Question....

[axletramp]

If I had a stick (or rod) 2 light years long, I held one end and someone else held the other end, on a planet (coincidentally) 2 light years away. Could I then send messages (in a morse-like way) faster than the speed of light?

Discuss...

 

[Josh]

If you had something that could send messages faster than the speed of light I guess it's possible.

 

[axletramp]

It's the rod. If you push one end, would someone pick up that push faster than light at the other?

 

[RVDNuT374]

It might be possible, but i'm not much of a physics expert.

 

[Cobraboy]

Originally posted by axletramp
It's the rod. If you push one end, would someone pick up that push faster than light at the other?

Well the rod would weigh one hell of weight being 2 light years long. I doubt if you were able to push it at all....

 

[mr_pushrod]

Depends if you were using a Badger or not.

 

[CrackHoor]

There's some HUGE practical and logistical problems, but if you ignore those (a classic physics move, BTW) there's no reason you couldn't. Nothing's actually moving faster than light, the rod's just moving back and forth a bit, right?

 

[axletramp]

Originally posted by Cobraboy
Well the rod would weigh one hell of weight being 2 light years long. I doubt if you were able to push it at all....

It could be made of some gaseous substance held together with the collective mind-power of badgers! (thanx mr_p, I thought I was alone!)

 

[Cobraboy]

Oh well then thats different ....

 

[axletramp]

Originally posted by CrackHoor
There's some HUGE practical and logistical problems, but if you ignore those (a classic physics move, BTW) there's no reason you couldn't. Nothing's actually moving faster than light, the rod's just moving back and forth a bit, right?

Yep. You have to decide if the speed of light is faster than molocules 'pushing' each other.

 

[mr_pushrod]

It would be definatly faster than the speed of light if the badgers were driving Allegros, or Truenos.

 

[axletramp]

Originally posted by mr_pushrod
It would be definatly faster than the speed of light if the badgers were driving Allegros, or Truenos.

You're not taking this seriously are you?
.
.
.
GREAT!

Pehaps the planet 'Drift' might be able to help us?

 

[mr_pushrod]

Or pehaps the planet 'Don't hate, it's a drift classic'.

 

[axletramp]

Hang on, you're destroying my perfectly good nerd thread.

Look, all I'm saying is that if you could create a perfectly solid rod of a length greater than 1 light year, could you send rudimentary signals faster than light?

Simple.

 

[Klostrophobic]

If you can move the rod faster than the speed of light, yes. If not, no.

Don't ask me to explain.

 

[mr_pushrod]

I doubt you could poduce a perfectly solid rod

 

[axletramp]

I'll presume you're talking to Klostrophobic!

Anyway, all I'm saying is: If you push one end of a longer-than-light-year rod will you get a faster-than-light-speed reaction at the other end? (Even if the rod is made of steel/diamond/carbon fibre/fox fur/that really hard bit af a potato you get when you microwave it/etc)

 

[mr_pushrod]

Ferrets?

 

[ALPHA]

Think about this you have the two planets exactly 1 light year apart, we are talking about distance right?

1 light year is how far you can get in a year travelling at the speed of light so.....

If the rod were to move faster than the speed of light, the person with the end on Planet X would have to get there end past Planet Y - I forgot what I was going to say I'm confused!

Sombody help me!

 

[Cobraboy]

Originally posted by ALPHA
Sombody help me!

Go away from this thread, and never, ever come back to it.

 

[Kent]

Ignoring all the obvious problems and addressing this in a really simple way...

No you couldnt.

The tapping of the morris code would only go the speed of sound.

 

[Klostrophobic]

1 light year = the distance light travels in one year. DISTANCE.

 

[axletramp]

Now everyone's got me worried about Planet X. Are they friendly? Why hasn't anyone mentioned this before? Do they need us for food or just to mate with?

OK, OK, I'll sacrifice myself for the good of everyone.

 

[Acid X]

No, GoKent, hes saying Push the rod, not tap sounds through it.

Realistically, you would technically be sending that message/push faster than the speed of light, due to the length of the pole. The pole wouldnt be moving faster than the speed of light, but the push would be. There has to be some sort of speed of force, or something.

Theres a speed for everything isnt there? Why not force? Technically there cant be a speed of force because the moment you push something you get a reaction (the object moves or just pushes back.)

You really cant claim the pole moves faster than the speed of light, because it doesnt. The pole just moves as it should, and pushes the rest of the pole; just like its changing position (like a box or something.)

Question answered.

..or is it?

 

[axletramp]

See. It's simple.

Like the way you're thinking Acid X

 

[Giancarlo]

Axeltramp? Did you pull a Houdini or something? Haven't seen you in ages..

 

[GilesGuthrie]

What you need to do is divorce the SIGNAL from the TRANSMISSION METHOD. In this instance, the signal would travel faster than the speed of light, because light would take one year to travel that distance, but the opposite end of the rod would move in time with the near end.

However, this is staggeringly unlikely, since a two light-year rod would be 94540000000000 kilometers long. To give an example of how long this is, Earth is 12000 kilometers in diameter.

In the words of Douglas Adams "You might think it's a long way down to the chemist, but that's just peanuts compared to space".

 

[Acid X]

Originally posted by axletramp
See. It's simple.

Like the way you're thinking Acid X

Thanks, Axel.

 

[milefile]

Since the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, the rod would only connect the two planets momentarily, as they would be moving away from eachother. So the point is moot.

 

[askia47]

i agree with milefile, i can't make any conclusions myself as this is a complicated subject