Take two flashlights. Hold one in your left hand and hold one in your right hand. Hold your arms straight out so that the flashlights are aiming in opposite directions, and turn them both on simultaneously.Light streams out from the flashlights at the speed of, well, light. Now, ask yourself this: what is the speed that the photons are moving away from each other?
According to Einstein, nothing can be faster than the speed of light. But the answer to the question above, obviously, is that they are moving apart from each other as twice the speed of light.
This leads to several possible conclusions:
1. Einstein was wrong.
2. By spooky action, the photons know they're being compared to each other, and thus slow down to at least half the speed of light so as not to violate the cosmic speed limit.
3. Space and time are curved, so that while from our infinitesimally small perspective, it appears that the photons are moving apart from each other, they're actually running in parallel.
4. Space and time are not curved, but by spooky action space and time become aware that the photons are moving apart from each other, and they bend to accommodate the cosmic speed limit.
5. There are no flashlights. There is no light and no speed of light; thus, there is no limit to the speed of light. There is no one to observe the speed of light. There is only mind.
2 comments:
what is the sound of an aged headless physicist groping about on the floor to find the pieces of his head, which has just exploded?
Never thought of this... but if you have two flashlights, then the light is still moving at the speed of light, even though the distance they are moving away from each other is double it.
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