We have broken speed of light

Telegraph ^ | 08/16/2007 | Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent

[6SJ7]

...energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Figures. The did it using mirrors.

[Daveinyork]

Actually the Clintons broke the light barrier years ago. They are able to go back in time to erase what they said before if it conflicts with what they are saying now.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

299,792,458 meters per second. It’s not just a good idea, it’s the Law.

[SampleMan]

If light emanates from the sun at C in all directions, and the sun is moving around the center of the galaxy at 540,000 miles per hour (forgetting the speed of the galaxy) then something is already moving faster than C.

If light does not emanate from the sun in all directions at C, how does it ‘know’ the speed of the source, given that there is no limiting medium (like sound has)?

Can someone explain this paradox to me please?

[shekkian]

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light

They're gonna need some duct tape.

[tumblindice]

“I’m so fast I can flip the light switch and get into bed before the room gets dark”

Not bad, but can you sharpen your lawnmower’s blade,
while it’s running?
No? Slow-poke.
T”Flash”D

[crazyhorse691]

If you get into a glass chamber make sure there are no flies in it.

---

Too bad Vincent Price didn’t heed that advice.

[BOBTHENAILER]

"this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."

I have a girlfriend whose name is, Special Relativity, coincidentally.

She likes it when I violate her special places, relatively speaking

Yesterday's thread was better, though this one is young.

[agere_contra]

If a star moves at (say) half the speed of light through space then the light it sends forwards moves at C, and the light it sends backwards also moves at C. Not at 1/2 C or 3/2 C, like one would expect.

It is this fact which causes all of the strange behaviour of objects moving at near-light speeds that you may have heard about with respect to relativity.

[bkepley]

>Can someone explain this paradox to me please?

The speed doesn’t change. Space changes (whatever that is).

[Mad Dawg]

photons have no mass.

Photons are protestants? Mercy!

Does the Pope know this?

[Kevmo]

I prefer blue-iculous. Too much emphasis is being placed on the red shift Doppler stuff these days.

p.s. good joke, I liked it.

[2harddrive]

This reminds me of when the Russians claimed to have cooled something to absolute zero, or the cold fusion hoax claims, or any number of perpetual motion theories. Matter teleportation is about the only really new, revolutionary discovery that turned out to be true.

[expat_panama]

explain this paradox to me please?   ...The speed doesn’t change. Space changes

What's happening is that both space and time change as measured by any one observer.  

Say you're on an escalator traveling at 299,792,457 meters per second (c -1.0 m/s) as measured by the Dept. store saleslady on the mezzanine.  Ordinarily you're able to climb stairs at two meters per second, so you start going up the escalator steps and you confirm your speed with the stopwatch you're carrying.

What ends up happening is that you and your watch slow down, and even though you feel like you're speeding up, the saleslady watches you reaching the next floor at a speed that's less than c.

Trust me, it can't be done; I've tried it.

[RebelTex]

"There have been serious studies of emitting a field to impart a positive or negative charge to dust in the path of a vehicle, and the opposite charge to the surface of the craft, making a "repulsor field"."

I think you have that backwards.  Opposite polarity attracts, like polarity repels.

[jonascord]

You’re quite right, I had it bass ackwards. D’oh!

[RetSignman]

[I don’t know how many times you’ve been told to keep your tin foil hat on. :)

[RetSignman]

Yeah, what you said.

[ulm1]

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[skeptoid]

I cannot detect any smidgen of malice in post 29.

It does, however correct an erroneous statement with short, simple explainations and reference links, which is a good thing.

If left standing, the errors will be cited as fact and that will sooner or later cause big problems.