Our recent discussions on the Relativity effects of velocity at or near c have reminded me of an old problem I've had for a while.
What do you think of this?
We know that even tho the time dilation/mass increase/foreshortening effects of relative velocity are dependent upon the observers frame of reference, the time dilation effect has been measured to be real. (The other two are not within the scope of our capabilities at this time.)
And yet...
Suppose TWO travellers are buzzing around the universe at 99.9999% of c. They are within sight of each other at all times. So much so in fact that they are travelling the exact same speed, in the exact same direction. Parallel trajectories if you will, at a common velocity. They are able to detect that their relative velocity TO EACH OTHER is therefore zero.
In theory, they would see NONE of the aforementioned effects of relativistic velocity with regard to each other. I.e. - Their clocks have NOT slowed, their mass has NOT increased, their lengths have NOT forshortened as far as each of them can tell, with regards to the other. Yet, the theory tells us that relative to now virtually every other aspect of the universe, their time is ALMOST non-existent, their mass is ALMOST infinite, and their length dimension is ALMOST flat. From their point of view, is the entire timespan of the universe flying by in ALMOST an instant? Has it become ALMOST infinitely small and yet ALMOST infinitely lengthy at the same time? All the while, each of them appearing perfectly perceptively "normal" to each other?
How can this possibly be?
(I have another similar one, but I'll save it for elswhere.)
What do you think of this?
We know that even tho the time dilation/mass increase/foreshortening effects of relative velocity are dependent upon the observers frame of reference, the time dilation effect has been measured to be real. (The other two are not within the scope of our capabilities at this time.)
And yet...
Suppose TWO travellers are buzzing around the universe at 99.9999% of c. They are within sight of each other at all times. So much so in fact that they are travelling the exact same speed, in the exact same direction. Parallel trajectories if you will, at a common velocity. They are able to detect that their relative velocity TO EACH OTHER is therefore zero.
In theory, they would see NONE of the aforementioned effects of relativistic velocity with regard to each other. I.e. - Their clocks have NOT slowed, their mass has NOT increased, their lengths have NOT forshortened as far as each of them can tell, with regards to the other. Yet, the theory tells us that relative to now virtually every other aspect of the universe, their time is ALMOST non-existent, their mass is ALMOST infinite, and their length dimension is ALMOST flat. From their point of view, is the entire timespan of the universe flying by in ALMOST an instant? Has it become ALMOST infinitely small and yet ALMOST infinitely lengthy at the same time? All the while, each of them appearing perfectly perceptively "normal" to each other?
How can this possibly be?
(I have another similar one, but I'll save it for elswhere.)