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I understand that space "shrinking" is a perspective (which is why I originally placed it in double quotes) and that velocity is relative - my question was mean
by placebo 9y ago
I understand that space "shrinking" is a perspective (which is why I originally placed it in double quotes) and that velocity is relative - my question was meant more as a thought experiment of taking the subjective experience of what things seem like as relative velocity increases and then extrapolate it to what they might seem like as relative velocity approaches the speed of light, i.e what would experience be like were it possible to ride on a photon. Since riding on a photon is not possible, perhaps this question is meaningless - it's just that since there is a pattern to how space is experienced with increasing relative velocities, the tendency is to extrapolate this to try and imagine how space/time would be experienced if it were possible.
That being said, I understand that a "universe of length zero" or "no time" is not relevant nor practical in the context of doing physics.
- pdonis 9y ago> Since riding on a photon is not possible, perhaps this question is meaningless Yes.
- pdonis 9y ago> what would experience be like were it possible to ride on a photon But that's not what "space shrinking" represents. The object or person that is moving at close to the speed of light relative to you does not see their own space shrink. Their "space" appears to you to "shrink" (I put the words in scare-quotes because of all the issues I already brought up). So even if "space shrinking" is a reasonable interpretation of something, that something is not what you would even want to extrapolate to "the experience of riding on a photon" (which is meaningless anyway, as I said in my other post just now), because it doesn't describe the experience of the observer moving at high speed relative to you, it describes your own experience, and to yourself, you're at rest.