160 views

### Does special relativity predict superluminal speeds?

Assume that we have a long Born-rigid rod with a length $L_0$ in which the speed of light is the ultimate speed for sending information. If there is a tiny missile at the right end of the missile that ...
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 ...
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 ...
58 views

### What's the speed of force? [duplicate]

Brain storm: Suppose we have a perfect lever, which has 0 quality, and perfect rigidity. It is long enough that can reach Proxima Centauri from the earth. Someone push one side of lever from Proxima ...
86 views

### Pulling a Metal Bar in Space [duplicate]

Let's say I have a metal bar (which does not expand or contract at all) that's 1 light-second long which is connected to a block at the end. I am in space holding the other end of the bar. If I pull ...
74 views

### When you push a stick will the end of it respond later than the beginning? Is so what is the fastest material and what forces are involved?

Normally when two people hold a long stick the receiving person would feel at the same time the stick moving when the first person gives the stick a push. But is that in reality exactly the case? ...
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 ...
66 views

### Speed of Light & Distance [duplicate]

If I have a transmitter that signals a relay which turns off a light off which is 300 000 km away – it has travelled at the speed of light. If I connected a rope (which does not stretch) which is ...
296 views

### Thought experiment - faster than speed of light travel [closed]

I came up with a thought experiment and it has been on my mind for quite some time now. Would like to hear the thoughts of others as my wife has no clue what I'm talking about. Given two points of ...
64 views

### Does a force propagate instantaneously to move the other side of the box of length one light-year? [duplicate]

This is a question of curiosity, and not for any academic purposes. Suppose I push a box along a surface that allows it to slide. When I initially start pushing it on one side, how long does it take ...
394 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 ...
113 views

### How long would it take for something really far away, say $300,000,000 \ \text{meters}$, to feel the force from a pull of a rope attached to it?

My friend phrased the original question like this: If I tied a rope to myself and wrapped it all the way around the earth and then pulled (assuming the rope was already taut), which direction would I ...
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-...