Say you have a non-flexible or non-pliable pole that's a light year long and you twirl the end in a semi-circle.
Since at the other ends of the pole you can theoretically send information faster than speed of light (say you have a infinitely sticky sticky note with a message at the end of the pole), does not violate special relativity?
So in a round about way special relativity says that non-flexible objects can't exist?
I'm probably not making any sense. If so, sorry.
Since at the other ends of the pole you can theoretically send information faster than speed of light (say you have a infinitely sticky sticky note with a message at the end of the pole), does not violate special relativity?
So in a round about way special relativity says that non-flexible objects can't exist?
I'm probably not making any sense. If so, sorry.
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I understand exactly what you're saying, and there are two ways around this: one more probable than the other.
In scenario 1 (the less likely one), we imagine that the rod really IS infinitely strong and doesn't flex when rotated from one end. In that case, it would take infinite energy to rotate it fast enough to get the far end moving faster than light. I don't know the math to back that up, but I feel pretty confident in saying it, since ANY mass would require infinite energy to reach the speed of light...no exceptions.
In scenario 2 (the more likely one), there's no such thing as an inflexible rod, and no matter how strong it is, a rod one light year long IS GOING TO FLEX if you attempt to rotate it from one end. I think it's even more likely that the rod would break somewhere along the way, since the stress associated with maintaining that kind of motion would become ENORMOUS! An interesting sub-scenario...the faster you rotate the rod, the harder it will be to keep it anchored at the pivot point. When the pivot fails (if that happens before the rod breaks apart), the rod is going to go flying off into space at a pretty impressive speed.
I hope that helps. Good luck!
In scenario 1 (the less likely one), we imagine that the rod really IS infinitely strong and doesn't flex when rotated from one end. In that case, it would take infinite energy to rotate it fast enough to get the far end moving faster than light. I don't know the math to back that up, but I feel pretty confident in saying it, since ANY mass would require infinite energy to reach the speed of light...no exceptions.
In scenario 2 (the more likely one), there's no such thing as an inflexible rod, and no matter how strong it is, a rod one light year long IS GOING TO FLEX if you attempt to rotate it from one end. I think it's even more likely that the rod would break somewhere along the way, since the stress associated with maintaining that kind of motion would become ENORMOUS! An interesting sub-scenario...the faster you rotate the rod, the harder it will be to keep it anchored at the pivot point. When the pivot fails (if that happens before the rod breaks apart), the rod is going to go flying off into space at a pretty impressive speed.
I hope that helps. Good luck!