Re: Why doesn't light travel at infinite speed?

On Feb 23, 10:24 am, Sam Wormley <sworml...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
skillz...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
It's my understanding that as an object approaches the speed of light,
time slows down and if it could reach the speed of light, time would
effectively stop. This would seem to indicate that we should perceive
time to stop for light. If this is the case, why doesn't light travel
at an infinite speed (i.e. it wouldn't appear to us to not take any
time to get from point A to point B)?

When one "approaches the speed of light" with respect to what?

Proper time (time in one's own frame) is unaffected by relative
motion to other objects.

Special relativity correctly predicts the time dilation that
occurs between clocks in relative motion. And the speed of light
is a constant for all observers.

Due to Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction, the space traveler could
travel from an arbitrary point A to point B in reasonably short time
intervals. But the hazards of collision with something along the
path would be catastrophic.

If *time-dilation* is the greatest thing since sliced bread, ya
ever wonder why Einstein doesn't mention it in a Nobel lecture?

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-lecture.html

Sue...



.

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