Thread: Which is faster?

Originally Posted by Neruo

Gravity is like hitscan shit, man.

It works 'right away', riiight?

You'd think so but if a massive object were to suddenly appear, there would have to be a finite propagation time from appearance till when the full strength of the "field" takes effect or reaches its full extended distance. If that makes any sense.

(I didn't read the entire thread so pardon me if that's already been mentioned, disputed, whatever.)

I haven't read the replies too carefully but guys, nothing travels faster than the speed of light. Nada. Zip.

The reason why light cannot escape black holes is because of the immense gravitational pull. A black hole basically bends the fabric of the universe. But you cannot conclude from that that the pull of gravity is faster.

By the way Wikipedia has been shown to have false information on many occasions. Which is disconcerting.

If you want to know more about the speed of light and why it's the fastest, go read Stephen Hawkings. If not that then any credible textbook will do.

well , i have the belief that gravity is a force reather than a particle.
Its not that it travels faster , but rather its always here.
Even the furthest particle in our galaxy has a gravity field that it even reach us.
But its such a infinite tiny force that we cannot feel or measure by any means.
There is already an algorythm to find the gravity field of every object.

Imagine space being a blanket.
If you instanteniously put a rock on the blanket , it will instanteniously affect all the blanket no matter the dinstance.

I've read that in quantum physic gravity can be explained better if we imagine this force as particles , called gravitons. But its not that they are measured yet. Gravity still is the most peculiar force for the scientists.

EDIT: oh , and about wormholes.

Speed is said to equals distance/time. In a wormhole the distance between 2 points is 0 , so you can't really measure the speed there. Its just that , there is no distance to measure. How can you measure your speed if you are standing still? O>O

Gravity can cause things to go faster I believe. If there is a black hole, would light speed up as it is getting pulled into the black hole like everything else? If that is true, doesn't that mean that light can go faster than the speed of light? I have no idea whether I am right or not, it is just my theory.

If gravity waves move at the speed of light, and gravity is merely a stretch in the fabric of space/time, then does this mean space/time cannot move faster than light? That is, the you cannot overcome the light barrier by moving space/time rather than yourself? Or was this idea already rubbish anyway?

Originally Posted by RedfishBluefish

If gravity waves move at the speed of light, and gravity is merely a stretch in the fabric of space/time, then does this mean space/time cannot move faster than light? That is, the you cannot overcome the light barrier by moving space/time rather than yourself? Or was this idea already rubbish anyway?

Yes, I think that thoretically they want to create the warp-drive. Which bends space and goes way faster than light. I'm no scientist, but I think it has something to do with the casimir effect, quantum vacum, zero point energy...?

Edit: I searched a bit and I found an article on NASAs website :http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/research/warp/warp.html

Originally Posted by RedfishBluefish

... then does this mean space/time cannot move faster than light?

Who said time moves? We're the ones that move through time. Therefore I deduct time is stationary.:p

Originally Posted by Harrycombs

Gravity can cause things to go faster I believe. If there is a black hole, would light speed up as it is getting pulled into the black hole like everything else? If that is true, doesn't that mean that light can go faster than the speed of light? I have no idea whether I am right or not, it is just my theory.

Light doesn't speed up upon entering a black hole. A black hole bends the fabric of the universe and all light is doing is traveling along that fabric, same speed as always.

i know this is a bvit off topic but is it true, though of course it is theory, that it takes a infinite amount of time to actually go through the blackhole. I cant remember if this is for those not in the blackhole watching you going closer to the centre or you yourself. Because supposidly time slows down the closer you get.

Sorry if its hard to understand what im saying, im not sure how to word it, just that from some point of view it takes infinite to actually go into it, your just always circling it.

Yeah you're right! Someone watching you from say Earth would spend their whole life seeing you move some tiny amount, but as far as you (the black hole traveler) were concerned, it would have happened very quickly.

I don't think this should be in the philosophy section.

The speed of gravity has been calculated and has been found to be equal to the speed of light. The idea was first posed by Einstein in his theory of general relativity and tested and verified by Ed Fomalont of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Short article on the subject.