If you spin a propellor...

Squark said:
Which part of the propeller? Are you talking tip speed?
In order for the whole propeller area to be spinning faster than c, the tip speed would have to exceed c
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Well, what about spinning a Zoopraxiscope at the speed of light, would you see anything?

For the propellor thing, i think you would see a greyish circle. Some light would get through and some would be blocked.
If you have a propellor spinning very slowly and you throw something at it at the same speed, will it go through? Sometimes, and sometimes not.
So if you scale up the speeds of both things to the speed of light, you would still get the same effect?
 
Squark said:
Which part of the propeller? Are you talking tip speed?

In order for the whole propeller area to be spinning faster than c, the tip speed would have to exceed c
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But time would be distorted, so even though it is (lets say twice as fast at the tip)

You cant go 2x light so therefore time runs twice as fast on the tip..

(but is gradual)

so all places are moving at the speed of light...

bingo
 
What about the humans natural ability to see something move that fast?
They already move fast enough to seem near invisible.
 
ChrisJSY said:
What about the humans natural ability to see something move that fast?
They already move fast enough to seem near invisible.
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Hmmmmm.
We can see light. Which usually moves at a speed close to c.
But that may be different? I dont know if you can see things which are moving at the speed of light.
 
at this moment in time we have no answer to some questions,,, so 2x the speed of light might be possible,, just becuase we have not observed it does not mean it does not exist. and the speed is relative to position ? so at the tip it might seem that one is only travelling at the speed of light whereas to observers one would 2x the speed of light.
 
Bennie-Mac said:
I assume if you spun a propeller at the speed of light, it would fly away.
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Ha ha, it'd take whatever its attached to as well.

If the propeller was spinning at the speed af light and it started moving would it move at the speed of light and would you be able to see it?
 
Danm54 said:
Ha ha, it'd take whatever its attached to as well.
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That's another interesting question.
Would it actually give that much power if it was spinning so fast?
I suspect there is an optimum rpm for a propellor and it would be far less powerfull spinning at the speed of light.
 
touch said:
That's another interesting question.
Would it actually give that much power if it was spinning so fast?
I suspect there is an optimum rpm for a propellor and it would be far less powerfull spinning at the speed of light.
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Either way, it'd make a great case fan.....
 
touch said:
Hmmmmm.
We can see light. Which usually moves at a speed close to c.
But that may be different? I dont know if you can see things which are moving at the speed of light.
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Doesn't matter at what speed it's moving at as long as it's in the humans eye refresh frame. We see at 60fps, so if it appears in one of those it could be seen.
 
Stupot_ said:
Yeh light would get through. At a point in time, there will be light travelling through the gaps in the props, and light hitting the props. regardless of how fast they're spinning.

Maybe compare it to sound waves. propellor spinning at the speed of sound - can sound get through?

Also.... If the tips of the blades are spinning at the speed of light, then the centre of the propellor would be going slower, and stuff could definately get through... If the centre was going at the speed of light, then the tips would be exceeding it.. no? Which cant happen.

I reckon.
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Erm the whole thing would spin the same speed!! the edges of a circle do not spin faster than the centre if that was the case cd's wouldn't work
 
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