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Pipe_Dry t1_j0gs6t0 wrote

I remember when I was in the eighth grade, thinking about how I could defy the speed of light. Why not take scissors as long as the distance between the Earth and the sun and attempt to close them. The arc that would be produced would exceed the speed of light. I’m sure most preadolescents interested in science contemplated this. Even if you could produce a material, that could take such a force the amount of energy capable of swinging the arms would probably exceed the output of the sun. After that exercise, I went back to thinking about why I just got a D on my algebra test.

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Chemomechanics t1_j0icfp0 wrote

The scissors example is particularly interesting (relative to the thought experiment of pushing a long rod) because no part of the scissors can move faster than light, and the mechanical wave that causes the scissors to close can't move faster than light, but the point of first intersection or overlap between the two blades (i.e., the point where cutting starts with ordinary scissors) can move faster than light. There's no object corresponding to that point, just a geometrical abstraction.

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linkjo100 t1_j0hfquj wrote

The premise is flawed. You are assuming that the information between each atoms is instantaneous which it’s not.

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avian_aficianado t1_j0ly7wp wrote

The propogated acceleration outputs between electromagnetic forces of the superliminal scissors atoms would degrade before the point of intersection( The energy needed to accelerate anything to light speed is infinite, but the amount of energy needed to break a particular thing is finite.)This entire thought expirement is contingent on infinite energy being available, however, and the amount of paradoxes that woud arise must be considered. Time dilation and the asynchronization between the inertial frames would affect the time flow frame as well.

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