Slaver stasis fields

"T" <tberk DeleteThis @sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:Purec.36047$C_.22551@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com...
 >
 > Yeah, thx for playing along BUT the real story is the 4 Light Year*
long
 > Slaver Stasis Field enclosed (oh lets make it Lucite) rod.
 >
 > Lets see, light travels 5,865,696,000,000 miles in a terrestrial year,
 > So (4 x 5,865,696,000,000) =
 >
 > 23,462,784,000,000 Miles long. Yikes!
 >
 > So, does motion on one end instantly translate at the other end? If
not,
 > why not? If so, why so?

My understanding of relativity is that it would not, *in the real
world*. In Niven's Known Space, who knows? It might work, because it's
established that they have faster-than-light, and that throws *our*
science into a tailspin.

In the real world, propogation effects come into play. Atom (or
molecule, or whatever unit you choose) X+1 cannot move until moved by
Atom X.

It's like the balls in that swing toy with a bunch of balls hanging on
string. The first one hits the second, the second hits the third, and
eventually the end of the string is hit, and goes caromming out.

In no case (as far as we know) can *any* message travel faster than the
speed of light, therefore, the message "The rod is moving" cannot move
faster than that to the end. It might travel at the speed of light, but
cannot travel faster. It would take four years (or longer, possibly much
longer) for the message to reach the end.

Have a great day!

Ernest
_____________________
"In the begining there was nothing, then God said, "Let there be
light"... and there was still nothing, but you could see it."<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->

<< From: "Allen W. McDonnell" tanada.RemoveThis@provide.net >>


<< I thought you were using your cardboard office moduales inside the framework
of the stasis piping, then when the earthquake happens your stasis office
modules bump hard on the stasis building frame and whoops, there goes
another building! >>

Oh. Yeah, that would happen, if you buy the man/kzin collision bit, which I
don't. Another problem with that is it would render stasis fields useless in
battle, when all the enemy has to do is shoot cue balls in stasis (which would
be a pretty good weapon anyway) at you.