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Originally posted by Jive_Turkey I thought as you approached the speed of light your mass increases such that when you reach the speed of light your mass would be infinite. Thats why its impossible to go the speed of light.

Basically, yeah.

And I'll be damned..my continuous trips to US and back caused my earthly lifespan to increase by a full 144 nanoseconds! And the trips I had with my car when I went on vacation and back added 3.6 nanoseconds more!

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Last edited by DrUg_Tit0 on Feb-10-2006 at 14:55

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Originally posted by Jive_Turkey I thought as you approached the speed of light your mass increases such that when you reach the speed of light your mass would be infinite. Thats why its impossible to go the speed of light.

asymptotic. Yes. In theory. You would become a black hole of sorts. An object of infinite mass and infinitesmal size.

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Originally posted by HardTranceProd I thought, if you travelled at the speed of light, then time dilation would be so extreme that time would hold still. And then, if you exceeded the speed of light (impossible of course), you would go back in time (into the past).

If you were to travel at the speed of light time and space would become meaningless. In physics and to the eyes of a light particle the universe is an infinitesimally small space. In light's reference frame it is everywhere at once and everywhen at once. It is every"when" at once only because to light's refernce frame time has no meaning. The reason for all of this is the "dilation" that was mentioned before. The closer you get to the speed of light the more things change, distances get smaller, the rate of passing time changes, mass changes, etc. According to relativity the only two constants in the universe are the speed of light and the laws of physics.

If you think this all far out and a a bunch of bull, dont worry becuase no one really gets its either. In the words of my physics teacher:

"We are as confident in the validity of the theory of relativity, and our knowledge thereof, as we are confident in gravity. Wait that was a bad example because we dont really know that much about gravity..."

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Originally posted by NebulousQ If you were to travel at the speed of light time and space would become meaningless. In physics and to the eyes of a light particle the universe is an infinitesimally small space. In light's reference frame it is everywhere at once and everywhen at once. It is every"when" at once only because to light's refernce frame time has no meaning. The reason for all of this is the "dilation" that was mentioned before. The closer you get to the speed of light the more things change, distances get smaller, the rate of passing time changes, mass changes, etc. According to relativity the only two constants in the universe are the speed of light and the laws of physics.

As much as I know this statement is probably pretty correct, I find myself taking issue with the "everywhere at once and everywhen at once" simply because the speed of light is not infinite. Light travels a distance as it moves, hence "light years" (a fucking god awfully large amount distance no doubt!). If light were both here and there (being arbitrary points in space), then it would have to essentially be omnipresent and hence move at an infinite speed to be in both places at once. But the fact that we can observe light from the sun knowing that the light we see is actually "4 minutes old" tells me that the light does not move with infinite speed.

Then again, you did say from the frame of reference of the light. Oh if only I could be light!

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Originally posted by NebulousQ In light's reference frame it is everywhere at once and everywhen at once. It is every"when" at once only because to light's refernce frame time has no meaning.

i dont see how this is so. even light takes time, years, millions of years to rech us from distant stars and galaxies. heck we see galaxies as they were thousands of years ago because thats how long it takes the light to get here.

To both of you shakka and hiram, yes in our reference frame light can be pinpointed to a single location and time. But since light is travelling, well, at the speed of light, the time dilation basically becomes infinite and therefore time in the rest of the universe flows infinitely faster than it does for the beam. So the beam is everywhen (heh I like that term) because if viewed from its reference frame, at the very instant it is created the rest of the universe has already unveiled from beginning to end. Unless maybe if it gets sucked up into a black hole or something in the meanwhile.

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Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 To both of you shakka and hiram, yes in our reference frame light can be pinpointed to a single location and time. But since light is travelling, well, at the speed of light, the time dilation basically becomes infinite and therefore time in the rest of the universe flows infinitely faster than it does for the beam. So the beam is everywhen (heh I like that term) because if viewed from its reference frame, at the very instant it is created the rest of the universe has already unveiled from beginning to end. Unless maybe if it gets sucked up into a black hole or something in the meanwhile.

sweeeeet.

That is pretty sweet....

One day we will visit life on other planets

At least, I hope.

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"You won a new refrigerator, great! Where you gonna put it?" - Tony Danza

^^No, we will all be dead whenever that may happen.

So if light is everywhen (like that too lol) how at the point light is created (from an energy conversion) from matter can it exist at all points in time? It surely can only exist from the point where it was "created"?

Actually re-read your post and you do say from the point it is created. But what happens when when it is converted into another form, for exmaple in plants? Where it is used.

Hmm think I'm confusing myself here.

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If you can read this, I'm seriously fucking bored.

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Originally posted by Dervish So if light is everywhen (like that too lol) how at the point light is created (from an energy conversion) from matter can it exist at all points in time? It surely can only exist from the point where it was "created"? Actually re-read your post and you do say from the point it is created. But what happens when when it is converted into another form, for exmaple in plants? Where it is used. Hmm think I'm confusing myself here.

Well, when it's absorbet, it's finished, nothing happens. I suppose photons don't really have a long lifespan in their own frame of reference

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1+1=10