by -O-uknow on June 7th, 2008

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If a billiard ball is placed at both ends of a pool stick w/no space between the stick and the balls and we tap SOS on one ball by poking it with a finger towards the pool stick, would not the other ball receive the same pokes and SOS faster than light?

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by Old School on March 19th, 2012
This would only be true if you had an infinitely light infinitely rigid pool cue made of Unobtanium.

In the real world, your SOS tapping translates to pressure pulses in the pool cue. The speed of propagation of those pressure pulses is governed by the material properties of the cue. A good first-order approximation is that the pulses would travel at the speed of sound for the pool cue material (on the order of 1,000 - 10,000 miles per hour).
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by gmeades on June 7th, 2008
Not really... since light travels at a little over 186,000 miles a second (not per hour), and your tapping itself would be limited to the mph range (since you can't move your finger faster than that) plus the decay time imposed by the transference through the cue; the speed of light would still be far, far faster...! ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light
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- There can be no argument. The poke of the finger moving the ball, moving the stick, moving the other ball is all one action and simultaneous. Making the message faster than light.
  
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  by -O-uknow on June 7th, 2008
- There is no decay time because the signal is not being transmitted like a wave and the speed of the finger has nothing to do with the equation.
  
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  by -O-uknow on June 7th, 2008
- OIC... no gap... no travel... gotcha...! ;-)
  
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  by gmeades on June 7th, 2008
- The speed of light is a barrier if you continue to think that all communication must be sent by carrier signal in the form of a wave thereby limiting speed to that of light.
  
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  by -O-uknow on June 7th, 2008
- I proscribe to particle theory, myself... ;-)
  
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  by gmeades on June 7th, 2008
- If we were to have a medium that we could detect, exerting constant pressure on all objects, communication could be established by applying more force for "on" and removing applied force for "off".
  
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  by -O-uknow on June 7th, 2008
- Then you are forever bound by the speed in which particles travel.. "light".
  
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  by -O-uknow on June 7th, 2008
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You're reading If a billiard ball is placed at both ends of a pool stick w/no space between the stick and the balls and we tap SOS on one ball by poking it with a finger towards the pool stick, would not the other ball receive the same pokes and SOS faster than light?

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If a billiard ball is placed at both ends of a pool stick w/no space between the stick and the balls and we tap SOS on one ball by poking it with a finger towards the pool stick, would not the other ball receive the same pokes and SOS faster than light?

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If a billiard ball is placed at both ends of a pool stick w/no space between the stick and the balls and we tap SOS on one ball by poking it with a finger towards the pool stick, would not the other ball receive the same pokes and SOS faster than light?

Answers. 2 helpful answers below.

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