Posted on 08/16/2007 10:15:43 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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."
How do you measure “instantaneous”?
“Do photons have mass?”
Yes, but they are very light.
Does this mean Hillary is already president?
Does this mean Hillary is already president?
Perhaps we can apply some of that technique to the interstate system. :-)
“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. “
Why is light speed necessarily the benchmark for this?
???? How is this different that items of mass acting in a wave/Heisenberg Uncertenty principle?
Seems like the same mechanism, ie. everything exists everywhere at varying probabilities...until directly measured.
Photons have no mass.
Do you have a link that explains this statement? I’ve seen it thrown around a lot, but it just seems counter-intuitive. If moving beyond “C” were possible, such statements would be moot.
For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.
And idiot Senators would have an excuse for "voting for something before they voted against it"...
Actually, Kurt Godel developed a solution to the Einstein equations which describe "closed timelike lines" in which it is possible to travel "back" in time without having to travel faster than the speed of light. He presented the solution in a paper to Einstein on the occasion of Einstein's 70th birthday (14 March, 1949). The paper extended relativity theory in [at that time] disturbing ways. In particular it suggests that Time is more like a spatial dimension (since you apparently can travel "through" it just like the familiar spatial dimensions) and furthermore that our perception of Time is subjective and that there is no notion of absolute time.
I strongly suspect a measurement error.
I know what you mean. This puts a serious cramp in my scheduling issues. Being the mother of two small children requires me to be in more than one place at a time. If they can’t fix it soon they will have to pay for a personal assistant for me.
But all the Fifth Dimension knew about travel was ... Up Up And Away (in a balloon)
Gotta be real quick with a stopwatch; get one of those German jobbies with the nice buttons.
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