Why would'nt this work?
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Okay for a thought experiment what if it’s a perfect element incapable of that?
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You are slightly and temporarily increasing the spacing between atoms/compounds in the stick. This spacing will effectively travel like a shockwave of "pull" down the stick.
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Well no. As others have said the force in the pole will travel at the speed of sound.
Though if you were to wiggle the flashlight back and forth really fast the spotlight on the moon would travel "faster" than the speed of light.
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Like some sort of material that has a speed of sound close or equal to the speed of light? Then yeah, it would move about the same speed as the speed of light.
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Wouldn't that still be normal light speed communication from earth to two places on the moon, not FTL communication between two places on the moon?
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Reminds me of
- If you can have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?
- No thanks, I've already eaten.
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It was Alpha Phoenix
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Objects like an unbreakable stick are still composed of atoms suspended in space and held together by the fundamental forces of nature. When you push on one end, the other end doesn't immediately move with it but rather the object experiences a wave of compression traveling through it. This wave of compression travels faster than we can perceive but still cannot travel faster than light.
Look up why arrows bend after they've been released by a bow, it's essentially the same mechanic.
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Because you put the apostrophe in the wrong place?
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It's still called the speed of sound. Your intuition is correct in that it's much higher for solid things, but it's still much slower than the speed of light.
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Move a sheet up and down rapidly
You can see the wave travel across it
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Everything soft and slow like your brain yes.
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Your push would travel at the speed of sound in the stick. You could think of hitting a pipe with a hammer, the sound of the hit would travel at the speed of sound, same is true for you pushing the stick.
