Abstract
IT is with great diffidence that I enter the relativity controversy, since I know little or nothing of the subject. Ignorance, however, is seldom a bar to the expression of opinions. I understand that the fundamental idea underlying the theory of relativity is that no signal can be transmitted through space at a greater speed than the velocity of light. There appears to me, however, to be a method by which, in theory, it might be done, and since we have trains running past embankments with half the speed of light, and shells with observers inside travelling at even higher velocities, perhaps my observer at A (Fig. 1) may be allowed to have two immensely long triangles made of any suitable material; A signals to B by sliding the two triangles together, one over the other, in the direction of the arrows; the point X, where the two sides intersect, moves towards the observer B, who receives the signal when he observes the point of intersection pass over him. If the angle at X is 10′ and the triangles are moved together at a speed of ten miles a second (an absurdly small speed for a relativist), the signal will be transmitted to B with more than twice the speed of light.
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C., C. A Relativity Paradox. Nature 110, 844 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/110844a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/110844a0
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