I have been journaling lately about the whole speed of light barrier to travel and Einstein relativity issue. I like to dabble with physics and find the philosophy of science to be fascinating. Or rather the epistemology of it. So here’s the basic problem that I have been wrestling with. To every observer, no matter how fast they are traveling, the speed of light is a constant 300,000 km/h. It is also impossible for one to accelerate to the speed of light, because doing so would require an infinite amount of energy, hence the impossibility. The hitch comes from the fact that no matter how fast I am going, the speed of light will always be 300,000 km/h faster.
I suppose that I am missing a formulation, however, one of Einstein’s main points was that there was no absolute reference system. Thus, as I observe a ship accelerating away from me, can I say that it will never reach 300,000 km/h in reference to my system? Where does the reference system for the speed of light come from?
The earth is traveling through space at a decent rate of speed. So actually, if we use the center of our movement as the reference system, then the ship cannot even travel near the speed of light, but this is applying an absolute reference system. The ship can claim that it is we who are accelerating away, and that our speed is approaching that of light.
There is a whole distance and time dilation issue that also plays into this. Hence as I move faster, the distance of my frame of reference increases, and time slows down. I can’t help but wonder if we are inadvertently using an absolute frame of reference in order to make these statements. If I think of a ship traveling at half the speed of light, relative to the earth, as it swoops by, if I look in I should see the people moving very slowly, and conversely according to the twin paradox, they should see me moving very quickly. But relative to the ship, if it sees the earth swoop by, would they see me moving really fast. (In the biography of Einstein recently released, the nature of the refernce system is determined by the space ships necessity to slow down and accelerate again. Even in this case, it seems suspect to me in a logical way.)
I suppose this will merely be amusing to someone more conversant with the theories than I. Unfortunately, I allowed my dislike for high school teachers to deter me from completing the math track, and I did not pursue it in college. Eventually I will get around to it. (Math teachers and I can be fundamentally at odds in some cases. I refuse to believe in things like subtraction and division, and do not consider math to be absolute, rather a language like all others, evolving to suit the needs of what it expresses. I believe that the critical mistake of modern science is the comforting, but dangerous trust placed in the ability of math to accurately describe the universe. So, you may understand why math wasn’t my best subject.)
