Ok...so this is probably not that exciting to most people here, and maybe once I understand the reality of the thing, I won't be excited either. But until then, let me enjoy my ignorance.
Anyway, here's the deal: Today, I was playing around with a laser pointer and, being that it's friday, I was pointing it all around to different cubicles and offices around me. Friday afternoon office hijinxs! Anyway, I shone the laser on the ceiling and was waving it all around, when a thought occurred to me: I am only moving the laser pointer about 2-3 inches while the impact traverses a distance somewhere around 20-30 feet! Now, given that the impact of the laser is moving a greater distance in the same amount of time as the actual pointer, it's velocity is far greater than what my hand is actually moving the pointer.
So, big deal right? Well, how far out does a laser need to point and how fast does the laser itself have to move in order to get the impact of the laser to acheive c? Or how far out does the impact need to be in order to exceed c? Does this make sense? And to help things along, what are the implications of making the laser pointer smaller? Let's say the size of a large molecule?
This can't be done with physical matter, only light has no mass and therefore no drag. If you tried to accelerate the tip of a baseball bat or other physical object wouldn't work, but with light, is it possible? Theoretically, it should be possible to figure out how fast the laser pointer needs to move, what distance it needs to move, and how far out the impact needs to be to equal and exceed c.
Anyway, here's the deal: Today, I was playing around with a laser pointer and, being that it's friday, I was pointing it all around to different cubicles and offices around me. Friday afternoon office hijinxs! Anyway, I shone the laser on the ceiling and was waving it all around, when a thought occurred to me: I am only moving the laser pointer about 2-3 inches while the impact traverses a distance somewhere around 20-30 feet! Now, given that the impact of the laser is moving a greater distance in the same amount of time as the actual pointer, it's velocity is far greater than what my hand is actually moving the pointer.
So, big deal right? Well, how far out does a laser need to point and how fast does the laser itself have to move in order to get the impact of the laser to acheive c? Or how far out does the impact need to be in order to exceed c? Does this make sense? And to help things along, what are the implications of making the laser pointer smaller? Let's say the size of a large molecule?
This can't be done with physical matter, only light has no mass and therefore no drag. If you tried to accelerate the tip of a baseball bat or other physical object wouldn't work, but with light, is it possible? Theoretically, it should be possible to figure out how fast the laser pointer needs to move, what distance it needs to move, and how far out the impact needs to be to equal and exceed c.