Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Parliament on PBS
Did you see it? It was AWESOME!! I recorded it. "I can feel the mothership coming!"
It was great.
And there was this great NOVA on before it about E=mc^2 of which this year is the 100th anniversary. You see, once upon a time people thought time was constant, but it turns out that it isn't. The speed of light is a constant however. So, if that's true, then if Mateo of RNRNRW were blogging at the speed of light then time would have to slow down.
This is the Theory of Special Relativity. This leads Einstein forward to thinking that nothing can ever travel faster than the speed of light. If that's true, then as an object (which has a certain mass) travels at the speed of light, it would exert energy trying to go faster. But, of course, nothing can go faster than the speed of light. So where would that extra energy go?
Einstein figures that that extra energy would be converted to mass! The object would GAIN MASS! Holy Canoli! That means mass can be converted into energy and vice versa! Wow!
So, therefore, Energy is created if you move a Mass at the speed of Light squared. Duh.
But seriously, how can the speed of light be constant if time slows down as you approach said speed? Time is relative, so the very definition of the "speed of light" is false. If time slows as an object travels faster and faster approaching the speed of light, then the so-called "speed of light" can't be a constant! Speed is a measurement of distance traveled over a certain time. If the speed of light in a vacuum is 300 m/s (give or take), but the "second" in this equation is defined by men....you know what! None of that even matters because a "second" of time is just an arbitrary measurement anyway. There is no time except what humans have defined based on the environmental characteristics of the earth...the earth rotates so many days...atoms wiggle in certain way and we call it time.
jeez. Knowledge just leads to more questions don't it?
It was great.
And there was this great NOVA on before it about E=mc^2 of which this year is the 100th anniversary. You see, once upon a time people thought time was constant, but it turns out that it isn't. The speed of light is a constant however. So, if that's true, then if Mateo of RNRNRW were blogging at the speed of light then time would have to slow down.
This is the Theory of Special Relativity. This leads Einstein forward to thinking that nothing can ever travel faster than the speed of light. If that's true, then as an object (which has a certain mass) travels at the speed of light, it would exert energy trying to go faster. But, of course, nothing can go faster than the speed of light. So where would that extra energy go?
Einstein figures that that extra energy would be converted to mass! The object would GAIN MASS! Holy Canoli! That means mass can be converted into energy and vice versa! Wow!
So, therefore, Energy is created if you move a Mass at the speed of Light squared. Duh.
But seriously, how can the speed of light be constant if time slows down as you approach said speed? Time is relative, so the very definition of the "speed of light" is false. If time slows as an object travels faster and faster approaching the speed of light, then the so-called "speed of light" can't be a constant! Speed is a measurement of distance traveled over a certain time. If the speed of light in a vacuum is 300 m/s (give or take), but the "second" in this equation is defined by men....you know what! None of that even matters because a "second" of time is just an arbitrary measurement anyway. There is no time except what humans have defined based on the environmental characteristics of the earth...the earth rotates so many days...atoms wiggle in certain way and we call it time.
jeez. Knowledge just leads to more questions don't it?
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