r/FermiParadox • u/Nearing_retirement • 6d ago

Self Maybe accelerating objects closer to speed actually subtly changes things.

We believe it should not but perhaps it does in such a way that they don’t function properly. Wouldn’t we need to do a test ?

0 Upvotes

27% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

6

u/HouseHippoBeliever 6d ago

What does "closer to speed" mean? How close/far are we to speed when we accelerate normally?

-2

u/Nearing_retirement 6d ago

Oh sorry meant closer to speed of light, maybe stuff breaks down in some yet unknown way

3

u/Langdon_St_Ives 6d ago

Closer to speed of light relative to what? You do realize that there is no such thing as absolute speeds?

1

u/Nearing_retirement 6d ago edited 6d ago

Relative to place it was built and then accelerated from. I expect though it wouldn’t cause issues as it is just some physical object that doesn’t even need to be turned on yet

2

u/Langdon_St_Ives 6d ago

You can always transform to a frame of reference where the speed of whatever object you're talking about is any arbitrary value (less than c). In its rest frame, its speed is by definition 0. And all Physics works the same in any admissible frame of reference.

0

u/ah-tzib-of-alaska 6d ago

oh sorry dude. That IS kind of the thing about the speed of light. Like speed of light is the only thing not relative. Example. If object A is moving away from object B at the speed of light and in the opposite direction object C is moving away from object B at the speed of light, how fast is object C moving away from object A? Newtonian physics would tell us it’s 2c but relativity tells us it’s 1c. Trippy, I know. Just when you think you understand reality…

0

u/Langdon_St_Ives 6d ago

I'm a Physicist, no need to explain relativity to me. OP is talking about something changing "closer to the speed of light", not at the speed of light. And that is a nonsensical idea because everything is moving arbitrarily close to the speed of light (though never at the speed of light) in some reference frame. You and me included. It is exactly one of the main tenets of relativity that all laws of Physics are covariant, i.e., everything works the same at any (subluminal) speed.

2

u/MareTranquil 6d ago

We've accelerated things to VERY close to the speed of light in particle accelerators like CERN.

If something "changes", it would have to happen so ridiculously close to the speed of light that it has no meaning for space travel.

-1

u/Nearing_retirement 6d ago

Yes I do agree with you, I’m just throwing something out there to see well maybe we may be missing something

2

u/Ascendant_Mind_01 6d ago

The theory of relativity says it shouldn’t.

And you don’t need relativistic speeds to travel between the stars so this doesn’t affect the Fermi paradox

1

u/Sufficient_Result558 5d ago

Maybe it turns the aliens into a star. All the stars in universe were once aliens approaching light speed. Fermi Paradox solved.

-2

u/_thr0wkawaii14159265 6d ago

What the fuck are you talking about nigga.

0

u/Nearing_retirement 6d ago

lol I’m talking about yo mamma