OT: Alien Contact

[Wardad]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
I'm sure there are a lot of wacky crackpots trying to literally accelerate past C, at the moment...

One Word: C++

[Fyron]

Originally posted by rdouglass:

quote:

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Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
What light has variable velocity?

I thought all light has variable velocity - it depends on the medium. That is the whole principle behind a prism IIRC....

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No, light has constant velocity. Different wavelengths travel at marginally different speeds, but it is all constant. Light seeming to slow down in water and such is an optical illusion.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Aloofi:

quote:

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Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
There is a world of difference between the limits of the sound barrier and the speed of light.

Yeah, I agree.
If the research of "faster than sound" would be 5K research points then the research of "Faster than Light" would be somwhere around 5B.
Who knows, maybe there are other barriers before the speed of light. Or maybe the speed of light is not a barrier. One thing is sure, we are light years away from an engine that come even close.

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Going the speed of light requires infinite energy and gives you infinite mass. Also, the closer you get to the speed of light (as you are not a sub-sub atomic particle), the slower you go in relation to the rest of the universe. This is because time seems to slow down for you, while the rest of the universe goes along at its normal rate. You would see yourself going really fast, but an outside observer in a stationary reference frame (such as the universe) would see you going slower and slower.

[rdouglass]

I would disagree IF, light has constant velocity in a vacuum. That is represented by C IIRC. (It's been a long time since physics class). Also, I thought that was one of the reasons why light fits the wave theory as well as the particle theory - because it has variable velocity depending on the medium...

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Wardad:

quote:

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Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
I'm sure there are a lot of wacky crackpots trying to literally accelerate past C, at the moment...

One Word: C++

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LOL! Too bad you can't upgrade the speed of light like you can computer coding Languages.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by rdouglass:
I would disagree IF, light has constant velocity in a vacuum. That is represented by C IIRC. (It's been a long time since physics class). Also, I thought that was one of the reasons why light fits the wave theory as well as the particle theory - because it has variable velocity depending on the medium...

No, the light only seems to slow down in a thicker medium. It does not actually slow down. It has only been 26 hours since the Last time I was in a physics class.

[ February 26, 2003, 21:07: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[rdouglass]

To Quote:

To be precise, what we usually call the "speed of light" is really the speed of light in a vacuum (the absence of matter). In reality, the speed of light depends on the material that light moves through. Thus, for example, light moves slower in glass than in air, and in both cases the speed is less than in a vacuum.

[Fyron]

Yeah, I can make up random quotes too. What is your point?

[rdouglass]

My point is, just do a Google search on the "speed of light" and you'll see MANY references that say you're incorrect and that light does vary in speed...

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physic..._of_light.html

[rdouglass]

Maybe you meant "C" is a constant....