I just don’t get it.

According to the theory of special relativity, nothing can ever move faster than light speed.
But due to the expansion of the universe, sufficiently distant stars move away from us faster than the speed of light.
And the explanation is…that this universal speed limit doesn’t apply to things that are really far away?
Please make it make sense!

  • UNY0N@lemmy.wtfEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    That is not what the theory of special relativity says. It says that nothing with mass can accelerate to the speed of light. This may sound pedantic, but it is quite a different statement.

    Aso, the expansion of spacetime isn’t much more than a “best guess” as to why we see the redshift of distant galaxies, but the truth of the matter is that we don’t really understand much yet about this universe. Not really.

    Speed is distance/time. But time is relative, how time progresses is not some universal constant. And it gets WAY weirder than that. Here are some links, one of Richard Freymann explaining light much better than I can.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWCl7diBGos

    And another about the mystery of information and time.

    https://theconversation.com/is-time-a-fundamental-part-of-reality-a-quiet-revolution-in-physics-suggests-not-273841

    • melfie@lemy.lolEnglish
      6·
      2 days ago

      Richard Freymann explaining light

      Sounds like it’s not actually Feynman, it AI.

      This isn’t his voice — it’s our tribute to his teaching style, created purely for education and inspiration. No impersonation intended, just deep respect for one of history’s greatest teachers. 🙏

      All content is created to inspire, educate, and encourage reflection. This channel follows YouTube’s monetization policies, including clear labeling of synthetic media.

      • UNY0N@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Thanks, I didn’t notice that. I’ll pay more attention in the future.

        • melfie@lemy.lolEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          I actually started watching a video from this channel a while back and was disappointed to learn it wasn’t him. I suppose some people don’t mind and find the videos interesting, but I personally find it disturbing, as though they’re re-animating his corpse or something. 😆

    • mech@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      That YouTube video isn’t Richard Feynman by the way. It’s an AI voice reading a text loosely based on his work.