- #1
preen
- 4
- 0
Hi everyone, neat forum you got here. This one's been bothering me for a while, I hope you can help me. I've often seen this question satirized, but I've not yet come across the answer.
I've often heard it asserted that information of any kind cannot be transmitted from one place to another faster than the speed of light. For example, to send information to someone on Mars from Earth by any means, would take at least 3 minutes at it's nearest point. This makes sense to me in that it enforces a fixed causality between events across all observers.
1. Does this apply to communicating with a destination that you are in physical contact with? For example, if you were connected to the fellow on Mars by a string, and you communicated with him by tugging on the string, would he feel the string tugged immediately as you pulled it (assuming it is a magic string with no stretchiness), or would some process delay that information by at least the speed of light?
2. Does this put a speed limit on the propagation of a force through space? If the sun were to vanish and it's mass removed, we would still see the sun for 8 more minutes, but would we still experience the gravitational pull, and orbit the spot the sun -was- in for another 8 minutes? Or, if a magnet suddenly demagnitizes, do nearby paperclips learn of this event immediately, or do they continue to experience an attraction until the necessary delay elapses based on their distance?
I've often heard it asserted that information of any kind cannot be transmitted from one place to another faster than the speed of light. For example, to send information to someone on Mars from Earth by any means, would take at least 3 minutes at it's nearest point. This makes sense to me in that it enforces a fixed causality between events across all observers.
1. Does this apply to communicating with a destination that you are in physical contact with? For example, if you were connected to the fellow on Mars by a string, and you communicated with him by tugging on the string, would he feel the string tugged immediately as you pulled it (assuming it is a magic string with no stretchiness), or would some process delay that information by at least the speed of light?
2. Does this put a speed limit on the propagation of a force through space? If the sun were to vanish and it's mass removed, we would still see the sun for 8 more minutes, but would we still experience the gravitational pull, and orbit the spot the sun -was- in for another 8 minutes? Or, if a magnet suddenly demagnitizes, do nearby paperclips learn of this event immediately, or do they continue to experience an attraction until the necessary delay elapses based on their distance?