anomalmouse Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Hypothetical theory allowing for the transmission of information to be passed between two points at greater than the speed of light. Or a theory about string (but not a string theory). Imagine a piece of string one au in length being held taught by two opposing spacecraft attempting to fly in opposite directions. If I cut the string in the middle, the two spacecraft will fly apart almost instantaneously, whereas from the middle, it would take four minutes for light to reach either spacecraft. alternatively I could just push down in the middle, both ships should instantaneously feel increased force pulling them backwards, faster than it would take light to travel between the point of depression, and either spacecraft. Take that relativity! Disclaimer!!! I appreciate relativity precludes a number of physical properties because of their contradictory nature (such as a perfect rigid body), and guess that the tension carried in any conceivable substance might be offset over large distances by an element of stretchiness? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IM Egdall Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 (edited) Hypothetical theory allowing for the transmission of information to be passed between two points at greater than the speed of light. Or a theory about string (but not a string theory). Imagine a piece of string one au in length being held taught by two opposing spacecraft attempting to fly in opposite directions. If I cut the string in the middle, the two spacecraft will fly apart almost instantaneously, whereas from the middle, it would take four minutes for light to reach either spacecraft. alternatively I could just push down in the middle, both ships should instantaneously feel increased force pulling them backwards, faster than it would take light to travel between the point of depression, and either spacecraft. Take that relativity! Disclaimer!!! I appreciate relativity precludes a number of physical properties because of their contradictory nature (such as a perfect rigid body), and guess that the tension carried in any conceivable substance might be offset over large distances by an element of stretchiness? It seems to me the disturbance caused by cutting or pushing down on the string will propagate at a speed less than the speed of light. The string is, after all, made up of molecules, and the disturbance to molecules in the center has to be transmitted outward in both directions to adjacent molecules. This takes a finite amount of time which is less than the speed of light. So no contradiction with special relativity. Edited February 27, 2012 by IM Egdall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRocket Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Hypothetical theory allowing for the transmission of information to be passed between two points at greater than the speed of light. Or a theory about string (but not a string theory). Imagine a piece of string one au in length being held taught by two opposing spacecraft attempting to fly in opposite directions. If I cut the string in the middle, the two spacecraft will fly apart almost instantaneously, whereas from the middle, it would take four minutes for light to reach either spacecraft. alternatively I could just push down in the middle, both ships should instantaneously feel increased force pulling them backwards, faster than it would take light to travel between the point of depression, and either spacecraft. Take that relativity! Disclaimer!!! I appreciate relativity precludes a number of physical properties because of their contradictory nature (such as a perfect rigid body), and guess that the tension carried in any conceivable substance might be offset over large distances by an element of stretchiness? Wrong. Stress waves propagate at approximately the speed of sound in the material -- which is a LOT less than the speed of light. Take that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 ! Moderator Note Moved from Science News (which is for interesting articles you find in... the news) to Relativity.If the OP wishes to continue with this hypothesis, we'll need to move this to Speculations since it is not accepted science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anomalmouse Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Thanks IM, but if I were to push down in the middle, since it's a finite length (and hypothetically rigid), the distance between either end would have to reduce (according to whatever the trigonometry equation dictates), as I actually push down - so my action in the middle dictates a reaction at either end instantaneously? If the string cant stretch, either end has to move? It seems to me the disturbance caused by cutting or pushing down on the string will propagate at a speed less than the speed of light. The string is, after all, made up of molecules, and the disturbance to molecules in the center has to be transmitted outward in both directions to adjacent molecules. This takes a finite amount of time which is less than the speed of light. So no contradiction with special relativity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrödinger's hat Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) Thanks IM, but if I were to push down in the middle, since it's a finite length (and hypothetically rigid), the distance between either end would have to reduce (according to whatever the trigonometry equation dictates), as I actually push down - so my action in the middle dictates a reaction at either end instantaneously? If the string cant stretch, either end has to move? You should have read DrRocket's post. No string or material is infinitely rigid. When you pull or push on one part, it changes the EM field around another part which then accelerates, pulling or pushing on the next part. We call the speed at which this propagates the speed of sound, and exceeding it will generally result in the breakdown of the material (barring non-linear effects, but they too have a speed limit). No matter what material you use, nothing can change the fact that the EM fields that cause the atoms to interact only update at c. So even if you exceeded the speed of sound in your material, you'd still be limited to the speed of light. You've basically said, "Assume I have something that can't exist, now I can exceed the speed of light." I can do that too. If I have the Starship Enterprise, I can exceed c. Edited February 28, 2012 by Schrödinger's hat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anomalmouse Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I'd guessed that might be the case but appreciate the detailed answer. As a predeterminist you can't blame me for asking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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