Another relative speed and size question

[patricktaylor]

if the universe was the size of my laptop, and i moved my hand over my laptop from one end to the the other in let's say ... 1 second . relative too the universe my hand would have moved millions of times faster than the speed of light. Why is this? is speed relative to size?

 

[HallsofIvy]

if the universe was the size of my laptop, and i moved my hand over my laptop from one end to the the other in let's say ... 1 second . relative too the universe my hand would have moved millions of times faster than the speed of light. Why is this? is speed relative to size?

That just makes no sense. "If the universe was the size of my laptop" then what time would it take light to pass over it? How long is a km in that scale? And are you not part of that universe? If so, you cannot move your hand over it. If not, your speed is not relevant to it.

Going back to your original question, if you were given this as homework, obviously someone expects you to be able to answer it yourself! What course is this for? Do you not know the Lorentz transformation equations or the formula for combining speeds?

 

[patricktaylor]

the point of the question was to see if by me, hypotheticaly being larger than the universe and if you like .. separate from it. Would my finger break the light speed constant as it was passing over the laptop sized universe? even though the speed of my hand would seem slow to me

 

[Gregg]

the point of the question was to see if by me, hypotheticaly being larger than the universe and if you like .. separate from it. Would my finger break the light speed constant as it was passing over the laptop sized universe? even though the speed of my hand would seem slow to me

There are a lot of assumptions there, but the most unreasonable one is that if you were that size then the universe would behave in a way which would not seem strange to you. The OP asked a question about Lorentz transformations and you have hijacked the thread with a philosophical question which is not really related nor is it homework.

 

[patricktaylor]

sorry gregg i don't mean to come over so badly I am not a scientist, I am just interested, and was hoping someone on this forum might be able to explain this in laymans terms. as i am ignorant of the maths behind it . now i get the feeling the question is illogical

 

[Redbelly98]

if the universe was the size of my laptop, and i moved my hand over my laptop from one end to the the other in let's say ... 1 second . relative too the universe my hand would have moved millions of times faster than the speed of light. Why is this? is speed relative to size?

What is the size of your laptop? I'm guessing it is about 1 foot (or about 0.3 meters). So, "if the universe was the size of my laptop" means the same thing as "if the universe was about 1 foot in size".

Passing your hand over this laptop-sized universe in 1 second still means passing your hand over a length of 1 foot in 1 second. That is considerably slower than the speed of light.

Put another way, your argument seems to have the premise "if the universe was it's present size and also 1 foot in length...", and that is a contradiction.

EDIT:
p.s. And I'm not even considering the issue that you, as well as the air, water, and food you need to survive, are somehow magically outside of the universe.

 

[ryanmichaelrey]

It's like having 2 dimensions in 1 universe. First dimension is your larger version, and the other dimension is the minimized universe (based on your statement). Based on the extent of my knowledge, the 2 dimension will have 2 different laws. Light on your dimension will still be faster than you, but the light on the other dimension may be slower than the movement of your hand. I think you're getting the idea that your hand will be faster than the "c" is because you made a computation based on the laws governing the 2nd dimension. Time will also be different in those 2 dimensions.

Well, I hope the next statement will help you think about it. I believe that the mass of an object and the resistance of the object while moving affects the speed. I'm also implying that the smaller the mass, the faster an object can move since there will be less resistance.

 

[Redbelly98]

It's like having 2 dimensions in 1 universe. First dimension is your larger version, and the other dimension is the minimized universe (based on your statement). Based on the extent of my knowledge, the 2 dimension will have 2 different laws.

Since this is not only outside mainstream science, but contradictory to say something is two different sizes, this thread is now closed for discussion.