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
It is a relativity question. Even if you are travelling at 50% of the speed of light, YOU would never know. Light around you, if you shined a flashlight, would still look normal. The people you left behind would be on a different time plane, but the you would not see them anyway. You could never - go back in time - because if you looked through a telescope and saw something, and then moved istintaneously to that point you would be looking at their future from what you saw earlier.
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October 24th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Because of Einstein’s formula, the mass of an object at the speed of light would be infinite, that’s why is theoretically impossible for an object to reach, let alone surpass such speed.
Approaching the speed of light, time will slow down as it will appear to a stationary observer, although for the travelers on board the vessel it will not change.
This is because speed is a relative concept depending on the system of coordinates of the vessel (which travels with it) as related to those of the observer, that we suppose at rest.
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October 24th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
the short answer is no.
In a frame of reference, as you accelerate, everyone else would appear to slow down, because the light bouncing off of them would not be able to catch up to you.
Now, if you travelled faster than the speed of light, you could then look back and watch yourself accelerate to the speed of light.
As for the ability to go and actually affect the past, no, this would be impossible, as time would pass between your acceleration to light speed and eventual stop (which would allow for the time for the light that reflected off you at the time of acceleration to meet your "super telescope" when you view the past…)
Time only moves forward. If you find an "anti-time" particle, then perhaps we could move backwards… But, since time is an observation and not a particle (like gravity, matter, etc), we’re stuck with what we do…
Erik
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October 24th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
A common misperception is that as you go faster than the speed of light, time slows down. That’s not true. Time is relative. If you were on a ship going .99999999 the speed of light, you and your buds would perceive no changes in the perception of time. However to someone who was not moving, 1 of your seconds would tranlate into 2 of their hours. Now there are theoretical particles called tachyons that travel faster than teh speed of light, but they remain theoretical. If you could reach the speed of light, time would cease to exist. That is to say one second that you’d measure while travelling at the speed of light would be an infinitely long time to someone not moving.
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I have a degree in physics.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Time is relative and therefore will not change in relation to you if you are travelling at the speed of light.
Travel away from a clock at the speed of light and the clock will have appeared to stop in relation to you but someone standing at the clock it still ticks.
Travel back toward the clock then I would guess it would appear to speed up by a factor of 2. that’s all i can come up with after 5 rather tasty beers
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October 25th, 2009 at 12:01 am
As you actually obtain the speed of light, you possess infinite energy and infinite mass. Such a thing shouldn’t be allowed to exist, and in fact, won’t. So, Einstein reasoned you can become arbitrarily close to the speed of light but not match or exceed it.
Just check it out, your Lorentz factor, gamma = 1 / sqrt ( 1 - (v/c)^2) where v is your velocity, and c is the speed of light. If v = c, then v/c = 1, and 1^2 is still 1, so you have 1/ sqrt (0) = 1/0 which is infinity.
Now, E = mc^2 is only for non-moving objects. Objects in motion obey E = gamma * mc^2. Thus, E = infinity * mc^2 = infinity. So you need infinite energy. Some people will also refer to relativistic mass, and in this case, you could also say that you have infinite mass. (They take gamma * m to be relativistic mass, and then E = relativistic mass * c^2, so you would have infinite mass and energy under this idea).
Though I haven’t had too much in terms of relativity, I believe you would have negative times if you travel beyond the speed of light (that is, time moves backwards). Travelling near the speed of light, say 0.99c, for an extended period of time would cause your planet to experience many years, while you have aged little. This is the "twin paradox."
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October 25th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Technically if you move at the speed of light you will become energy so really there will be no time to slow down or go backwards ect
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my brain. duh.