Wednesday, 3 September 2014

special relativity - In theory, is there anywhere in the universe where velocity=0?

The question itself is wrong, actually.



There is no such thing as absolute velocity, which is what you're assuming in your question. Velocity is always relative to a frame of reference.



Your speed relative to your chair is zero, but it's not zero relative to the airplanes flying over your house.



When you say "a point in space where nothing is moving and velocity is essentially 0", you must add "relative to such-and-such frame of reference", otherwise your statement makes no sense.



By that token, any object in any point of space has zero speed relative to any frame of reference rigidly attached to it, and non-zero speed relative to other frames. You can't talk about speed unless you specify the frame against which it is measured.



Speed doesn't even exist by itself. It's always relative to a frame. It's not a property of an object or (even worse) a property of "a point in space". It's a relation between an object (the moving thing) and another object (the frame). "Points in space" don't have properties themselves, space is featureless.



Cars may seem like they have a speed as an intrinsic property, but that's just their speed relative to the ground. The car's speed relative to its driver is very different (and hopefully equal to zero). And the car's speed relative to a comet in the Solar System is yet again different.



Any further considerations, such as the flow of time, etc., are invalid as long as you're not asking the right question. Again, speed can only exist relative to something and, as such, it depends on the choice of the frame. And time depends on that whole causal chain.

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