Terminator, On the Big stick

[bittertruth]

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I reckon speed of light = 299 792 458 m / s.
Now if a have a stick which is 2 Light Years long i.e. {299,792,458*60*60*24*365*2} Meters.

If I move the stick forward at one end, doesn't the other end move instantly. Where as light would take 2 years ?

I guess this would apply over shorter distances.
You may ignore the fact that it may take a massive force to move the stick.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

I reckon speed of light = 299 792 458 m / s.
Now if a have a stick which is 2 Light Years long i.e. {299,792,458*60*60*24*365*2} Meters.

If I move the stick forward at one end, doesn't the other end move instantly. Where as light would take 2 years ?

I guess this would apply over shorter distances.
You may ignore the fact that it may take a massive force to move the stick.

No.  The speed of light limit applies to information in general.  When you swing the stick, the molecules at the tip will not receive that information before 2 years are up.

[bittertruth]

I've heard the statement that time exists to keep everything from happening at the same moment.

The lightspeed barrier is a bit more subtle. It prevents things from happening everywhere at the same time.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

I've heard the statement that time exists to keep everything from happening at the same moment.

The lightspeed barrier is a bit more subtle. It prevents things from happening everywhere at the same time.

There is also the view that nothing is really happening.  Events are just static coordinates on a space-time graph.  Think an old school movie-reel.

Then there is the one that says you are not the same set of atoms that you were yesterday.  Quantum mechanics proposes a near infinitesimally tiny probability that the next moment your atoms will just fall apart.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Then there is the wormhole.  Connecting two regions in space by bending the space time.  One of the "weird" artefacts that General Relativity permits. 

You want to read the science fiction book by Arthur Clarke and Stephen Baxter, the Light of Other Days.  Some folks develop a wormhole technology. 

Initially this technology allows them to manufacture subatomic size wormholes for short durations.  They eventually master it.  With some tweaking, they are able to create a longer lasting wormholes anywhere on earth. 

Further development allows them to detect and transmit signals from whichever location the wormhole is created.  Soon they are able to drop any of these wormholes in any location they choose. 

This includes, public places and private places.  They can watch you sleeping.  They can watch you taking a dump.  They can choose very precise locations where to place the wormholes.  They become immensely powerful.

The plot develops further as the technology matures to a point where it can not only drop a wormhole anywhere, but also any time in the space-time continuum.  If you recall my post about events being static coordinates.  Any history is right there for anyone with the right technology to muck through.  And they have it.

They are able to pull people's life history from the space-time continuum and project it to a computer screen or any viewer.  In the process becoming even more powerful.

It's a good read.

[bittertruth]

Was just thinking if there is a way we can communicate past the speed of light.
Its actually practically not possible.

Let's think about the size of this stick. The dimensions would be bigger than I would have imagined.

A light year is 9,460,528,500,000 km. In engineering you have to take into account the slenderness ratio, that is the ratio of length to cross section.  Say at 2000 to 1 you are dealing with a piece of wire approx. 1m long 0.5mm in diameter.

Lets say try to build a light year long stick with a slenderness ratio of 2000 to 1.

Dividing a light year by 2000 and my stick would have to be 4,735,264,250 km in diameter.
This is about the distance from the sun to Neptune

The stick would have mass several times the entire solar system. Not possible to get several solar systems masses of timber.

The energy required to move it would surpass all the fossil energy ever burned on earth. he ehe he

No.  The speed of light limit applies to information in general.  When you swing the stick, the molecules at the tip will not receive that information before 2 years are up.