5k views

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 ...
293 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 ...
322 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 ...
59 views

Moving a 2x2 the length of the solar system [duplicate]

If we were able to push a 2x2 piece of wood that is the length of our solar system, how would it behave? My colleague says since its all part of the same molecular structure, the whole piece of wood ...
33 views

How quickly is momentum transferred through an object? [duplicate]

If there was a pole, that was a light year long, out in space. (Away from all physical interference.) If we pushed one end of it, would the other end move instantly? And does it's speed depend on ...
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-...
115 views

Black holes, and faster than light communication

Lets say we have a black hole that has a diameter > 1 light year and we can somehow push and pull this black hole {though the push and pull itself can never exceed lightspeed of course}.Will the other ...
571 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 ...
32 views

A question regarding information [duplicate]

Consider a continuous system of cogs which extend from the sun to the earth. Light takes eight minutes to reach the earth. However, if one was to rotate the initial cog(near the sun) then the all the ...
102 views

Gear Theory -- Entanglement -- Spooky action at a distance explained? [duplicate]

Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Not even an electrical signal. Entanglement seems to violate this. But, does it? Imagine 100 gears lined up in sequence all the way across a ...
48 views

What happens if you push a lot of (ideal) balls that are perfectly aligned? [duplicate]

Assume the line of balls is 2 light years long. When I push the first ball, will the last one react instantaneously? This would break the light speed limit. I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but I don'...