Random Question About pushing a pole at c

[Eric Hanaway]

From time to time I like to chat with flat Earthers and help them clear up their confusion. Today I came upon a question I couldn't answer, and since it is summer, I couldn't ask a professor.

Would two people, on two separate planets, holding one pole, feel a push from the other instantaneously without violating the speed of light? I realize the answer is in the elasticity of the material, but what if the material was rigid?

This might be an easy question to answer, but I am at the beginning of my studies.

 

[phinds]

From time to time I like to chat with flat Earthers and help them clear up their confusion. Today I came upon a question I couldn't answer, and since it is summer, I couldn't ask a professor.

Would two people, on two separate planets, holding one pole, feel a push from the other instantaneously without violating the speed of light? I realize the answer is in the elasticity of the material, but what if the material was rigid?

This might be an easy question to answer, but I am at the beginning of my studies.

This question, in one form or another, is asked here a couple of times a month, at least. There is no such thing as a "rigid" pole and impulses travel at the speed of sound in the material. Compared to c, this speed is approximately zero.

 

[berkeman]

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/speed-of-light-thought-experiment.921388/

 

[fresh_42]

The question is answered, and to all who are interested where exactly:

There is no such thing as a "rigid" pole and impulses travel at the speed of sound in the material.

so I close the thread.