On 29 Mar 2006 03:02:30 -0800, in uk.sci.astronomy , "Martin Brown"
wrote:

See the Relativity Physics FAQ for details:

indeed.

http://jcbmac.chem.brown.edu/scissor...lativity/relSc...

And note this part:
"We have mistakenly assumed that the scissors do in fact close when
you close the handle. "
...
".The point at which the blades bend propagates down the blade at some
speed less than the speed of light."

Clearly you did not read the caveat underneath that explained how to
make a proper superluminal pair of scissors where the blade crossing
point does move at a speed greater than c.

Clearly, you didn't understand it (and I suspect that whoever wrote it
didn't fully, either, or at least wasn't able to explain to
themselves). The 'length' of such scissors would have to be
infinitesimal. By that stage, other problems will appear.

As I pointed out the
technical issues with pivotted scissors can be neatly circumvented by
using a drop blade guillotine.

Nope. You can't get round SR.
Mark McIntyre
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