4 ms·

It would take 1 au / speed of sound in string. The 8 minutes comes from the (much faster) speed of light. Based on some googling it seems it would take roughl

It would take 1 au / speed of sound in string. The 8 minutes comes from the (much faster) speed of light. Based on some googling it seems it would take roughly 1.8 years.

ricardobeat 10y ago
What if the string is completely non-elastic?
- mdpopescu 10y ago
  At those sizes there is no such thing as "completely non-elastic" (aka "rigid").
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    This. Diamond is one of the stiffest materials in existence. It has a sound speed of 12 000 m/s. Lightspeed is 300 000 000 m/s.
  - sangnoir 10y ago
    How about observing a quantum-entangled particle 1AU away from its partner? Can the speed of information surpass the speed of light? I'm a physics noob so I wouldn't know about research in the field.
    - FreeFull 10y ago
      As far as we can tell, the effect of measuring an entangled particle is at least 10000 faster than the speed of light. According to theory, it's instant. You can't use it to transfer any information, though.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    At any size, there is no such thing as "completely non-elastic", but at those sizes, pretending that some things are completely non-elastic is no longer a tolerable approximation.
- fennecfoxen 10y ago
  What if the string isn't actually made of matter but is made up of some hypothetical substance that doesn't follow any laws of physics? Same question.
  - TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
    If you can persuade people that you can make that hypothetical substance, there are a few pissed off investors around at the moment who will throw money at you.
  - dkersten 10y ago
    Since it doesn't follow any laws of physics: it actually moves the opposite way than the way you tugged it ;-)
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > What if the string isn't actually made of matter but is made up of some hypothetical substance that doesn't follow any laws of physics? If it doesn't follow any laws of physics, then there is no predictable relationship between any input and its action (since if there was such a predictable relationship, it would be a law of physics that the string was obeying.)
- jakub_h 10y ago
  I assume that complete non-elasticity of something would violate the (presumed) light speed limit on causality.

It would take 1 au / speed of sound in string. The 8 minutes comes from the (much faster) speed of light. Based on some googling it seems it would take roughly 1.8 years.

ricardobeat 10y ago

What if the string is completely non-elastic?

mdpopescu 10y ago
At those sizes there is no such thing as "completely non-elastic" (aka "rigid").
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  This. Diamond is one of the stiffest materials in existence. It has a sound speed of 12 000 m/s. Lightspeed is 300 000 000 m/s.
- sangnoir 10y ago
  How about observing a quantum-entangled particle 1AU away from its partner? Can the speed of information surpass the speed of light? I'm a physics noob so I wouldn't know about research in the field.
  - FreeFull 10y ago
    As far as we can tell, the effect of measuring an entangled particle is at least 10000 faster than the speed of light. According to theory, it's instant. You can't use it to transfer any information, though.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  At any size, there is no such thing as "completely non-elastic", but at those sizes, pretending that some things are completely non-elastic is no longer a tolerable approximation.
fennecfoxen 10y ago
What if the string isn't actually made of matter but is made up of some hypothetical substance that doesn't follow any laws of physics? Same question.
- TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
  If you can persuade people that you can make that hypothetical substance, there are a few pissed off investors around at the moment who will throw money at you.
- dkersten 10y ago
  Since it doesn't follow any laws of physics: it actually moves the opposite way than the way you tugged it ;-)
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > What if the string isn't actually made of matter but is made up of some hypothetical substance that doesn't follow any laws of physics? If it doesn't follow any laws of physics, then there is no predictable relationship between any input and its action (since if there was such a predictable relationship, it would be a law of physics that the string was obeying.)
jakub_h 10y ago
I assume that complete non-elasticity of something would violate the (presumed) light speed limit on causality.