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Re: A maximum acceleration? (ii)



At 01:30 11/30/97 -0600, Ludwik wrote:

In my mind the
ULTIMATE limit is something which is valid even in the idealized world.


Ludwik will not be appeased by consideration of either rotating
or linear examples of material objects, so I will need to consider
some systems of a more ideal, or less massive kind.

There are several systems that come to mind:

A photon in reflection from a front surface mirror sees a
delta v of 2c. It is beyond my capability to define the delta t
over which this reversal occurs - certainly less than the coherence
time for the packet.

The old puzzle of the spotlight ( or laser) which is swept over the
distant stars probably provides a suitable example of large acceleration
if this term is stretched somewhat: choose two stars at an equal
distance from Earth of 10000 light years and separated from each other
by 5000 ly.
Train a laser on one star for 10 seconds, then rapidly sweep it to the
second star within one second.
We could say that the light beam will move (in 10,000 years time)
a distance of 5000 ly within 1 second. from a transverse velocity of
zero to 5000 x 60 x 60 x 24 x 365 c in one second - a suitably large
acceleration?

And of course one should not forget the production of two particles
each traveling at 1c in opposite directions from a nuclear interaction
which takes place over a rather short interval...
Sincerely,

brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK