Quote (Lampee @ Wed, Dec 10 2008, 10:56pm)

Hard to explain in English... even hard in my mother tongue^^
Well, I'm sure, wikipedia will support you
by moving at a high speed (relevant compared to c), not only time passes slower, but also the object will also get smaller in the direction of movement. In the theory of special relativity (also in general ) the frame of reference is very important:
Someone passes you on a bike, you'll say "that guy passed me at x mp/h". The guy on the bike may say that he didnt move at all, but his complete enviroment is moving "backwards" at the same x mp/h.
Imagine you travel in a space shuttle at a very hight speed (for example 0.8c, the lorentz factor is 2.7 now (see Post #8))
With your space shuttle, you pass a guy on the moon. That guy will say: His time runs 2.7times slower, he's 2.7times smaller than usual.
You'll say: The time in the universe runs 2.7times slower, it's contracted by the factor of 2.7.
Now you throw a ball inside your ship, with a speed of 27m/s in your frame of reference. You'll say 'that ball travels at the speed of 27m/s'
The guy on the moon will see something different: Your space shuttle, that means that complete moving system is 2.7times smaller than usual. The distance the ball moves contracts with the whole system: its lowered by the factor 2.7.
While, in your frame of reference the ball moved 27m, it only moved 10m inside your ship in the frame of reference of the guy on the moon. Consequently it moves only 10m/s:
He'll say 'In total, that ball travels at the speed of the space shuttle plus the throwing speed: 0.8c+10m/s.

By getting nearer to c, the Lorentz factor is getting higher and higher, up to infinity before you reach c.
I'm sure you didnt understand

Quote (kegman909650 @ Wed, Dec 10 2008, 11:48pm)

Time relativity hurts my brain.

Quote (ChaosDealer73 @ Wed, 10 Dec 2008, 17:31)

Yes, but photons - the particles that transmit electromagnetic radiation, exist. This is an odd occurrence because it exists and it transmits energy, but it has no mass, does not decay, and it has no electric charge. That is why I find it confusing, they transmit energy, but they don't have mass, and can travel at light speed as they are, essentially, the "physical" body of light.

Quote (RewtheBrave @ Wed, Dec 10 2008, 11:51pm)

It's not just confusing: it's complicated. Light is now generally treated as a point-partcicle, bearing in mind that this is in a special sense, because protons are believed to make up the electromagnetic field. I'm not going to shy around the pun that the whole thing is in a Focking state Ehhhh meh physics puns.

Photons don't really fit neatly into a lot of standard physical descriptions (but that's starting to change again), and questions about their mass border on the metaphysical, since the upper limit is proposed to be 1.1×10−52 kg, their charge is negligible, and they've got no (integer) spin. So maybe they have mass but that's not seen as likely. If you can find someone who knows about chromodynamics maybe you get get some answers to the question about energy transmission vs masslessless, but I'm not sure it's so much a paradox as a basic process. They're low energy in scale, anyway.

Quote (BovineDesi @ Wed, 10 Dec 2008, 19:12)

Haha have you seen that topology graph that describes how electromagnetic particles interact?? XD it looks like a third grader drew it, so very very complicated.

Quote (RewtheBrave @ Wed, Dec 10 2008, 04:30pm)

Like this one? [Sniped from wikipedia]

http://i36.tinypic.com/1fck07.png

RAWR, I prefer complicated diagrams, because then there's thinking involved

Back on topic a bit more, have you seen the relativity theory thought-experiment diagrams with trains, etc.. From Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, I don't recall any trains or elevators:

• accelerating at the speed of light. In Canada, arriving within 45 minutes of the scheduled time is pretty boss.
• in outer space
• with lasers

Wait, wait, I found this one. 10/10 (top of page, train example): http://www.physics.drexel.edu/~thoppe/teaching/PHYS113.F06/relativity1_handout.pdf

Thanks Drexel University! lol. It sure is special relativity.