Non-motoring > Can data travel faster than the speed of light? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: zippy Replies: 29

 Can data travel faster than the speed of light? - Manatee
The thing is, and what stops me getting my head round it, is that when you get to near-light speeds everything changes. Time slows down, mass changes, dimensions change, and you can't just add speeds together as you would in a school days arithmetic question.

If you could travel at the speed of light, you would weigh an infinite amount and your physical dimension in the direction of travel would be nil. But you can't go that fast. In theory you could go nearly that fast. Then, in a way, you would be travelling faster than light. The elapsed time as observed by the traveller would be much reduced compared with the time your journey took as recorded by a stationary observer. E.g., you could travel a light year in a few days by your watch, so if you know how many km. you have travelled, you could divide that by the number of seconds gone on your watch and you would have a result much bigger than 300,000. Or you could say that the distance travelled has reduced if you wanted to look at it that way. It's the same thing in this odd world of relativity. apparently (and if I have remembered correctly).

I no more understand this than ancient Greek, but I did read a lot of scifi and popular science books as a youth.
 Messages Author Date
 Can data travel faster than the speed of l..  zippy 3 Dec 20 09:31
 Can data travel faster than the speed of ..  tyrednemotional 3 Dec 20 09:47
 Can data travel faster than the speed of..  bathtub tom 3 Dec 20 10:06
 Can data travel faster than the speed o..  Zero 3 Dec 20 10:25
 Can data travel faster than the speed of ..  Zero 3 Dec 20 10:27
 Can data travel faster than the speed of..  Manatee 3 Dec 20 10:58
 Can data travel faster than the speed o..  Manatee 3 Dec 20 11:05
 Can data travel faster than the speed ..  zippy 3 Dec 20 11:26
 Can data travel faster than the speed of ..  No FM2R 3 Dec 20 12:38
 Can data travel faster than the speed of..  Terry 4 Dec 20 02:19
 Can data travel faster than the speed o..  Manatee 4 Dec 20 08:32
 Can data travel faster than the speed ..  bathtub tom 4 Dec 20 10:06
 Can data travel faster than the spee..  CGNorwich 4 Dec 20 11:41
 Can data travel faster than the spe..  No FM2R 4 Dec 20 11:45
 Can data travel faster than the sp..  CGNorwich 4 Dec 20 11:52
 Can data travel faster than the s..  No FM2R 4 Dec 20 12:00
 Can data travel faster than the ..  smokie 4 Dec 20 12:02
 Can data travel faster than th..  No FM2R 4 Dec 20 12:45
 Can data travel faster than t..  CGNorwich 4 Dec 20 13:53
 Can data travel faster than ..  No FM2R 4 Dec 20 13:58
 Can data travel faster than..  CGNorwich 4 Dec 20 14:14
  
 Can data travel faster than the speed of ..  No FM2R 4 Dec 20 14:23
 Can data travel faster than the speed of..  Zero 4 Dec 20 14:48
 Can data travel faster than the speed o..  No FM2R 4 Dec 20 14:53
 Can data travel faster than the speed of..  CGNorwich 4 Dec 20 15:32
  
 Can data travel faster than t..  Manatee 4 Dec 20 13:21
 Can data travel faster than th..  Manatee 4 Dec 20 13:29
 Can data travel faster than the spe..  CGNorwich 4 Dec 20 11:47
 Can data travel faster than the sp..  bathtub tom 4 Dec 20 14:49
 Can data travel faster than the s..  Zero 5 Dec 20 07:55
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