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or proof that length contraction doesn't occur.
Published on March 15, 2018 By Iben In Everything Else

We have a space outpost 1 light year from earth that we want

to send a message to in much less than a year.

We have a collection of satellites in large orbit around earth

and a collection of satellites in large orbit around the outpost.

Each satellite will have a large mirror for collecting, focusing and reflecting

our transmissions. Each satellite will travel at 99% the speed of light.

When we transmit our message from earth we will utilize a satellite near earth

and a satellite near the outpost that are traveling toward each other. 

Because the satellites are moving toward each other at almost the speed

of light the distance between the satellites will be contracted (length contraction).

The message will only have a short trip between the satellites. This will allow

a message travel time of much less than a year from earth to the outpost.

We are simply reflecting a message through an alternate reality.

 


Comments (Page 1)
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on Mar 15, 2018

Except the speed of light is always c (~ 3 x 10^8 m/s) regardless of the reference frame, so the light still has to travel the same distance for each (relatively-stationary) observer. The total length the light/data would travel is still the complete length of outpost-satellite1-satellite2-earth

on Mar 16, 2018

The message will only have a short trip between the satellites.

 

You forgot to factor in time dilation. Proper time in the satellite frame doesn't match with the earth/colony proper time.

BTW, I've seen the subtitle:

or proof that length contraction doesn't occur.

Rule of thumb : the likelihood that a couple lines written on a forum between two meals can overrule a century of thought experiments, building up of conjectures and consistent set of equations, and (incredibly abundant) experimental testing and verification of these conjectures is absurdly close to 0.

on Mar 16, 2018

Dubbzy104

Except the speed of light is always c (~ 3 x 10^8 m/s) regardless of the reference frame, so the light still has to travel the same distance for each (relatively-stationary) observer. The total length the light/data would travel is still the complete length of outpost-satellite1-satellite2-earth

Good point you could be right.

Werewindlefr

Rule of thumb : the likelihood that a couple lines written on a forum between two meals can overrule a century of thought experiments, building up of conjectures and consistent set of equations, and (incredibly abundant) experimental testing and verification of these conjectures is absurdly close to 0.

Most of the experimental testing and verification has been electro dynamics

and subatomic particles. Things might work different in the macro world we live in.

on Aug 17, 2018

Is the universe analog or digital?

Is the human mind analog or digital?

If you travel in a space ship at almost the speed of light,

and the distance between objects contracts in the direction of your motion,

do the orbits of the objects change?

Do planets that are now closer to the star they orbit heat up?

on Aug 17, 2018

Yeah for the fact of not being able to speed up light this way, and processing time it would require, having a pony hyperexpress system would be quicker.

 

on Aug 19, 2018

If you run protons around a circular track at 99.9999999955 % the speed of light

and another track that runs perpendicular to it, and another track that runs perpendicular

to the first two all running at the same time.

do you get the whole universe in the accelerator after one full lap?

Do I need more nines? That could get bright in there.

I'm only half joking.

 

on Aug 19, 2018

Probably they would meet at the other end and undergo fusion.

on Aug 20, 2018

Ok I thing this idea is like voyagers slingshotting from Jupiter, but the only problem is that the speed of light can't change. I think you are suggesting using mass. 

on Aug 20, 2018

One possible outcome.

on Aug 21, 2018

on Aug 23, 2018

I wanted to see what some objects would look like if I boosted their velocity

and took a picture while they flew by.

A pentagon, special protractor, clock, gears and ruler.

If you made a small hollow gear and spun it with a lazar really fast

would the diameter shrink?

on Aug 24, 2018

If an object is rotating parallel to its relativistic velocity

could length contraction precession occur?

on Aug 25, 2018

Your asking me about a wormhole. I remember reading how it would require taking the mass of Jupiter down to two centimeters. 

Not nessasarily with physics if you have the energy.

I haven't seen substantial proof in the space time.

Give me the money if it is possible I can build a wormhole. Assuming I don't time travel instead.

By the way contact is a good movie, not scientific, but good anyways.

on Aug 26, 2018

Lets take an imaginary trip using current theory.

To make it easy to visualize we will say the speed of light is

100.00500025001250062503125156258 miles per hour.

We will take a space ship from earth to a space station 100 miles from earth.

We leave and go to the space station, the people on earth see that our trip

took 1 hour, and that we went 100 mph.

When we get to the space station our clock says the trip took 36 seconds.

That means we went 10000 mph to go 100 miles.

We know we can only go 100 mph with our ship and can't go faster than the

speed of light 100.00500025001250062503125156258 mph.

Therefore we in the ship only went 1 mile at a speed of 100 mph.

This means that while on our trip the distance from earth to the

station is 1 mile.

I used .99995 as our fraction of the speed of light and a Lorentz factor of 100.

We could go with the many worlds interpretation because this trip has 2.

In 1 world the station is 100 miles away from earth and in the other world the station

is 1 mile away from earth.

The real speed of light is 669600000 miles per hour.

Disclaimer: My math might be right.

on Aug 26, 2018

First: Light speed is 2.79 x 10 ^6 m/s. The sun is 8 light minutes from Earth, approximately 93 million miles or one AU (astronomical unit). The moon is 1.3 light seconds from Earth, approximately 240,000 miles. Closest system to Earth is the Centauri system, Alpha Beta and Proxima at 4.25 light years. The fastest man made object is the Parker sun probe traveling at 400,000 mph thanks to two gravity assists from Venus. At that speed it will arrive on station some time in December. Average distance to Mars is 225 million km and app. 12.5 light minutes depending on their positions in orbit with respect to one another. 

Second: To attain light speed (with an object of mass) you'd need to increase the amount of energy needed which adds mass to the object. The more energy needed to increase power, the more mass is added according to Einstein's equivalency principle E=MC ^2. The more mass there is the more energy needed to move it until it becomes infinite. Time dilation, clocks slow down because you're moving faster than the tic toc of the clock. Length contraction occurs because your bow is moving exponentially faster than your stern and your stern needs to catch up as it were. Therefore it contracts. More as it comes in lol.  

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