h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This makes it all clear to me now! Well done Arnia
shazz

Thanks

I hope to get a few more through

YES!!
Great job on that one, you took a hugely difficult subject and made it easy for people to understand, just as Einstein himself intended with the book that he wrote about it. In order for people to understand something, it must interest them...
Bravo.

*blushes*

Thanks

Any ideas for other topics in physics, maths or chemistry to cover?

hmm..... How about Space-Time?
It seems relevent.

Might be interesting though... do you know the current queue time for approved entries?

To answer the above question: A LOT!

The actual theory of relativity isn't E=mc(little 2), it's (approximately..., I don't have any greek letter keys on me):

R{subscript(mu)(eta)}-0.5g{subscript(mu)(eta)}R=-kT{subscript(mu)(eta)}
Or something...

the left hand side is, frankly, brilliant, but the right leaves much to be desired.

I know it is more complicated than what I quoted... I just used the bit everyone knows and which is used in A level physics.

Joe aka Arnia

Relative fishies

If you want to know more, I suggest you read Relativity, by Max Born. It's really detailed and confusing, Good fun for people like me

I appreciate the definition of relativistic velocity. The phrase comes from the theory and therefor become a null phrase - cyclic references are kind of like that. Anyway I kind of thought relativistic velocity was a measurement of how quickly long lost 'relatives' show up after you win the lottery.
Who know which is faster.

P.S I would appreciate some direction back to the page that shows how to make those smiley faces and such. Thanks.

Hey!!!!! YOU!!!!!!!

Ok, remove the spaces to make these work.

: - ) is

: - ( is

; - ) is

8 - ) is

> < > is

Thanks and...

Have a good one.

No problem

Hello again.
I was just wondering if anyone knows *WHY* nothing can go faster than light. I mean light is only an energy, not some amazingly special law of physics (well it is, but you know what I mean).
Oh, and on the topic of new topics, can I just mention here that you can't write about Infinity, because I'm the master of that topic!
- BigC

Light has no rest mass... its speed is defined by the permiability of the vacuum and hence by a fixed quality of spacetime.

Its because it has no rest mass that it is only limited by the Permiability of Vacuum

At least... I think so

I'm pretty sure that according to Einstien's equations, that it takes an infinite amount of energy to reach the speed of light. And that can't happen.

Theoretically of course

Ah yes, but if, say, a torch was flashed once, the energy that it travels at is itself, which is finite. but the speed it travels at is 'the speed of light', so it doesn't have to be infinite.

It takes an infinite amount of energy for a body with rest mass to accelerate to and hold at the speed of light... you can, however, quantum tunnel past the speed of light and then it takes an infinite amount of energy to slow down to c

As tardyons lose energy they slow down, as tachyons lose energy they speed up

Erm...tardy & tachy, eh? Riiiiiight...
Anyway, if you were to check out my article on Infinity, which isn't finished yet so I won't give you a link, you'll find that, with infinite dimensions, at least one (therefor infinite) has to have a different speed of light. So *all* we need to do is get into that other dimension, and work our way to the speed of light, and beyond!
Sorry, you won't understand that, because you need to read my article.

I also know that the universe is unbounded but finite so there isn't a chance of that.