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Old Sun Jan 18, 2009, 11:45pm
Nevadaref Nevadaref is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 15,010
Is the product seller correct in his claim?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JugglingReferee View Post
No. But the clock is not stopped at the speed of light, either. The belt device can't do it's thing until it receives a signal, a signal which travels at the speed of sound from the whistle to the device. From there, a radio frequency signal stops the clock. That signal travels much faster than the speed of sound.

Edit: the radio frequency signal to stop the clock doesn't work at c, because by definition c is measured in a vacuum. Since we have the atmosphere to contend with, the speed at which the belt device stops the clock is < c.
I actually find this discussion interesting. The limiting factor in the whole process is whatever transmission is the slowest. We know that the whistle is making a sound wave in the air that is picked up by the microphone. There is then a relay of that detection to the belt box. That relay could be by fiberoptic or simple electronic. I don't know. Finally, the seller states that the box sends a radio wave signal to the control console. That is clearly done at below the speed of light. So I am saying that his claim that the clock is stopped at the speed of light is clearly false.
PS Lastly, the control console must receive the radio signal and then transmit something to the device that stops the clock.

Perhaps one of our esteemed members knows something about radio waves and how they are generated and can tell us at what speed they travel. I think that they are sound waves and thus cannot travel faster than the speed of sound.
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