Obviously theoretical but if I took a light year long stick and say pushed a button at the other end would that button be pushed at the same time for me as say someone standing at the button? How does the frame of reference work when physically moving something? And could that “work” as a method of instant communication?
In: Planetary Science
Others have left fantastic answers, but in case you’re thinking, “Well what happens if after the time it takes for the other end to start moving it, I spin it around until the tip is moving in a circle faster than the speed of light?”…
The only reason your stick is one solid object is that force-carrying particles between the atoms are “communicating” their connection to each other at the speed of light. The atom is stuck to the atom next to it because of a force that moves that fast. Even if we ignored everything else and you *could* rotate the stick quickly enough, what would happen is that the atoms at the end of the stick would “forget” that they were attached to the rest of the stick because that force can’t convey that fast. The stick would fall apart at the end, no matter what it was made out of.
Latest Answers