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."
Have read that gravity travels at the speed of light.
The benefit of antiseptic surgical practice could be and was empirically proved, notably by Dr. Joseph Lister. It wasn't taken as a matter of faith.
Hmmmm . . .
So . . . the speed of light has been broken.
Well!
I’m sure her unroyal lowness, her hideous heinous . . . Shrillery de Fosterizer de Marx de Machiavelli de Stalin would be happy to try and fix it. She’d only need a few $Triollion to get started. . . . for the children, of course.
= = =
Someone ought to ask her a question along those lines in an intense moment at a question and answer session. We might be able to get her to say something really stupid.
Well, at least the broom finally ended up in the right spot.
What if I changed my mind and didnt hit the switch?
Then the cat would be dead.
This is a well known prediction of QM.
Then why does a photon drive work?
Why does the black and white planar surface inside a sealed globe spin (see any hobby shop for your very own model)????
Why does the solar ‘wind’ cause the tail of comets???
Would you believe it if I told you most of our current scientific theories about the inner workings of the Earth, about the solar system and the galaxy, and the universe, and the limitations we accept, are totally incorrect???
Like I said earlier, if they truly broke the speed of light then the light arrived before it even left the point of origin. Totally impossible.
The speed of sound was broken, not by sound, but by something we propelled faster than sound.
so.......
Like I said, how can something arrive before it leaves?
Consider your relatives. They arrive and you wish they left before they came.
And get back just as fast?
Poor schmuck would probably get paid by the hour, too...
We have a winner.
BUMP
That's what you get if you mess with their gods...
Only when they stop moving.
I was in a job interview and I opened a book and started reading. Then I said to the guy, "Let me ask you a question. If you are in a car that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, would they do anything?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "Never mind, I don't want to work for you."
It's one of my favorite "Wrightisms", geek that I am!
A very good explanation......
http://stupac2.blogspot.com/2007/08/we-have-not-broken-speed-of-light.html
Thanks.
Its been a long time since I won anything
Come on Mega Ball! ;-)
Relativity is based on “thought experiments” and not any sort of real evidence.
I wouldn't say so. Special relativity, for example, is based on two postulates:
1. That the speed of light is constant in all reference frames. This comes from classical electrodynamics which is based almost completely on experiments (and beautifully abstracted by Maxwell's equations).
2. That the laws of physics are the same in each inertial reference frame. This comes from Galileo and Newton who based their findings from experiments.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.