I guess most people think every object has a certain speed, that speed is like a property of mass.
"this bullet is very fast, it has a speed of 1200 m/s, and thus contains a lot of kinetic energy". Think about it a while longer.
What is your speed?
- When standing still on the ground.
Compared to the ground, your speed is zero.
- When standing still in a train that travels at 100 km/h.
Compared to the train, your speed is zero, but compared to the ground, your speed is 100 km/h.
Do you realize that the earth is rotating around its axe and around the sun and some say the universe is expanding?
So, what is your speed?!
The ground we stand on usually gets zero speed addressed, which is fine, as are most practical things, but it isn't correct assign a speed to an object, because
objects have no speed.
Relative
All speeds are relative, telling us how much the distance between two objects is changing. When two objects move in different directions (with no acceleration), only the space in between the objects is changing shape. During acceleration objects do change shape, but that's an other story.
Fast Air Myth
A popular believe is:
"fast air has less pressure" which makes me laugh and cry at the same time. There is no such thing as fast -or slow- air. This is why so many IFO designs don't fly.
One way to prove my point:
A diamond rocket, flying at a constant speed of say: Mach 12. Inside this diamond rocket is "extremely fast air" (compared to the ambient air), but guess what: the air pressure inside is exactly the same as before the lance; equal to the ambient air.
It's true that a gas-stream can be of lower pressure, but that's an other story.
Kinetic Energy Myth
Kinetic energy is not a property of mass. There's no such thing as for example;
"a fast bullet with a lot of kinetic energy". To start with; there is no such thing as a fast bullet. Two objects that have a space in between that is changing, will both experience change of shape (read: acceleration of mass) when they meet/collide.
Thoughts on objects in space
Everything can/must be questioned.
One atom is a pretty stable dynamic system of energy in space, probably.
Does an atom move through space, or does it travel through space like a wave does through water? In the sea there are no waves of water that move; only the waves move, the water stays at about the same place (making a circular motion as a wave moves through).
If an atom is "motion of space", than empty space must be a kind of fluid without motion.
Objects/atoms could be yet another illusion of the mind. Energy travels through space, sometimes in a path we recognize as objects/atoms. When energy travels in a straight line, we recognize it as light.
While accelerating (or under influence of gravity), the energy path within atoms is forced into another shape. While not accelerating, the atoms are "surfing" through space, like waves "surf" the water. Inertia is; the unwillingness of atoms to accelerate, to changing the path of energy within an atom, this might be what the inertia of atoms is, if you ask me.
Time
A subject worth a
separate page. I have not yet seen any evidence to proof the existence of a past and future. It really is part of the mind and not of reality.
It's energy that makes all move, change shapes. Objects can move from position A to B without the idea of time, never leaving the "now". The energy in a clock moves in a pretty constant fashion, and the change of other movements can be compared to that.
Space in motion
Imagine waking up in a spacecraft, surrounded by only empty space, no stars, no dust, totally empty. What is your speed? No way to tell -right?
Than imagine there suddenly is one other spacecraft moving towards you.
Four options:
- It is moving, you are not.
- You are moving, it is not.
- Both are moving.
- Both are not moving.
The 4th one might be hard to swallow, but it is an option if it can be true that objects don't move; only space (the distance in between) does.
Acceleration & Gravity
When waking up in your spacecraft with all windows closed, how can you tell if you are:
A- standing still on the earth's surface (with 1G of gravity)
B- in space accelerating with 1G towards Mars, or
C- in space de-accelerating with 1G to avoid a crash with Mars?!
Conclusions:
There is no way to tell the difference between gravity, acceleration and de-acceleration. There probably is no difference!
Note: A spinning wheel is in continues acceleration
Collision
If these two spacecraft are each not moving but still on a collision course and crash on impact, how is that to explain if space would be the only thing in motion? Where does the energy come from?
Two atoms can't be at the same place, so a "fight" takes place, a game of power, the faster the collision the more violent the fight, even to the point where the atoms break apart.
What we can observe
- one can measure how the distance in between two objects changes.
- one can not feel or measure the absolute speed of an object.
- one can feel and measure acceleration.
- one can feel and measure spinning mass (= continues acceleration).
- one can not feel or measure the difference between acceleration and de-acceleration.
- one can not feel or measure the difference between acceleration and gravity.
The Speed of light
Light has no speed, nothing has, then.. but.. how..what about the speed of light?
Some say:" to the observer, the speed of light is always constant"
I'm confused.
Light (in a vacuum) travels away from a light source at about 299,792,458 m/s (metres per second), that is: a speed relative to the light source.
The speed of light is normally rounded to 300,000 kilometers per second.
Light travels from the Earth to the moon in 1.28 seconds.
Light travels from the Sun to the Earth in 8.5 minutes.
Light travels from the Sun to Mars in 12.5 minutes.
Light does not seem to accelerate, it just starts at full speed...
Empty or Ether?
It's impossible to tell what relative speed a spacecraft has, when in totally empty space. On board is a hyper efficient reactionless propulsion system, that accelerates the craft with an unhealthy 3 G. After ten years of accelerating, it still is impossible to tell your relative speed, because there still is nothing else out there! Thus: there is no "speed" limit in space.
Or will space at some point give resistance!? Is space "ether" after all? (a kind of fluid, without atoms). If there is a speed limit/barrier, than there's an absolute speed too. (although that will vary depending upon the condition of space)
