Bob Klahn ---> MALTE SCHMIDT AM 29.01.06
BETREFF: *Days of Future Past*

Hi Bob!

MS>> light is absolutly special and ever will be. By normal
MS>> means it is clearly impossible to go faster or even as fast
MS>> as the speed of light. Only particles without a mass can do
MS>> that. Photons for example.
BK>  In a distant galaxy, two science stations are located 10 light
BK>  seconds apart. One day a wave front, stretching along the line
BK>  w1/w2 is detected approaching the science stations. It is
BK>  approaching at an angle to the line between them. The wave front
BK>  is moving at the speed of light, and, as it is detected, it is
BK>  one light second from science station y, and two light seconds
BK>  from science station x.

Not that it matters, but how would they detect it? You cannot measure  
something "faster" than the speed of light also. You will know that there  
is a wave when it has reached the station.
When our sun explodes we wouldn't know until eight minutes later.

BK>  One second later the wave front has
BK>  traversed the one light second to Station y. Two seconds after
BK>  discovery it has passed Station x. The wave front covered the
BK>  one light second to station y in one second. It covered the
BK>  one light second to station x in one second. This is correct for
BK>  a wave front moving at the speed of light.

BK>   Yet, it also covers the distance between y and x in the one
BK>   second between crossing y and crossing x. That is, the wave
BK>   front covers the 10 light seconds between y and x in one
BK>   second, yielding a speed of 10 times the speed of light.

Shall I comment on that?

That scenario is as if you take two trains. One starting in A and going to  
C, while the other train starts in B and is going to Station D. If those  
two trains (=photons) arrived  at the same time at station C and D  
respectively, that still wouldn't mean that trains can go infinitely fast.
You are not talking about the same photon(s) that have been measured at  
both stations.

With all the probability wave junk from quantum physics you can create  
much more difficult problems to solve.


FV>>> We "assume" that what we have
FV>>> developed is the ultimate and that no beings can be beyond us. That is
FV>>> a fatal mistake.
MS>> This sounds more like a sentence out of a sci-fi film
MS>> trailer.
BK>  But a very good one.

Yeah, but probably just another Aliens attack earth film.... :)

Bye,
Malte!
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