Thursday, July 14, 2005

 

Mind-boggling concept of special relativity!

Uncle Bob, one of my favorite software authors, is also a science enthusiast. He writes about how special relativity says that one is always traveling at a velocity of the speed of light (C). This is startling at first. If one is sitting at one place, is he traveling at the velocity of light? The idea is to consider space and time as different dimensions. So one's velocity in the universe is one's velocity through space and one's velocity through time. Through an equation called the Lorentz transformation, we can arrive at an equation which is like this(for the derivation, see the link to the article above):

C^2 = (CT)^2 + V^2

C = velocity of light
T = coefficient of velocity through the time dimension
so CT = velocity through the time dimension
V = velocity through the space dimension

Now since the velocity of light is constant, this means that the vector sum of our velocity through space and velocity through time is also constant. This brings us to a mind-boggling conclusion. If I am sitting still (my V = 0), then to a stationary observer near me, I am traveling through the time dimension at the velocity of light. If I get up and walk (my V > 0) then to the stationary observer beside me, my velocity through the time dimension decreases slightly below the velocity of light. To me however, even when I get up and walk, my velocity through space is zero relative to myself. So as far as I am concerned, my velocity through time is still the speed of light.

Lets take this further. Lets say my stationary observer sees me moving at the speed of light. Then to him, my velocity through time is zero. This means if he records my time at the start and the finish, he will see that no time has passed! So no matter how much I travel through space, he will always record my start and end times as the same! Again, relative to myself I am at a zero velocity through space. If I see my start and end times on my watch, they will be different!

So then what happens if, according to my poor startled stationary observer I start moving at a speed faster than light through space? Then according to him, I will start my journey now and end it a few minutes earlier! Meaning I would have traveled backwards through time! And of course, if you ask me, everything is still perfectly normal since I am at a velocity of zero through space.

Mind-boggling, isn't it??

Comments:
Mind-boggling, isn't it??

It certainly is.

Nice writing. Reminds me of the Chandu I knew.

I hope that you are having a ball.

Aneja
Fellow Basti-wallah
Class of 1996, ME
 
Hey Aneja,
great to hear from you! Where are you now? I am in Rochester, working as an IT consultant. Hope to get in touch...leave me a contact email if you can.
 
Hey Chandu,

You can reach me at rakesh_aneja@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

I am in the Motor City area, still close to core mechanical engineering, believe it or not. Awright, awright, you can save your applause till when we meet. :)

So, Rochester, NY, I take it? I used to visit the Buffalo and Rochester area all the time. My brother and his girlfriend spent a few years there. This was several years back though.

Take care and talk to you soon.
Aneja.
 
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