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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Does time dilation and length contraction apply to light?

« on: 06/04/2024 21:40:07 »

This was inspired a bit by something I had been corrected about earlier. There was a discussion in another thread about black holes where I stated that black hole singularities had infinite density. I was corrected about that assertion in that relativity doesn't predict a density for a singularity (the math doesn't give a number for an answer). I then began to think about my other conceptions regarding relativity...

I had been under the assumption that time is frozen for light because it travels at the speed of light. Likewise, I had assumed that the entire universe was also length contracted to zero along the light's direction of movement, meaning that it was simultaneously at its starting and ending points (thus explaining how it can arrive at its destination despite being frozen in time). Then I took a look at the equations again.

It seems that length contraction doesn't give an answer when the speed is put in as the speed of light. Doing so yields a zero in the denominator, and dividing by zero doesn't give a sensible answer. The same problem pops up with the time dilation equation.

So would it be more correct to say that special relativity doesn't predict the length contraction or time dilation for light? Or am I missing something?

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New Theories / Would this allow for the detection of gravitons?

« on: 31/10/2023 03:58:27 »

Taking a look at what Wikipedia had to say about detecting gravitons, it illustrates a big problem with detecting them if they exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graviton#Experimental_observation

Unambiguous detection of individual gravitons, though not prohibited by any fundamental law, is impossible with any physically reasonable detector.[20] The reason is the extremely low cross section for the interaction of gravitons with matter. For example, a detector with the mass of Jupiter and 100% efficiency, placed in close orbit around a neutron star, would only be expected to observe one graviton every 10 years, even under the most favorable conditions. It would be impossible to discriminate these events from the background of neutrinos, since the dimensions of the required neutrino shield would ensure collapse into a black hole.

I thought of a possible solution and was wondering if it would actually work in principle. It wouldn't be possible with existing technology, but I'm more concerned about possibility than practicality right now.

The idea is to use two micro black holes, perhaps with masses on the order of the Planck mass. Allow them to approach until they form a bound state with their gravity. In this case, their small size makes them behave more like quantum objects than classical ones. Their gravitational attraction thus takes the form of quantized energy levels akin to how electrons occupy quantized energy levels in an atom. In an excited atom, the electron falls from higher energy levels down into lower energy levels by emitting photons (since the system is bound by electromagnetic attraction).

By analogy, the bound black holes fall from higher energy levels down to lower ones by emitting gravitons, as they are bound by gravity. The gravitons should become increasingly energetic as the black holes approach more closely, reaching a peak just before the two holes merge. Since the attractive force between two Planck mass black holes should be immense just before they merge (somewhere on the order of the Planck length), the resulting gravitons should be highly energetic and thus much more easily detected than gravitons from a neutron star. It should also be possible to predict the energy levels and timing of the graviton emission events in advance, allowing experimenters to distinguish such graviton detection from neutrinos.

Since such small black holes are predicted to emit a slurry of other particles in the form of Hawking radiation, I would propose using extremal black holes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremal_black_hole These are predicted to not emit Hawking radiation.

I'm aware that we will not be able to produce Planck mass black holes any time even remotely soon. I'm just wondering if it would work. Some clever scientists will probably find a feasible way to detect gravitons without making micro black holes, rendering my idea moot as a discovery method.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Does helium make all sounds higher pitched?

« on: 03/09/2023 20:29:07 »

We are all familiar with the fact that inhaling helium makes your voice higher pitched. Does it do the same for all sounds travelling through it? If I was in a room filled with helium (while wearing an oxygen mask to avoid asphyxiation, of course), would things like footsteps, creaking doors, shattering glass, etc. sound higher pitched to me?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / How would matter interact with Planck energy photons?

« on: 17/02/2023 17:30:38 »

Something we often hear is that gamma rays can easily penetrate even thick blocks of matter. I assume this is related to their high energy, but also know that absorption of photons is not quite that straightforward (some materials can absorb higher energy ultraviolet light while allowing weaker visible light to get through more easily: some glass, for example).

Now let's consider a black hole in its dying moments as it releases its last burst of Hawking radiation. At this point, the hole has a diameter almost as small as the Planck length and the resulting gamma rays have energies near the Planck energy. Is it safe to assume, because those photons are so many, many orders of magnitude stronger than the gamma rays we normally experience, that they would pass unhindered through any kind of material shielding we could put in place? Would any amount of significant energy be transferred to the material causing it to heat up? The very small size of those photons also makes it seem like the vast majority of them would zip between the electrons and nuclei without hitting anything.

I've also read that gamma rays with an energy higher than the rest mass of two electrons can also transform into an electron-positron pair when interacting with charged particles. Since a Planck energy photon would have an energy much, much higher than any known particle mass, that seems like it should be able to change into any kind of particle. Would that increase the odds of interacting with the blocking material?

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Physiology & Medicine / MOVED: True Telepathy

« on: 17/11/2022 05:58:34 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=85800.0

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / What would the implications for relativity be if the Australian dipole is real?

« on: 08/11/2022 05:47:11 »

For those who are unaware, the Australian dipole is the reported measurement that the fine-structure constant varies from one part of the Universe to another: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant#Spatial_variation_%E2%80%93_Australian_dipole

The results have not been confirmed, as some attempts to look for such a variation have failed to find it. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the dipole really is there. Wouldn't this be a potential method to determine objectively whether one is moving or is sitting still? If you had a very precise experiment aboard a spacecraft that was capable of continuously measuring the local value of the fine-structure constant, wouldn't a moving spacecraft measure a changing constant while a stationary one would not?

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: A Proposed Experimental Test of My Gravitational Time Dilation Equation

« on: 23/10/2022 02:05:13 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=85706.0

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is the inverse square law only approximately correct in general relativity?

« on: 20/06/2022 03:06:27 »

The inverse square law (whether related to gravitational field strength or electromagnetic radiation flux) seems to be derived from the mathematical relations of Euclidean (flat) space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law#/media/File:Inverse_square_law.svg

In accordance with general relativity, the space near a massive body isn't perfectly Euclidean. Does this mean that the inverse square law is only an idealized approximation and might fail to produce accurate calculations under certain circumstances, such as those close to black holes?

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General Science / MOVED: Black Holes are Probably Wrong?

« on: 20/02/2022 17:59:52 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=84164.0

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General Science / MOVED: Hey everyone nice forum :)

« on: 21/01/2022 19:21:55 »

This topic has been moved to Just Chat!.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=83906.0

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Guest Book / MOVED: Father of the new ID.. Discoverer

« on: 15/01/2022 05:27:36 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=83837.0

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General Science / MOVED: Have a nice day!

« on: 15/09/2021 21:27:54 »

This topic has been moved to Just Chat!.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=83073.0

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General Science / MOVED: Is light real?

« on: 27/08/2021 17:03:44 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82956.0

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New Theories / MOVED: Big Bang Theory - How the BBT really works?

« on: 06/07/2021 14:57:48 »

This topic has been moved to That CAN'T be true!.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=80881.0

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: A flat earther explores an interesting concept for his next youtube video

« on: 02/07/2021 21:17:12 »

This topic has been moved to Just Chat!.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82603.0

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General Science / MOVED: I am the new girl

« on: 11/06/2021 21:00:39 »

This topic has been moved to Guest Book.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82451.0

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: Is the phenomenon of dark matter so mysterious?

« on: 27/05/2021 16:49:00 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82360.0

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: Einstein, Relativity and light:

« on: 14/05/2021 07:04:31 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82300.0

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COVID-19 / MOVED: Misinformation about COVID vaccines.

« on: 13/05/2021 06:10:12 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82292.0

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: Could we simplify the grand unified theory

« on: 10/05/2021 19:52:47 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82282.0