[TheForge] YAK relativity- WAY OT, or not...

[Andy Vida]

Gladish Family wrote:
> 
> >       For a good 20 years I've been thinking these particle physics
> >       d00dz have needed to start from a clean sheet of paper.    Your
> assumptions build your
> >       world.
> 
> I like that last statement! Aint it the truth...
> 
> >Einstein's assumption was that C is the universal
> >       limiting velocity.
> 
> That was the first thing I noticed during my study of special relativity- if
> a light source is moving away from you, then the light emitted that is also
> traveling away from you is moving at more than c relative to you. Duh!

	Another assumption Einstein made was that C is the ULV in ALL
	frames of reference.  It is a natural consquence of assuming
	that there is such a thing as ULV.  There are, in fact, many
	good reasons for assuming this, given other assumptions about
	the NATURE of light and the way in which we perceive it.  If
	the assumption was not so, then the other assumptions would
	lead to some very serious problems in the visual perception
	of objects occupying the same relativistic frames of reference.
	I have not been keeping up with the latest and the greatest as
	I once did (was a physics and engineering major in college),
	but last I knew, nobody has ever occupied a relativistic
	frame with a nearby object, so in my opinion these assumptions
	have not been proven beyond doubt.  All these assumptions
	further assume that the universe and all possible frames of
	reference are built such that human visual perception will
	work correctly within them.  I'm not even begining to be
	convinced of that and remain a perfect skeptic.

> The only thing is that we don't seem to be able to sense the difference.

	yes, and just because we cannot sense a difference it does
	not follow that one doesn't exist.

> Whatever else is going on, only c or less is relevant to our daily
> business...

	I wonder if that is really true anymore. :)

> It's just that bodies seem to develop infinite mass as they approach c,

	Photons don't. :)

> so
> it appears to be an absolute limitation. Again, if a body is moving away
> from me at c minus 1%, and I'm moving away from it at 1 1/2 percent of c,
> then the body is moving faster than light speed. Since all of relativity
> depends upon frames of reference, it could be said that everything is moving
> faster than light all the time. Or is one frame of reference superior to all
> others?  Oh, No, Mr. Hands, my mind won't bend that way!!!!
> 
> I bet I'm not the first person to wonder about this.

	I bet you're right. :)