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### What are some scenarios where FTL information transfer would violate causality?

I've always heard people saying, "Faster than light information transfer can't happen because it would violate causality! Effects can precede their causes!" However, I'm trying to think of a ...
8k views

### Do all massless particles (e.g. photon, graviton, gluon) necessarily have the same speed $c$?

I suppose there was a discussion already on speed-of-gravity-and-speed-of-light. But I silly wonder whether all the massless mediators of four fundamental forces, i.e. Graviton: $g_{\mu\nu}$ (...
17k views

### Does magnetic propagation follow the speed of light?

Does magnetic propagation follow the speed of light? E.g. if you had some magnet of incredible strength and attached an iron wire that is one light year long to it, would the other end of the iron ...
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 ...
6k views

### How long must escape velocity be maintained?

Escape velocity from Earth's surface is 11.2 Kilometres/second. How long would one need to maintain this escape velocity to actually escape Earth's gravitational pull? Must this 11.2 km/s velocity ...
3k views

### How quickly is motion transferred in a solid object?

Just for example: assume an iron bar one foot in length. If you push on one end, the entire bar will move. This seems instantaneous. but actually, from my understanding, the atoms all push against ...
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,...
3k views

### Extended Rigid Bodies in Special Relativity

I was reading Landau & Lifshitz's Classical Theory of Fields and I noticed that they mention that an extended rigid body isn't "relativistically correct". For example, if you consider a rigid ...
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 ...
292 views

This is the Twin frog paradox. I have two questions. First, what does it mean by there is no rigid body in special relativity? What I have known is that the length can be changed from one frame to ...
197 views

### What would happen in this "close to the speed of light" scenario?

Say you had a really long pole made of a super strong material, and at the you turned it through an angle of (for example) 45 degrees. Turning the pole through a small angle at the bottom would ...
518 views

### Steel rod to Mars vs the speed of sound, how is supersonic travel possible?

I remember reading this passage in the "Feynman Lectures", where Dr. Feynman describes an experiment in which a theoretical metal rod of length equal to the distance between Mars and Earth is arranged ...
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 ...
321 views

### The speed of light also applies for 'distance' materials?

The question is hard for me to put into one sentence so please try to completely read the example: If I had a stick that is 1000KM long and I would push it forward with 1 millimeter in lets say... ...
760 views

### Dipping a Dyson Ring below the event horizon [duplicate]

The basic assumption about inescapability beyond the Event Horizon is that the necessary escape speed (orbital speed) would exceed speed of light, therefore no object can achieve it. Now, would it be ...
349 views

### Can speed of light be $c$ in air or other medium?

I know that the speed of light in a vacuum is $c\sim 3\ 10^8\ \mathrm{m/s}$, but I also know that speed of light in a medium (e.g., air) is less than that in vacuum. Special relativity says that ...
194 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 : ...
1k views

### Is thermal conductivity correlated with speed of sound in metals?

Right off the bat I should say: thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity are definitely correlated in metals. image source: https://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/thermal_electrical/printall.php ...
94 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 ...
244 views

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

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

### What prevents an orbiting object from getting a speed which is greater than $c$? [duplicate]

Consider an object orbiting around a point with radius $r$ and angular velocity $\omega$. Here its linear velocity is $v=\omega r$. If we choose a large enough $r$ and reasonable $\omega$, $v$ might ...
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 ...
33 views

### What will happen if a stick and a beam of light is to race [duplicate]

I don't know whether the question is asked before on not on this website as I can't found it anywhere so I have to ask. What will happen if a place a long stick with a length of a light year. Rather ...
53 views

### Superluminal Thought Experiment [duplicate]

If I had a weightless, indestructible rod that was 1,145,915,590 meters long and I moved it 15° would the end of the rod go faster than the speed of light? (Assuming it's path is unobstructed.) ...
31 views

### do information travels faster than light? [duplicate]

Suppose a long rod of length 6 lakh kms is subjected to movement at one end,does it move immediately or not at another end?
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 ...
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 ...
190 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 ...