1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science
What about a rotating rod where the inner part is being spun at the speed of light wouldnt the end of the rod have to be moving at greater than the speed of light? Any theory on what this would be like? What if the rod didn’t have to be accelerated to this speed but we imagined it springing to life as such spinning so that the linear speed of the close end was at C?
Comment by mfb- at 27/07/2023 at 01:52 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The rod will break.
Spinning in such a way that the outer velocity is below the speed of light would be possible *in principle* (but not with actual materials) but if you try to change the rotation speed or anything else then that change still just propagates with the speed of sound (which would have to be close to the speed of light here to avoid the rod breaking apart).