Why would'nt this work?
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
This is actually a great example for why that stick must not exist.
You can also do this with a unbreakable stick and an unbreakable shorter tube. Throw the stick at a high velocity through the tube and it contracts for the point of view of the tube. Then close it shut. Now you have a stick that's longer than the tube fully contained in it.
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
Go find a 30' stick and let us know if you can point it at the moon.
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
Next, I suppose you'll want to know about the speed of dark 🤨
-
Actually, the thing that applies to the pole is the speed of sound (of the pole material), which is the speed the atoms in the pole move at. Not even close to the speed of light.
Correct answer is here.
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
-
If you're openminded enough to listen to those who disagree with the standard model,
take an elastic band and twist it, that's what will happen to the stick and this travels at lightspeed,
as this is what light does. Do it fast enough and the 'elastic band'/stick/'atom on the other end' breaks.I think the standard model says the same thing, tbh....
-
Is it instantaneous though?
Basically the speed of sound in that material
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
I predict we'll have FTL travel before we can invent a stick that's "unfoldable".
-
This doesn't account for blinking.
If your friend blinks, they won't see the light, and thus would be unable to verify whether the method works or not.
But how does he know when to open his eyes? He can't keep them open forever. Say you flash the light once, and that's his signal to keep his eyes open. Okay, but how long do you wait before starting the experiment? If you do it immediately, he may not have enough time to react. If you wait too long, his eyes will dry out and he'll blink.
This is just not going to work. There are too many dependent variables.
You joke, but this is a real problem in computing Obligatory link to Tom Scott video.
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
Matter is made of atoms. Things are only truly rigid in the small scales we deal with usually.
-
You think its instantaneous because you never held such a long stick.
Speak for yourself!
Tbh I thought someone would make that joke when i wrote it lol
-
Is it instantaneous though?
Probably wiggly wiggly
-
Wow, TIL that the speed of sound has this equivalence
It's why de Laval nozzles have their shape
-
Actually, the thing that applies to the pole is the speed of sound (of the pole material), which is the speed the atoms in the pole move at. Not even close to the speed of light.
Yeah, everyone else had already answered that, which felt like we're picking apart that specific thought experiment, even though there is actually a much more fundamental reason why it won't work.
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
Even if it were perfectly rigid, supernaturally so, your push would still only transmit through the stick at the speed of light. The speed of light is the speed of time.
-
Next, I suppose you'll want to know about the speed of dark 🤨
Damn it even on Lemmy I can't get to the comments before someone else has the samr idea as me ahaha
-
Even if it were perfectly rigid, supernaturally so, your push would still only transmit through the stick at the speed of light. The speed of light is the speed of time.
The push would travel at the speed of sound in the stick, much slower than the speed of light
-
It can look dumb, but I always had this question as a kid, what physical principles would prevent this?
Ok so since there's a bunch of science nerds on here and I'm sleep deprived I'm gonna ask my dumb ftl question.
If you're on a train and you walk towards the front of the train, your speed measured from outside of the train is the speed of the train (T) plus the speed of you walking (W).
So if there was a train inside of that train, and you walked inside of that, you'd go the speed of the outside train, plus the speed of the inside train, plus your own walking speed.
So what if we had a Russian nesting doll of trains, so that the inner most train was, from the outside, going as fast as light and you walked towards the front? Wouldn't you be going faster than light if you measured your speed from the outside?
Didn't come at me with how hard it would be to build a Russian nesting doll of super trains it's a hypothetical and I'm tired.
-
The push would travel at the speed of sound in the stick, much slower than the speed of light
No it wouldn’t. Sound is air vibration, which has to travel from one place to the next, static atoms don’t have to actually move to a place just transfer kinetic energy to the adjacenct atom, so it would be much closer to the speed of light. Although probably still (relatively (get it??)) slower.
-
I predict we'll have FTL travel before we can invent a stick that's "unfoldable".
A wooden stick is pretty much unfordable in an unaltered state
Or a glass stick
