Astronomy Without A Telescope

Is it ever possible to find yourself in a situation where you see the hands of a clock freeze? Nnnnnnnnnn….

There is a story told about traveling at the speed of light in which you are asked to imagine that you begin by standing in front of a big clock – like Big Ben. You realize that your current perception of time is being informed by light reflected off the face of the clock – which is telling you it’s 12:00. So if you then shoot away at the same speed as that light – all you will continue to see is that clock fixed at 12:00, since you are moving at the same speed that this information is moving. And so you discover that at the speed of light, time essentially stands still.

While there are a number of things wrong with this story – as it happens, one correct thing is that if you were able to travel at the speed of light you would experience no passage of time – although there are several reasons why this is probably an impossible situation to find yourself in.(…) Read the rest of Astronomy Without A Telescope – Time Freeze (578 words)

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(C) Steve Nerlich for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post

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