3k views

### When you push an object, how much time does it take to start moving? [duplicate]

Imagine giving a quick gentle kick to a small wooden block resting on a frictionless table. It starts moving. I'm wondering if all the atoms/molecules of the wood start moving at the same time... I'm ...
7k views

### How fast does force propagate through matter? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light? Consider the following thought experiment. You have a long perfectly rigid beam (for the sake of simplicity,...
12k views

### If I move a long solid stick can I send message fastest than light? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light? I mean by using a perfect solid stick long enough and moving it forward and backward can I send information ...
4k views

### Can Information Travel Faster Than The Speed Of Light? [duplicate]

Many believe that nothing can travel faster than speed of light, not even information. Personally, i think theoretically information can. Consider this following imaginary experiment: Imagine we are ...
4k views

### The scissor paradox: can we pass the information faster than light? [duplicate]

click to view the image Before I start, I want to say that this is not a duplicate of "Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light by using a rigid pole?", Since point A is ...
190 views

### Acting on an object at a distance faster than light, or making small cogs immovable [duplicate]

Here's my question; If we have a line of connected cogs, arranged in such a way that for any one cog to move each other cog would necessarily have to move also, and that line of cogs were of an ...
2k views

### 'Push' in a rigid rod travel at speed of sound or speed of light [duplicate]

Two person, $A$ and $B$, each holding one end of a long solid rod. Now person $A$ pushes the rod on one end. Question: Is it correct that the information that the rod has been pushed will travel ...
248 views

### Nothing can travel faster than the speed of the light, but could this be an exception? [duplicate]

I often show off by asking people how fast electrons flow through wires. Then I tell them it's actually only a few millimeters per second. To clear the disbelief off their faces and boost my ego, I ...
569 views

### Here's a way to transmit data faster than the speed of light [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light by using a rigid pole? Assume there is a long rod or a string connecting two points separated by a distance ...
1k views

### Spinning theoretical object moving faster than the speed of light [duplicate]

Let's say you have the Earth, or any celestial body, spinning as it is. What if you build a tower from the surface, and extended it out into space. If it was built far enough, could the furthest end ...
712 views

### An infinitely long rod [duplicate]

Let's say I have an infinitely long rod which I use to pass information to my friend on the other end. If the rod moves towards my friend, it means I sent a 1 and if the rod moves away from my friend, ...
189 views

### Speed bigger than light? [duplicate]

We know, according relativity theory, no information or matter can travel with velocity bigger than light. However, consider the following situation: a completely empty water hose is hypothetically ...
387 views

### light travels a maximum speed… /? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light? we know that speed of light is an unconquerable term in physics..light takes about 1 year to travel ...
141 views

### Check where am I wrong. Here is how information can be sent faster than light [duplicate]

If I have a very long rigid rod which is of rectangular cross section and small mass. Let it's length be 1 light year and total mass be 1 kg now at one end if I rotate that rod, since the rod is rigid ...
191 views

### A rope between Earth and Moon - Length and Speed of Light [duplicate]

An earlier question was asked on what would happen if a rope was attached between Moon and Earth, but the question was more about the impacts in terms of geology. We keep the same experiment setup : ...
242 views

### Hypothetically what would happen in this situation? [duplicate]

Would the speed of 'push' be equal to the speed of sound?
174 views

### Send a signal from Earth to a planet billion light years away instantly [duplicate]

If light was infinitely fast, we could just send a light signal from Earth to the planet. But I was wondering, if we made a perfectly non-elastic rope as long as the distance between earth and the far-...
386 views

### Why doesn't pushing balls in a tube propagate the movement faster than the SoL? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light by using a rigid pole? On one episode of QI they asked the question, "How fast do electrons move travelling ...
265 views

### What happens when I move a very long bar? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Faster than light information Hey there, I just want to make clear that I'm new here and I don't know whether this is the right place to ask such a hypothetical question. So ...
201 views

### Can we travel faster than the speed of light? [duplicate]

So my question is completely a theoritical question. For example i have a stick made of the strongest material and lightest material and its lenght is as long as the solar system's diameter. The end ...
299 views

### Can a pushed plank beat light and break the laws of physics? [duplicate]

Imagine you are one lightyear away from a photon sensitive (light sensitive) switch. So it is obvious that light would take one year to reach to the switch. Now I have a one lightyear long plank. I ...
145 views

### Information faster than light? [duplicate]

Imagine that you have two typewriters on the other side of the galaxy. Their typebars are connected by ropes (stretched to the maximum), so anything you type will instantly appear at the second ...
93 views

### Rope with no slack tied around the world [duplicate]

Imagine a "rope" (for want of a better word) is wrapped all the way around the Earth, to the point that you can hold both ends. There is no slack on the rope, i.e. it doesn't stretch. It also isn't ...
150 views

### sending information over a wire--mechanically [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light? I've thought about this since I was a little kid. I know it isn't exactly feasible, but it still bothers me....
150 views

### Can information be sent faster than speed of light [duplicate]

I just had this idea one day and I decided upon a thought experiment to verify it. Imagine 2 people A & B sitting on two sides of a pipe which is stretched to a length of 3x10^8 m. The pipe is ...
89 views

### Where is the mistake in the following rationament [duplicate]

Well... kind of hard to translate in English so bare with me :). Let's consider a wheel that spins in the void. Each point of the wheel has the speed $v = ω r$. That means that for any $ω$, there is ...
105 views

### Does my interstellar pole thought experiment violate casualty? [duplicate]

I have heard that it is impossible to send a signal faster than light. However, what if I had a long (4.5 light years) pole and placed one end on Earth and the another end around Proxima Centauri. If ...
172 views

### If you make a steel rod from here to Alpha Centauri and move it, will the movement appear there instantly? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is it possible for information to be transmitted faster than light? imagine this theoretical situation: You have make an extremely long piece of steel (or anything really) one ...