Name: James L.
Status: student
Age: 18
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2000-2001
Question:
I recently read an article (The article can be found
at http://www.nature.com/nsu/000601/000601-5.html) which stated that by
using evanescent waves people were able to transmit a wave faster then c for
very short distances. c of course being the speed of light in a
vacuum. How do the currently accepted theories of space-time and
relativity account for this?
Replies:
James,
Current theories of relativity would not account for this. What must be
realized it that ALL physics theories are approximations of reality.
Newton's work applies to "medium" situations: objects made of many, many
molecules moving much slower than the speed of light. In that range of
reality, Newtonian physics is a very good approximation of reality. Large
object moving very fast (close to the speed of light) don't obey Newton's
laws. Einstein came up with an approximation called relativity to work with
such objects. Relativity, however, is not a good approximation for
individual particles. They require quantum physics. There is not yet any
set of theories that works for everything. There is still a great deal we
don't understand. Reality is not based on the theories. Rather, the
theories are based on reality.
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