Speed of Light is Just Too Damn Slow!

[CarlinAnnArbor]

Got 45 minutes to kill? Watch light travel to Jupiter. If that's just too long, it only takes 3 agonizing minutes to reach the first planet!

 

[Weatherman2020]

Add to that the scale of the universe.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

Add another 35 minutes to get to Saturn!

Our solar system is YUGE! Unless you're trying to get across the galaxy. One of BILLIONS

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

The "good" news is, though, if you were actually riding a beam of light, it would seem to you, that you could reach ANY POINT IN THE UNIVERSE, instantly.

 

[miketx]

Got 45 minutes to kill? Watch light travel to Jupiter. If that's just too long, it only takes 3 agonizing minutes to reach the first planet!

You are correct. SOL light is way slow when dealing with stellar and planetary distance.

 

[toobfreak]

Got 45 minutes to kill? Watch light travel to Jupiter. If that's just too long, it only takes 3 agonizing minutes to reach the first planet!

Puts a lot into perspective as well as raising some interesting questions abut time, space and physics. As an aside, it also illustrates one thing that has long bothered me about sci-fi like Star Trek: they always show the stars whizzing by; 1C or the speed of light is = to Warp 1. Clearly, even at Warp 1, it would take hours to get to Earth from the outer solar system, so impulse power isn't going to get you anywhere but between a planet and its moon.

Since Warp 6 is supposed to be 216X the speed of light and Warp 8 = 512C, it becomes obvious that even at Warp 8, it would take about 5 seconds to get from Jupiter to the Earth. In that time, not only wouldn't the Sun barely even move, it would only brighten a bit. So in actuality, all these starships flying about in space wouldn't actually see the stars outside moving at all except possibly just barely moving like lazy snails at the very highest Warp 9.6.

But then, that just wouldn't make for dramatic television.

 

[james bond]

God made it so one can't travel faster than the speed of light. Satan fell to Earth at the speed of light. I guess it means one travels at the speed of light to you know where. Anyway the atheists and their scientists keep trying and making up stuff, but it's useless.

For example, "3. Quantum entanglement moves faster than light. If I have two electrons close together, they can vibrate in unison, according to the quantum theory. If I then separate them, an invisible umbilical cord emerges which connects the two electrons, even though they may be separated by many light years. If I jiggle one electron, the other electron "senses" this vibration instantly, faster than the speed of light. Einstein thought that this therefore disproved the quantum theory, since nothing can go faster than light.

But actually this experiment (the EPR experiment) has been done many times, and each time Einstein was wrong. Information does go faster than light, but Einstein has the last laugh. This is because the information that breaks the light barrier is random, and hence useless. (For example, let's say a friend always wears one red sock and one green sock. You don't know which leg wears which sock. If you suddenly see that one foot has a red sock, then you know instantly, faster than the speed of light, that the other sock is green. But this information is useless. You cannot send Morse code or usable information via red and green socks.)"

4 Things That Currently Break the Speed of Light Barrier

 

[Vastator]

Hitch a ride on a gamma ray burst...
Faster Than the Speed of Light: New Model Proposes Jets Go Superluminal in Gamma-Ray Bursts

 

[james bond]

Hitch a ride on a gamma ray burst...
Faster Than the Speed of Light: New Model Proposes Jets Go Superluminal in Gamma-Ray Bursts

That's interesting. One example of the Trinity is using the EMS. God the Father is gamma ray spectrum, Jesus is visible light specturm, and the Holy Spirit is in the radiowaves spectrum. None of those go faster than speed of light as designed intelligently by the creator.

 

[foggedinn]

Nutrinos from a supernova arrived at the earth before the visible light did. Still, interstellar travel is not possible. Even interplanetary travel isn't viable and is a colossal waste of resources.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

We are forever trapped within our universe and even this tiny planet as long as we remain human.

As far as God, this is why I believe He exists OITSIDE His creation and is not subject to the laws that govern us. Distance and time is irrelevant to Him and I doubt He requires "time" to be anywhere He desires

 

[toobfreak]

Got 45 minutes to kill? Watch light travel to Jupiter. If that's just too long, it only takes 3 agonizing minutes to reach the first planet!

Puts a lot into perspective as well as raising some interesting questions abut time, space and physics. As an aside, it also illustrates one thing that has long bothered me about sci-fi like Star Trek: they always show the stars whizzing by; 1C or the speed of light is = to Warp 1. Clearly, even at Warp 1, it would take hours to get to Earth from the outer solar system, so impulse power isn't going to get you anywhere but between a planet and its moon.

Since Warp 6 is supposed to be 216X the speed of light and Warp 8 = 512C, it becomes obvious that even at Warp 8, it would take about 5 seconds to get from Jupiter to the Earth. In that time, not only wouldn't the Sun barely even move, it would only brighten a bit. So in actuality, all these starships flying about in space wouldn't actually see the stars outside moving at all except possibly just barely moving like lazy snails at the very highest Warp 9.6.

But then, that just wouldn't make for dramatic television.

As an aside, it also bothered me that things would always go wrong on a planet somewhere and the Enterprise D would show up hours or at worst, days later instead of weeks or months. Amazing how small they made the galaxy! Like a trip to the park. Yet the Borg were years away? In reality, traveling at their highest Warp, (Warp 9.6?) it would take about a day to get from Earth to the nearest star, a Centauri. A day. That's REALLY fast. But the thing is, it's the NEAREST star. Not one star would pass us. Few stars in the sky would even move. With few exceptions, all you'd see is one star get brighter and closer to you over a day.

In reality, if we had Warp 9, the Enterprise crew would be spending a LOT of time playing cards between missions.

 

[Wuwei]

Nutrinos from a supernova arrived at the earth before the visible light did. Still, interstellar travel is not possible. Even interplanetary travel isn't viable and is a colossal waste of resources.

During a supernova the inner part of the star collapses first sending energy that has to wade its way through the outer part of the sphere. So the flash of light is a little delayed. However neutrinos pass through the star at (or almost at) the speed of light and are able to escape faster. That means we will see the neutrinos slightly before the light.

.

 

[james bond]

I'm reminded of the great dialogue from Star Wars now.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

"Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, farm boy.”

"It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs. I’ve outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind you. I’m talking about the big Corellian ships, now. She’s fast enough for you, old man.”

“Now, witness the power of this fully operational battle station.”

“If you’re saying that coming here was a bad idea, I’m starting to agree with you.”

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. …We must be cautious.”

“But how could they be jamming us if they don’t know… that we’re… coming?”

"Ugh. And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

"Get in there you big furry oaf. I don't care what you smell."

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

"We're going in and we're going in full throttle!"

"Almost there.... almost there..."

"ITS AWAY!"

"Uh, negative, it didn't go in, it just impacted on the surface."

"Luke, at that speed, will we be able to pull out in time?"

"Get out of here Wedge, there's nothing more you can do back there."

 

[Wuwei]

As an aside, it also bothered me that things would always go wrong on a planet somewhere and the Enterprise D would show up hours or at worst, days later instead of weeks or months. Amazing how small they made the galaxy! Like a trip to the park. Yet the Borg were years away? In reality, traveling at their highest Warp, (Warp 9.6?) it would take about a day to get from Earth to the nearest star, a Centauri. A day. That's REALLY fast. But the thing is, it's the NEAREST star. Not one star would pass us. Few stars in the sky would even move. With few exceptions, all you'd see is one star get brighter and closer to you over a day.

In reality, if we had Warp 9, the Enterprise crew would be spending a LOT of time playing cards between missions.

At almost the speed of light the Fitzgerald contraction would make the distance to the destination like a trip to the park. Time dilation wouldn't allow them to even shuffle the cards. Warp speed isn't necessary. The writers of Star Trek must not have had a physics consultant.

.

 

[Wuwei]

There was a young lady named Bright,
who could travel much faster than light.
She departed one day
in a relativistic way
and returned on the previous night.

.

 

[toobfreak]

As an aside, it also bothered me that things would always go wrong on a planet somewhere and the Enterprise D would show up hours or at worst, days later instead of weeks or months. Amazing how small they made the galaxy! Like a trip to the park. Yet the Borg were years away? In reality, traveling at their highest Warp, (Warp 9.6?) it would take about a day to get from Earth to the nearest star, a Centauri. A day. That's REALLY fast. But the thing is, it's the NEAREST star. Not one star would pass us. Few stars in the sky would even move. With few exceptions, all you'd see is one star get brighter and closer to you over a day.

In reality, if we had Warp 9, the Enterprise crew would be spending a LOT of time playing cards between missions.

At almost the speed of light the Fitzgerald contraction would make the distance to the destination like a trip to the park. Time dilation wouldn't allow them to even shuffle the cards. Warp speed isn't necessary. The writers of Star Trek must not have had a physics consultant.
.

That is an illusion. It does not change the actual distance traveled nor the time spent to those outside their time frame. Mere theoretical fluff.

 

[Vastator]

If space itself is expanding faster than the speed of light; if one could devise a way to anchor themselves to the fabric of space time, theoretically you could move away from earth at a relative speed faster than the speed of light. Though it wouldn’t necessarily move you closer to another point of distant space.

 

[toobfreak]

If space itself is expanding faster than the speed of light; if one could devise a way to anchor themselves to the fabric of space time, theoretically you could move away from earth at a relative speed faster than the speed of light. Though it wouldn’t necessarily move you closer to another point of distant space.

Just doesn't work that way. At whatever speed space is expanding, we cannot directly measure it or use it because everything within the space frame expands with it. As space expands, a mile gets longer, you get longer, the nearest star gets farther away, while our references for measurement all expand with it. The net effect is that everything within the universe appears unchanged, and if you were somehow outside the universe to truly see or measure space relative to some larger framework, it wouldn't matter. You'd be God.

 

[Wuwei]

As an aside, it also bothered me that things would always go wrong on a planet somewhere and the Enterprise D would show up hours or at worst, days later instead of weeks or months. Amazing how small they made the galaxy! Like a trip to the park. Yet the Borg were years away? In reality, traveling at their highest Warp, (Warp 9.6?) it would take about a day to get from Earth to the nearest star, a Centauri. A day. That's REALLY fast. But the thing is, it's the NEAREST star. Not one star would pass us. Few stars in the sky would even move. With few exceptions, all you'd see is one star get brighter and closer to you over a day.

In reality, if we had Warp 9, the Enterprise crew would be spending a LOT of time playing cards between missions.

At almost the speed of light the Fitzgerald contraction would make the distance to the destination like a trip to the park. Time dilation wouldn't allow them to even shuffle the cards. Warp speed isn't necessary. The writers of Star Trek must not have had a physics consultant.
.

That is an illusion. It does not change the actual distance traveled nor the time spent to those outside their time frame. Mere theoretical fluff.

It is not an illusion and not fluff. Relativity was proved time and again. You are mixing the two reference frames. What people on earth see is of no immediate matter to the Enterprise crew. (It is a concern when the crew gets back and finds there friends long dead). The Enterprise crew would see it as a short distance and short time once the are significantly close to the speed of light. However during acceleration and deacceleration, they would considerably age unless the acceleration was gazillions of G's. Then they would be squished flat. There are a lot of other factors I didn't cover that make things difficult, to put it mildly.

.