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To: gondramB
Some things can move faster than the speed of light but they can’t include mass.

Yes: It would take pure faith to believe that something with mass could move faster then C (Speed of light in vacuum) because such a thing has never been demonstrated. It is true that massive FLT (Faster then Light Travel) has never been proven possible. But it is also true that it's never been proven impossible. (But as I said, believing in massy FLT would require faith.)

The reason is that the energy to move a grain of sand the speed of light would be more than all the energy in the universe. In math terms, it approaches infinity.

I would actually be most grateful to learn what it is you had in mind as "a thing which can move faster then the speed of light" (even if it has no mass.)

I am very interested in the truth and in science and have heard of some experiments demonstrating faster then light something or another, but I've never found any really clearly explained. So I'd be just delighted to learn a little more about that!

Also, some time ago as a result of my discussion with LeGrande, I decided to perform the double slit experiment (in the most primitive manner possible I suppose) and while I was at it, I made sort of a photo-documentary of it - you might enjoy it: http://bookcracker.com/mrjesse/double-slit-experiment/

Also, a while back I noticed that Jupiter was shining pretty bright in the sky - so I got out my toy telescope (1m focal, 9 or 10cm aperture, refracting unit, mead) and stuck my digital camera on it, trying various lens configurations.
The results were lousy but at least recognizable:


Above: Just one lens - camera body in place of eyepiece. Jupiter and 4 of its moons.


Above two: Two lenses - the objective and the projector lens from an old 8mm Bell and Howell home movie projector - more magnification.

Thanks,

-Jesse
1,102 posted on 02/03/2009 1:04:53 AM PST by mrjesse (Could it be true? Imagine, being forgiven, and having a cause, greater then yourself, to live for!)
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To: mrjesse
>>I would actually be most grateful to learn what it is you had in mind as "a thing which can move faster then the speed of light" (even if it has no mass.)<<

Glad to...

"Something" traveling faster is best illustrated with a thought experiment. Imagine a round room 186,000 miles around - the distance light can travel in one second. Imagine a laser pointer sitting on a turntable in the center pointing at the wall.

If the turntable rotates once per second, the spot on the wall travels 186,000 miles each second. Now, double the speed of the turntable and the dot on the wall travels 372,000 miles each second or double the speed of light. This is called the phase velocity.

Addendum for nerds:
1. A thought experiment (a calque or English loanword based on both the German/Latin compound Gedankenexperiment and its German equivalent Gedankenversuch[1]) is a proposal for an experiment that would test a hypothesis or theory but cannot actually be performed due to practical limitations; instead its purpose is to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question. Famous examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger's cat, illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a single radioactive atom, and Maxwell's demon, in which a supernatural being is instructed to attempt to violate the second law of thermodynamics.

2. The phase velocity (or phase speed) of a wave is the rate at which the phase of the wave propagates in space. This is the speed at which the phase of any one frequency component of the wave travels....

The phase velocity of electromagnetic radiation may under certain circumstances (e.g. in the case of anomalous dispersion) exceed the speed of light in a vacuum, but this does not indicate any superluminal information or energy transfer. It was theoretically described by physicists such as Arnold Sommerfeld and Leon Brillouin. See dispersion for a full discussion of wave velocities.
1,114 posted on 02/03/2009 6:10:29 AM PST by gondramB (Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.)
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