- #1
Chen
- 977
- 1
Ok, I'm currently reading a book about VSL and it mentions relativity at the beginning, and while reading I couldn't help but wonder something... in a nutshell it says that since light has a finite speed (and not infinite), time must be relative. It gives the example of how when cows who stand by an electric fence jump back from it as soon as it was activated, it looks different from different perspectives, i.e the person who stands on one end of the fence will see all cows jump "at the same time" while another person on the other end of the fence will see them jump "one at a time". (Obviously this is exaggerating, and assumes that electricity propagates as fast as light travels, but you get the picture.)
My question is this... sure this means that things don't seem to happen at the same time, but that's only because we are using our sight to determine what happens when. But in reality everything still happens at the same time... or not?
(I'm aware that this is probably a stupid question that I only have because I've not studied relativity as a physicist but just read about its key ideas from a book, but still an answer would be nice. :) And I also hope I posted this in the right forum...)
My question is this... sure this means that things don't seem to happen at the same time, but that's only because we are using our sight to determine what happens when. But in reality everything still happens at the same time... or not?
(I'm aware that this is probably a stupid question that I only have because I've not studied relativity as a physicist but just read about its key ideas from a book, but still an answer would be nice. :) And I also hope I posted this in the right forum...)
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