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To the Biologists, Engineers, Designers and science loving crowd here; This documentary which is in 12 parts (make sure you see them all as some end with titles.) is a GEM!
A must see:
ENJOY
NatureTech | Watch Free Documentary Online
LoL truA few, but I don't go there - it's not as much fun talking to people I already agree with
bummerI can't give you any, though, as that would toe the rule again proselytising
That's a mighty fine drilling machine - what're you drilling? Mirco black holes? Oh ho ho ho...
Awesome. How's that going? Is it for work, research?Mask for placing probing needles for testing silicon wafers.
Depends. As Assyrian said, it would eventually hit the ground. If we pretend there is no ground, we run into the problem of gravity: if there's no ground, what's pulling on the object?If you drop something; in the absence of resistance, would it eventually reach C?
Thank you!Depends. As Assyrian said, it would eventually hit the ground. If we pretend there is no ground, we run into the problem of gravity: if there's no ground, what's pulling on the object?
But, if we pretend there's a uniform gravitational (or magnetic) field that accelerates an object uniformly across an infinity of space, what would happen? Well, the object would accelerate faster and faster, but by smaller increments. As the object moved faster, it would experience time dilation and length contraction at greater distortions. It would never actually reach c, but instead would creep ever closer.
In other words, no, it wouldn't
I took a test with British MENSA a while ago, and I got a score of152 - as that's in the top two-percentile of the country, I'm a member of MENSAThank you!
Next question: What's your IQ?
Good for you!I took a test with British MENSA a while ago, and I got a score of152 - as that's in the top two-percentile of the country, I'm a member of MENSA
I fear there's so much maths involved we'd need Latin, Greek, Cryillic, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs just to name all the variables...Now that I know that you're officially even more ridiculously smart than I am, I don't feel quite so stupid asking this question
I've been trying to wrap my head around relativity (again) with the help of the awesome Brian Cox. Why does E = mc[sup]2[/sup] is fun, but there was a part that I just Didn't Get (starting in the second paragraph on this page). I think I need some interactive education on this one...
So, my question is, why does everything move through spacetime at the same speed?
(Maths is allowed in the answer)
See, I get its consequences, and I'm perfectly fine with the geometrical picture, axes and circles and all... I just don't understand why it must be a circle.I fear there's so much maths involved we'd need Latin, Greek, Cryillic, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs just to name all the variables...
But I think what Cox is getting at is that we move the same distance per unit time through spacetime, but not necessarily through space (or, indeed, time). If we weren't moving through space, we'd be moving at c through the time axis. If we were travelling at c through space, we'd be stationary with respect to the time axis. If you imagine two axes, space at the vertical axis and time on the horizontal, c is a straight line of a constant distance. This can move about, though, with its end point lying anywhere on a circle - as our spatial velocity increases from zero, this 'line' moves from the time axis up and around till it's right on the spatial axis - sort of like a speedometer?
This is a neat explanation of time dilation and length contraction. When stationary in space, we're zipping through time, nice as you like. As soon as we start accelerating, we move less quickly through time (time dilation) as this little arrow starts to move upwards. Its distance along the time axis shortens, and its distance along the spatial axis lengthens.
I don't know how clear that is, but in my head it makes perfect sense
Cox&Forshaw said:Now, the motorcyclist can choose to calculate distances in spacetime relative to himself, and from this point of view he has not moved in space.
If we were travelling at c through space, we'd be stationary with respect to the time axis.
Cool concept! Just checking, c as used here = speed of light?
Actually, it is. Or more precisely, it's defining yourself to be stationary, and working out the laws of physics from there. As there's no such thing as absolute velocity, to work out things like time dilation, you need a reference frame. Choosing one's own watch is an especially convenient way of doing this.See, I get its consequences, and I'm perfectly fine with the geometrical picture, axes and circles and all... I just don't understand why it must be a circle.
...
[like ten minutes later]
OK, I do feel stupid now.Turns out my whole brain-fry was a result of something I overlooked in the text. Specifically, this:I see what they did there. Suddenly, the whole passage makes much more sense.
Buuut... calculating spacetime distances relative to yourself means making yourself the point (0,0,0,0). That's not what they mean, right? Because that sounds like it would be all kinds of nonsense.
Yep.Cool concept! Just checking, c as used here = speed of light?
Weeeell, not exactly - the speed of light is c, it's just that when it travels through a medium, it's repeatedly absorbed and emitted. There's a small delay between absorption and emission, and although its travel time in transit is c, the net result is as if it's been slowed down. It's like a hare racing a tortoise, but the hare has to take lots and lots of pit stops, while the tortoise just keeps plodding along. Eventually, if the pits stops are numerous enough and add enough of a delay, the tortoise may very well win - whence Cherenkov radiationSpeed of light in a vacuum, to be precise.
It is in fact possible to travel faster than the speed of light in a medium, and the result is Cherenkov radiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Does C stand for anything?- the speed of light is c ...
I had to look in Wikipedia for this: it comes from the Latin celeritas, meaning 'swiftness', which is rather apt for the fastest thing in the universe.Does C stand for anything?
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