Greg, if you walked to Alpha Centuri, it would take a long time. (And
if you wanted to go exactly there, it would be quite a warm welcome).
If you traveled at the speed of light it would be like Juan Salvador
Gaviota (instant from your point of view). So the question isn't that
you traveled at the speed of light ("impossible"), but what is the
speed you would have to haul at to make all these light year distances
in astronomy make sense from the point of view of actually getting in a
ship and going there and taking as long as the star atlas says.
It is clearly between 7 trillion hours (hours, not dollars) which is
how long it would taker to walk, and 0 hours (instant) if you went at
the speed of light in the traveling frame of reference.
So you just need to find the happy medium to adjust the detached
observer's dilation of time to be the inverse of your time, I think.
70.1% the speed of light seems to do it. The Factor you need to divide
the speed of light by might be, 1/sqrt(1-(v^2/c^2)). Setting
v=1/sqrt(2), you get 1/sqrt(1-(1/2)) = 1/sqrt(1/2) = sqrt(2).
Anyways, something like that,
and with that Mr. Thompkins bid the Professor "Goodnight" :-)
Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: GREG LINDH <gee...@msn.com>
To: mojave_meteori...@cox.net
Cc: meteorite-list <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wed, Aug 26, 2009 12:22 am
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Speed-of-light question
Hi Rob,
As you may remember from my earlier writings to you, I'm no scientist.
But,
if what you have written is true, and if I've understood you correctly,
and if
someone traveling at the speed of light can travel anywhere in the
universe
*instantaneously* "from their own reckoning of time", then it would
seem to me
that traveling to the nearest star (other than our sun) would also be
*instantaneous*, from the traveler's own reckoning of time. The 4.73
years of
travel time would be impossible. Or did I misunderstand what you wrote?
Regards,
Greg Lindh
From: mojave_meteori...@cox.net
To: e...@meteoritesusa.com
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:56:29 -0700
CC: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Subject: [meteorite-list] Speed-of-light question
Hi Eric and List,
Light itself travels 186,000 miles per second. Do most people
really understand how fast that truly is? Do people realize
how long it would take to travel ANYWHERE in our universe?
At the speed of light, you can actually travel anywhere in the
universe *instantaneously* -- from your own reckoning of time.
Which brings up a special relativity question for you all: at
what velocity must you travel in order to reach Alpha Centauri
(4.37 light-years away) in exactly 4.37 years -- by *your*
reckoning of time?
--Rob
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