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'We have broken speed of light'
Telegraph ^ | 8/16/07 | Nick Fleming

Posted on 08/16/2007 10:15:43 AM PDT by LibWhacker

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.

However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.

For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."


TOPICS: Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alfonsstahlhofen; alternateuniverses; broken; burnthematthestake; einstein; germany; gettheattackdogs; grammarpolice; gunternimtz; hisneighborswiestein; hyperdrive; koblenz; light; makeitso; mtheory; nimtz; paralleluniverses; quantummechanics; relativity; speed; stringtheory; torchesandpitchforks; warp; warpdrive; warpspeed
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To: wolfinator
Do photons have mass?

No. Photons are Baptists.

61 posted on 08/16/2007 10:31:01 AM PDT by Dr._Joseph_Warren
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To: 1L

E=MC^2......


62 posted on 08/16/2007 10:31:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (All I know about Minnesota, I learned from Garrison Keilor..................)
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To: TommyDale
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
63 posted on 08/16/2007 10:31:31 AM PDT by TommyDale (Never forget the Republicans who voted for illegal immigrant amnesty in 2007!)
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To: RightWhale

Explain, please?

Einstein was wrong? Misinterpreted? Lied?


64 posted on 08/16/2007 10:31:41 AM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Crom! Non-Sequitur = Pee Wee Herman.)
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To: COBOL2Java
"The other day I put instant coffee in my microwave oven ... I almost went back in time ..."
- Steven Wright

I bought some powdered water, but I didn't know what to add.

65 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:05 AM PDT by GunRunner (Come on Fred, how long are you going to wait?)
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To: LibWhacker

Make it so!

66 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:08 AM PDT by Andy from Beaverton (I'm so anti-pc, I use a Mac)
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To: Clump
The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

This is many decades old. Einstein coined the phrase I used in post#3. Some textbooks describing this phenomenon have since decayed from age no doubt. This is not news. Peculiar, but nothing new.
67 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:08 AM PDT by kinoxi
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To: wolfinator
Do photons have mass?

I'm pretty sure they don't, which makes the E=MC^2 equation irrelevant here. The whole basis for saying that nothing can travel faster than light is assuming that thing has mass.

68 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:11 AM PDT by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: RayStacy
Wow! That’s almost as fast as Teddy Kennedy driving off a bridge.
69 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:31 AM PDT by TYVets (God so loved the world he didn't send a committee)
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To: TommyDale

Hogwash, I agree....See my post #51....


70 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:47 AM PDT by Red Badger (All I know about Minnesota, I learned from Garrison Keilor..................)
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To: LibWhacker
Yeah, and I'll still have someone tailgating me!
71 posted on 08/16/2007 10:32:49 AM PDT by ditto h
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To: agere_contra

Aye. Gravity is faster than the speed of Light in a vac.


72 posted on 08/16/2007 10:33:08 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: mnehrling
ocated at two places at the same time- quantum physics says this is a possibility

But never at the same place at the same time.

73 posted on 08/16/2007 10:33:24 AM PDT by numberonepal (Don't Even Think About Treading On Me)
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To: mnehrling
I wonder the photon traveled between the two prisms or if it was in both prisms at the same time (ie, located at two places at the same time- quantum physics says this is a possibility.)

You are correct. The photon would have to be in the second prism before the photon left the first prism. I do not think it could be physically measured.

74 posted on 08/16/2007 10:33:27 AM PDT by From One - Many (Trust the Old Media At Your Own Risk)
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To: mnehrling

Sounds more like teleportation.


75 posted on 08/16/2007 10:33:35 AM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Crom! Non-Sequitur = Pee Wee Herman.)
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To: agere_contra

I thought the speed of gravity was C plus or minus 1 percent?


76 posted on 08/16/2007 10:33:56 AM PDT by camerakid400
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To: traderrob6
So smart yet he can’t master elementary grammar.

Yes, I thought every German knew the verb at the end to put.

77 posted on 08/16/2007 10:34:19 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: Red Badger

Even assuming light hits the second site first, at only 3 feet apart there is room for error in calculations. Sort of hard to believe that they could measure so accurately at 3 feet.


78 posted on 08/16/2007 10:34:30 AM PDT by TommyDale (Never forget the Republicans who voted for illegal immigrant amnesty in 2007!)
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To: LibWhacker

At that speed won’t you overdrive your headlights?/snicker.


79 posted on 08/16/2007 10:34:31 AM PDT by lexington minuteman 1775
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To: camerakid400

You can’t see it — it was black light.


80 posted on 08/16/2007 10:34:52 AM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Crom! Non-Sequitur = Pee Wee Herman.)
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