say I had a really long poll, say from here to the sun. If I move one end, would the other end move simultaneously? It was my understanding that nothing moves faster than light, so relaying a simultaneous message by moving the poll should be impossible. Is that correct? Why?
2007-12-01 04:00:19 · 3 answers · asked by flimcritic4 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Yeah, you are absolutely correct, the message would not be felt simultaneously. In relativity there were thought experiment that showed that nothing in the universe is truly rigid, meaning everything that is apparantly solid bends. Your idea is very simular. It is correct becuase in the process of lifting your end every part of the stick would have to move up, so it is like a wave with an extremly long wavelenght This wave will not travel faster than the speed of light. What will happen is that the poll will have to bend in the middle somewhere so that someone at the sun would not see the poll move at that end. A real life example of this is the spiral arms of the milky way galaxy.
2007-12-01 04:44:05 · answer #1 · answered by Brian 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
unless you were running at the speed of light, then the pole that youre moving wouldnt be travelling at the speed of light either.....
lifting the pole would however not be impossible, you would just need a great deal of force....., chances are the suns gravity would draw the poll towards it, or melt it....)
It is impossible to travel faster than light, lest we rewrite most of relativity due to an observation to the contrary.
2007-12-01 12:40:58 · answer #2 · answered by brownian_dogma 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right, nothing can move at the speed of light it it is not light.
2007-12-01 15:10:10 · answer #3 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋