Fascinating!
Posted on 08/17/2007 8:19:28 AM PDT by poiuqwer
A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.
According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.
However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.
The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.
Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.
For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.
The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.
Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."
I see, thank you for the correction.. Higher physics was never my thing I was happy enough to get what little theoretical EM I needed in the 200 level..
My coffee hasn't kicked in yet. Do you mean information doesn't travel across this communication channel within our 4 dimensions or, any dimension? My understanding of the possible explanations for this phenomenon has been that the inter-photon communication channel may exist in a different dimension where the speed of light is much faster thereby allowing the seemingly instantaneous communication.
I don't dispute that Relativity makes sense from the perspective that it solves certain problems and is observable to some degree. But then, the rules that were used to fix observable problems when the planets were presumed to be on spheres centered on the Earth and atoms were presumed to be solid structures also worked (as long as you accepted that physical laws weren't constant).
Einstein wasn't completely happy with Relativity, and I've got a gut feeling that there is a simpler solution that does not require special rules.
I won't pretend to be well schooled in Relativity, but I'm just applying the same principle that has worked so well in all other puzzle solving, i.e. "First eliminate the impossible." I well accept that time can be different for two different observers, if molecular activity determines our perception of time and approaching C affects molecular activity. But I fail to see the limiting factor of exceeding C for a single observer.
I realize this makes me a rube, but I don't pretend to see the Emperor's clothes (even if they really do exist).
Well, I’m not an expert either. But I have read John Wheeler’s Gravitation book, and I understand enough differential geometry to get though most of it.
You might not like this argument, and I bet there are better ones, but relativity is a very simple elegant model that predicted many things before they could be verified, or before anyone even thought to see them. One prediction is that if you take two synchronized atomic clocks, put one on the roof of a skyscraper and one in the basement, the one in the basement will run slower because it’s closer to the Earth’s gravitation. Well, sure enough, after a year, the basement clock was a few microseconds slower. So they swapped the clocks, and after another year, the two clocks were synchronized again—at least within the error of atomic accuracy.
GPS is so incredibly accurate because the position calculations take the actual speed of the satellites into consideration when measuring time. Clocks that move run slower.
Relativity explains why these observations exist via geometry. The geometry will not allow things that move slower than the speed of light to surpass the speed of light. Also interesting, it will not allow things that move faster than the speed of light to move slower.
Ultimately, of you want to go faster than the speed of light, you have to accelerate. This requires applying a force. That force has to move in the opposite direction faster than you want to go. Notice, I said force, and not any particular mass. Yes, big planets can accelerate slow probes. This is why jets that go 600 MPH expel exhaust faster than 600 MPH. Since we know of no force that goes faster than light, we have nothing to use to accelerate us faster than light.
Fascinating!
I'll read it again 5 mintues ago.
Oops! Time to go!
thanks, bfl
ping
Look up MATTER WAVES in any university textbook. Find DeBroglie’s U=c^2/v equation for the speed of a matter wavecrest. This explains why the sun’s gravitational influence on the earth isn’t 8 minutes c-retarded, it’s instantaneous(.001655 sec)and why physicists haven’t found gravity waves moving at c. Einstein/relativists tried to bury DeBroglie because of that equation, putting him in the crazy aunt alice category, now THEY are being buried by “spooky action at a distance” : momentum-line matter waves at c^2.
Actually, the scientists themselves really suspect a quantum tunneling effect to be responsible, as far as I was informed via german media. But my knowledge of physics is not very big, so I couldn’t say whether that speaks against the theory of breaking the speed of light limit or whether it is something different from that.
Check this link. It refutes the notion they went over light speed.
http://stupac2.blogspot.com/2007/08/we-have-not-broken-speed-of-light.html
Um, how high can the total of internal angles go if the triangle is on a 4-D brane? ... a 5-D brane? ‘Laws’ are specific to certain spacetime coordinate systems and are no longer ‘immutable’ if a different coordinate system is in use. Euclidian geometry applies (is valid) for a 2-D brane ... and even that assertion is in question since an observer of a 2-D brane is observing from at least a 3-D brane. [Is your head hurting like mine yet?]
Not really. We just need his Tardus.
What if speed is only relative to where you are? Take a fly flying six mph in an airplane flying 350 mph with the earth traveling through space a X miles per hour. How fast is the fly actually going?
In space where you have no resistance can an engine continue to accelerate to infinity?
That only proves she lied before she thought of it.
Since they are traveling faster than the speed of light there will not be a “Space Cops Greatest Space Ship Chases”. It is impossible to film.
What if the exhaust gases are coming from an object that in relation to the exhust gases is sitting still? The only thing that slows the jet down is drag. If there is no drag in realation to the jet or rocket the exhaust gases will alway EXIT and the same speed.
I don't see the benefits of exceeding the speed of light because then you would always be in the dark and your flashlight would be useless.....
Well, yeah, I mean when you outrun the headlights on your spaceship....
Well, yeah, I mean when you outrun the headlights on your spaceship....
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