I have exceeded light speed!!!

[holocene]

I have a picture of the "barred" Galaxy NGC-1300 as my desktop background.<br /><br />Now, this galaxy is 150,000 light years in diameter.<br /><br />It takes me less than 1 second to move my mouse across the entire galaxy. So, isn't it technically possible that I have exceeded the speed of light, and by a huge margin???

 

[tygerxg2]

Yes you have. <br /><br />Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well it is an image, not real 3D space <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Killjoy. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[search]

You should get fined for speeding...<img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[vandivx]

don't let their remarks get to you, you are in good company, like there was one Ernest Mach who figured that it is the same when you spin around on your feet and as consequence your arms get lifted from your body and that if instead the universe were spun around you while you stood still the same thing would happen with your arms too<br /><br />if that was true, can you imagine the speed at which the distant stars would have to move?<br /><br />and he was serious about it while nobody here thinks you are, irony of it isn't it, as he wasn't laughed at but was even taken seriously by the likes of Einstein none the less<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[why06]

Covered an entire galaxy in a mouse click.....<br /><br />HOLY CRAP! How big is your computer <img src="/images/icons/shocked.gif" /> ???? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div>________________________________________ <br /></div><div><ul><li><font color="#008000"><em>your move...</em></font></li></ul></div> </div>

 

[search]

Brilliant vanDivX, absolutely brilliant.<img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Mach’s Principle<br /><br />If you are in a car that suddenly accelerates, you feel the effect of being pinned to your seat, or if it turns a sharp corner you feel yourself thrown to one side. In both cases, you feel the effect of acceleration which is a change in the velocity vector. In the first case, it’s changing it’s magnitude. In the second case, it’s changing it’s direction. In what reference frame are you accelerating? You’re motionless with respect to the inside of the car. You could say you’re accelerating with respect to the road beneath the car. However, you would feel the same effect if you were in a spaceship far from any planet. So what reference frame would you choose? The only logical one is the reference frame of the center of mass of all the matter in the observable Universe. Since the vast majority of the matter in the observable Universe is in distant galaxies, you are essentially accelerating with respect to distant galaxies. Now to then say that the effect you feel is literally the gravitational attraction of distant galaxies is more problematic. However, the mere fact that this is the reference frame to use when discussing this subject can’t really be disputed. What other reference frame would you use? With Newton’s bucket experiment, the entire bucket was rotating, so the water was motionless with respect to the sides of the bucket. I didn’t write this for the purpose of advocating Mach’s Principle. It’s just the idea has been tossed around since Galileo, and no one has come up with a better explanation for inertial effects. We still can’t explain it completely. Most people don’t even attempt to explain it. They just add the extra terms to Newton’s equations to allow for non-inertial frames, and don’t give it any more thought.<br /><br />Mach’s Principle remains controversial,

 

[robnissen]

The things I learn here. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Great post.

 

[vandivx]

thx, for a (long) while I thought it was meant to be sarcastic come on or something, I must be like that dog that only expects to feel the stick end (that's how it goes in science)<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>However, the mere fact that this is the reference frame to use [distant galaxies] when discussing this subject can’t really be disputed. What other reference frame would you use?<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><br />ok, valid reference frame it is but the point is it doesn't explain anything, that is it doesn't lead to understanding how the inertia of matter comes about or at least nobody was able to figure it out so far (and that is some faraway time distance now, hundred years and counting) <br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Today, we would say that the distant galaxies emitted virtual gravitons that traveled through space for billions of years before being absorbed by the water in Newton’s bucket experiment, or your body when you’re sitting in the car. <font color="yellow">The reaction of your body to acceleration is due to the interaction between your body and virtual gravitons</font>that were originally admitted [emitted] billions of years ago by long dead stars in distant galaxies.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote> <br />virtual gravitons... supposing they were the real thing for the sake of argument, I would then ask how they do it, it is easy to throw it on the shoulders of 'interaction' but if we don't understand how that interaction brings about the inertial effects of matter, all we are doing is offloading our difficulties onto terra incognita on our knowledge maps so to speak, I mean it is always tempting when one didn't find unicorns for example to say they will be found in that next yet unexplored valley on the assumption that one can always hope that way as long as there is unexplored land out there...<br /><br />I have never bought into that idea that for exam</p></blockquote></p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Heres another way to look at it...in theory if you had a pole two hundred light years long and spun it at hundreds of RPMs at one end, how fast is the other end going? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>