ELI5: How Do Photons Not Experience Time at Light Speed?
Okay, based on the analysis that the concept of photons not experiencing time is a common point of confusion and ripe for an ELI5-style explanation, here's a content idea:
Content Idea & Scheme:
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Content Idea Title: ELI5: Why Don't Photons Experience Time? (Or: "The Timeless Life of a Light Particle")
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Core Concept to Explain: Time Dilation from Special Relativity. Specifically, as an object with mass approaches the speed of light, time slows down for that object relative to a stationary observer. For a massless photon, which always travels at the speed of light (in a vacuum), this dilation is effectively infinite, meaning no time passes for it from its "point of view" between its emission and absorption.
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Explanation Angle (ELI5 Style - Simple Analogies):
- The Super-Fast Runner Analogy: Imagine you're in a race. The faster you run, the less time the race seems to take for you. Now, imagine you could run infinitely fast—or, in this case, at the ultimate speed limit, the speed of light. For you, the start and finish line would be in the same "moment." You wouldn't experience the journey's duration.
- The "No Internal Clock" Idea: Photons don't have little watches. But if they did, the watch wouldn't tick at all between the moment the photon is created (e.g., by a star) and the moment it's absorbed (e.g., by your eye). For the photon, these two events are simultaneous.
- Focus on Relativity: Emphasize that this is from the photon's (hypothetical) frame of reference. For us, observing the photon, we see it take time to travel (e.g., 8 minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth).
- Addressing the "Incorrectness" mentioned in the comment: Gently clarify that saying "time stops" is a pop-sci simplification. A more accurate way for a slightly more advanced audience (but still simplified) is that the spacetime interval along a photon's path is zero. For ELI5, "no time passes for the photon" is generally an acceptable and understandable simplification.
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Why this is a Potentially Viral Idea:
- Mind-bending Concept: It challenges our everyday intuition about time.
- High Curiosity Factor: People are fascinated by light, speed, and the nature of reality.
- Common Question: As seen in the Reddit post and implied by the previous analysis, many people wonder about this.
- ELI5 Appeal: Simplifies a complex topic, making it accessible and shareable. People love to understand complex things easily.
- Relatability (in a cosmic sense): Everyone experiences light; understanding its weird properties is intriguing.
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Target Audience:
- General Public: Individuals with a casual interest in science, space, and physics.
- Students: High school or early college students encountering concepts of relativity for the first time and looking for intuitive explanations.
- Pop-Science Consumers: People who watch science documentaries or read popular science articles and have encountered this idea.
- Users of platforms like Reddit (r/explainlikeimfive, r/askscience, r/space), YouTube (science channels), Quora, and educational blogs. They are actively seeking explanations for such questions.
Example Content Snippet (for a video or blog post):
"Ever wondered what it's like to be a photon, a tiny particle of light? Imagine you're a photon born from the Sun. You zip through space at the speed of light—the universe's ultimate speed limit. Eight minutes later (for us on Earth), you hit someone's eye.
But for you, the photon? That entire journey, from the Sun to Earth, happened in zero time. It's like you were emitted and absorbed in the exact same instant. Think of it like this: the faster you go, the slower your personal clock ticks compared to everyone else. For a photon, going at light speed, its clock doesn't tick at all. So, from its perspective, it doesn't age and doesn't experience the passage of time. Weird, right? That's Einstein's Special Relativity for you!"
Origin Reddit Post
r/askscience
Can someone explain how photons moving at the speed of light not experiencing time works?
Posted by u/theduckthat3•05/27/2025
I watched some videos where it’s explained how when you move at the speed of light, time stops. For a photon "when it is absorbed through your retina, it was the same instant it was emitted f
Top Comments
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/MsNyara
Photons exist outside of interactions though, they just have no changes to their base properties once emited until they get to step upon something and interact again. That something can be an
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/MsNyara
Simple Answer: The Photon (carrier of the Electromagnetic Force, aka, whose end result is literally all Chemistry) itself experiences no change to itself or by itself (down to what we can mea
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/Open_Abbreviations_6
But doesn’t this mean that photons are always off-shell? This is something that‘s always bothered me. You can write a purely kinetic FF lagrangian and get the photon’s propagator sure. But if
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/ReesMedia
So let's say I'm a photon that is zipping by Earth. What would I see? Would I see the Earth? If time appears stopped from my perspective, would I see the Earth as it was at some point in the
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/ReesMedia
So let's say I'm a photon that is zipping by Earth. What would I see? Would I see the Earth? If time appears stopped from my perspective, would I see the Earth as it was at some point in the
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/ReesMedia
So let's say I'm a photon that is zipping by Earth. What would I see? Would I see the Earth? If time appears stopped from my perspective, would I see the Earth as it was at some point in the
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/ReesMedia
So let's say I'm a photon that is zipping by Earth. What would I see? Would I see the Earth? If time appears stopped from my perspective, would I see the Earth as it was at some point in the
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/ReesMedia
So let's say I'm a photon that is zipping by Earth. What would I see? Would I see the Earth? If time appears stopped from my perspective, would I see the Earth as it was at some point in the
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/Open_Abbreviations_6
But doesn’t this mean that photons are always off-shell? This is something that‘s always bothered me. You can write a purely kinetic FF lagrangian and get the photon’s propagator sure. But if
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/[deleted]
[deleted]
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/marklein
This might help, it helped me. EVERYTHING travels at the speed of causality (better known as the speed of light) through **spacetime**. Even you are moving at the speed of light through space
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/imtoooldforreddit
No, if you were on a spaceship moving very close to c (relative to let's say the sun), you wouldn't notice anything special unless you looked out the window.
Velocities don't add like that.
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/dupe123
What if someone inside the spaceship launched another mini space ship going in the same direction? From their own perspective they are at rest in the big spaceship and the mini spaceship laun
u/Cormacolinde
Imagine an object moving in just 2 dimensions, like on a cartesian field. One of those dimensions (say the horizontal) is spatial and it represents movement through space. The other (vertical
u/shgysk8zer0
It's imperfect, but a simplified way of thinking about it is to also factor in length contraction. Reference frame issues aside, you could think of space as being compressed to a 2D plane ort
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/marklein
One of the many problems with our understanding of the big bang is that when you get pretty close to it time wise, all of our law of physics stop working. Makes it kind of hard to model it or
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/anska1
Photons have no mass at all. And because of that, they always move at the speed of light. No speeding tickets, no slowing down. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the faster someth
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Weed_O_Whirler
Whenever you ask a question like this, you always have to include an additional piece of information: *as measured by whom*.
So, if you are on a spaceship that *I measure as traveling 1 m/s
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/Weed_O_Whirler
I know this is the Brian Greene explanation, and I'm not going to say it's wrong or bad, but I think it can be misleading. The reason I think it's misleading is that a lot of people, upon hea
u/hickoryvine
Thank you! that definitely helped me understand it better
u/cbusalex
From the frame of reference of the outside observer:
- The big ship is moving at c - 1 m/s forward
- The small ship is moving at c - .000001 m/s forward (well, some fraction of a m/s, I didn
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/Rosbj
So if a ship hypothetically managed to travel at let's say 1m/s less than C. Your walking speed inside that shop would be capped at 1m/s?
u/Scottiths
Everything moves through spacetime at C. Think of that as 100. Speed through space plus speed through time will always be equal to 100. If you move at 100 through space you move at zero thr
u/Weed_O_Whirler
This isn't your fault, because it is talked about in the way you describe in a lot of pop-sci writings, but it is incorrect to say that "time stops" for a photon, or that things with a photon
u/WolfOfAsgaard
Thanks that's a helpful way of wording it. I think I understand, but now it has me wondering about time dilation. Does being near something massive 'stretch out' space affecting your travel t
u/goomunchkin
This is a pop-science interpretation and isn’t correct.
The reality is that a photon does not have a valid reference frame. One of the postulates of Special Relativity is that the speed of l
u/tauntaunsrock
Here's my analogy, someone let me know if this is right:
We experience space/time at a certain fixed speed. This speed is shared between space and time. Imagine a slider between space a
u/drunkenbrawler
When you move faster time moves slower for you from an outsider's perspective. If you move close to the speed of light and it would be possible for an outsider to see a clock inside your spac
u/S4R1N
"does this mean that the same photon is existing everywhere at once?"
You might be surprised at just how accurate this statement actually is, it's technically incorrect, but as a tool for he
u/nodddingham
>You would not experience time passing while moving at that theoretical max speed.
Do you mean time would not appear to be passing for you to the observer, but you, who is moving at that
u/KeyboardJustice
You have to remember, the top speed of something leaving the first ship in the forward direction compared to themselves is still c. Same with the backwards direction. That second ship could a
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/saffeqwe
Nobody knows what caused the big bang or what caused the inflation before it, there are no theories about it. We also don't know what a singularity is. We just know that big bang happened
u/MsNyara
Correct. However, mind that for your local frame of experience, you are always experiencing time at the same pace, yes, the slower is for people seeing you from outside your frame of referenc
u/insanityzwolf
When you move relative to another object (say the earth), you perceive that object moving relative to you. Within your frame of reference (say your spaceship), things remain where they are re
u/Italiancrazybread1
We need to measure the speed of an object moving. How do we do so? We choose a frame of reference to measure it, usually another object that is at rest relative to the object, but it doesn't