Originally posted by Pragmatist:
Dehammer,
You state that speed is independent of a frame of
reference and then proceed to create one.
no, i was demonstraiting the point. two different observers see the things differently due to the effect the speed has. speed itself is not dependent on the frame of reference,
Yes -Standstill relative to????
compaired to speed of light the stars are practically motionless.
the speed of light though a vaccuum is a constant, that makes it something that can be used as a frame of reference anywhere.
Yes, the observer is important.
The observer would also see you as foreshortened
in the direction of travel which impacts your
measurement of 'C` from your point of abservation.
The point is that 'C` , Distance/Time is a
constant for each observer. You can't separate
the two.
You're trying to mix the observations of different
observers indiscriminantly.
Pick a frame and stick to it, then normalize
the observations from different frames to
your chosen frame.
To understand, you must consider this subject in
terms of space/time.
If you try to think in terms of space or time
alone you're apt to fall into error.
they time distance is constant, but your ability to observer it is diminished as time is compressed. on the other hand light moving away from you is not moving away as fast due to the fact that you are almost the same speed.
let me us a different analagy.
two observers see a train pass a crossing. the train blast the whistle as required.
one observer on the ground near the hears the whistle. as the train approaches the sound is higher due to the fact that sound travels though air at a given pressure and tempature at a constant speed. as the train passes the sound pitch drops. niether the pitch that was heard prior to or after the train passes are the same sound that the person in the train hears. if the train stops and whistles, it will make the same sound as the person in the train heard, but not either of the pitch heard by the one on the ground.
the person on a starship traveling just below the speed of light will have his time streached out as he approaches. the light leaving his ship will be moving away at a matter of a few miles per hour difference. (the speed of light will be the same, but the difference between it and the speed of the ship will be small). but since his ability to see the time in reference to the light, has been slowed, it will appear to be the same as normal.
to the outside observer, who is not moving realitive to light, will see the person in the ship compressed and motionless. he will also see that light is still moving the same speed, and will see the ship is just slightly less than light.
