[2015-12-14] Simpsons did it

[bdoserror]

I thought the idea of darkness moving faster than light seemed familiar but I couldn't find a direct reference to it. I did, however, find this reference which referred to it. I remember reading this back in the day as someone I worked with got the Journal of Irreproducible Results:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/sho ... ostcount=8

Quoting their quoting of the opening paragraph:

Calculating the Velocity of Darkness and its Possible Relevance to Lawn Maintenance

The velocity of light is approximately 186,000 miles/sec. This velocity, often represented as a constant (c), is of central importance to our present understanding of physical law. In contrast, the velocity of darkness (as manifested by the movement of the edges of a shadow) is not constant; nor is it generally derived for simple systems. The derivation presented here demonstrates that shadows are capable of moving at speeds much greater than the speed of light. Further, it is demonstrated that shadows can exhibit the unusual attribute of arriving at their destination before leaving their origin. The practical implications of these results are completely unknown, but are discussed at length anyway.

That's some good scientific paper to back up this comic.

[gbleck]

I find it unlikely that you could put your hand in front of a light source that you could create a usable signal at the other end without your hand turning to an un-organized plasma.

A better questing would be what would the shadow moving look like from an inertial reference where the shadow is moving faster then C? Wouldn't only part of the shadow moving be inside your light cone?

[FactoidC]

Except that, in the case of shadows cast across light, the speed of visibility would be the speed of light. Because the interruption wouldn't be visible at the far end of the beam until the beam was visible, or that interruption is no longer "blocked" by the still traveling light ahead of it.

In short Irreproducible Results is an amazingly accurate name for that journal. Since I dare you to try to reproduce that result =P