If you flew far enough and fast enough out into space would you pick up radio signals from the past?

Question

Or do they not extend beyond the Earths athmosphere, or get interference from other radiation?

Answer 1

The answer to your question is yes. And contrary to what people believe, faster than light travel IS possible and no I am not a Trekky fan. I must point out though that several experiments have been done in which faster than light travel was attained. In 2002, physicist Alan Hache managed to send pulses at a speed of 3x light speed or "c" over the distance of a 120m cable.

Also, some believe that the speed of light is constant. It isn't. The speed of light, 299,792,458 meters per second, only is true for light traveling through a vaccuum or empty space. This would be like the light traveling through outer space from one star to the next. However, light does change speeds depending what medium it travels through. This is easily observable. Take any ordinary pencil, stick the first half of it into a glass of water and notice how it refracts or seems to bend. This is due to the slower speed of light in the water than through the oxygen in the air around us.

Also, light in itself actually has mass. Contrary to what people believe, light is made of particles similar to nuclear radiation. It is these highly energized particles that travel and make up the substance that we call light. It is the same with radio waves. They are nothing more than highly energized particles traveling at or near the speed of light.

So yes, if you could go fast enough, past the speed of light, and turn on a radio, you would be able to pick up radio signals sent from the "past". Keep in mind that you must also define past. Einstein also theorized that if you travel fast enough, at the speed of light, that you would not technically age a day, but much more time on Earth would have gone by. A few seconds to you would seem like centuries to Earth. So though you could still pick up the signal, the question you must ask is, would it really be a signal from the "past?"

Answer 2

The old professor says YES! And you don't even have to leave the Earth to do it. Every time we send a radar signal to the moon or Venus, the reflected beam is received back on Earth at a later time. The same would work if we sent an AM or FM or SW concentrated wave to these bodies. Thus, we would be hearing signals from the past...albeit the not too distant past. With stronger signals and more sensitive receivers, we could get echos from further reflectors in the future.

Answer 3

Some frequencies go right out of the atmosphere and some are bounced back. The problem is getting out a head of the radio signals that are traveling at about the speed of light. Only light can travel at the speed, radio waves are just slightly slower. Let's say you jumped a ride on a space ship that had warp drive or the like, and sped up and got a head of the signals. Then you would hear old radio signals. We ham radio guys some times hear long path radio signals that travel around the world. I have even heard an echo like affect caused by it. Its a effect of long path propagation.
Check out these sites--
http://www.ham-shack.com/history31.html
http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~sverre/LDE/

Answer 4

All radio(including broadcast television signals) are traveling out into space at the speed of light. So, you could pick up radio signals from the past, but you would have to travel faster then the speed of light(which may be impossible).

Answer 5

if they didnt pass beyond the earths atmosphere, how do we send signals to satellites and back lol?

as for the answer, yes indeed you would. if you traveled faster than light, you would actually pick up radio signals that occured before you left. it would be like throwing a ball as far as you could, then out running it. it would be very hard (almost if not completely impossible) but you would gett here before the radio signals, and all the signals right before that signal would reach you at the same intervals in which they left. to make the answer simpler: yes you would pick up radio signals.

Answer 6

No. First you'd need to fly faster then speed of light..but once you've done that the laws of physics begin to break down (or at least the laws of physics as we know them on earth). When flying faster then the speed of light time goes backward..only for you and whatever else thats traveling with you. Unfortunately...light still travels at the speed of light...regardless of how fast your traveling...so relative to you...the signal is always moving at the speed of light away from you. The best you could do is catch up to it...at which point the signal would blast off away from you at the speed of light.

Answer 7

Well, what we are actually seeing when we look to the sky is the past. Since light takes time to travel from the outer part of the solar system what we are seeing is the past, not the present. As for radio signals, these might dissipate with time.

Answer 8

You can't travel fast enough. The Theory of Relativity says you (or anything else) can't travel faster than the speed of light, which is the speed radio signals travel at.

Answer 9

it is possible, but the probability seems really low. and traveling faster then the speed of light is against all known laws of physics

Answer 10

No, because you'd have to travel faster than the speed of light, which according to Einstein is impossible.