On 12-10-11 18:13 , David Spain wrote:
I haven't studied this to any great detail so I'll admit right up front
I could be missing something here, but the idea of an infinite speed
limit between two objects in motion relative to each other does appear
to be in conflict with the physics I was taught.

Mathematically you can postulate almost anything. In the real physical
universe, unless theory (well established theory, backed up by
experiment) is wrong, what I was taught is that two objects in motion
relative to each other will observe red-shift or blue-shift depending on
direction of travel (either away from or towards). The closer the delta
speed approaches 'c' the more severe the shift. To the point where very
near 'c' essentially the objects become invisible to each other due to
the shift.

Well, there seems to be no reason why such invisibility should be
impossible.

The explanation for the lightspeed limit that I was taught is that two
observers moving with a relative velocity larger than lightspeed could
disagree on the order of events that they both observe. This would mean
that while one observer would see that dropping an egg from your hand is
followed by the egg smashing on the floor, the other observer would see
the egg magically reassembling itself on the floor and then levitating
to meet your hand. Since special relativity postulates that all
observers are equivalent in that they see the same physics, including
causality, this would be a contradiction.

So far special (and general) relativity agree with observations (I'm
told) so there you are. But I'm not sure if this really proves that the
equivalence postulate is true, always and everywhere.

--
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
. @ .