Re: Operational scale

Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:
> 
> RELATIVISITIC MOTION
> 
    <SNIP>
> 
> Earth Dist :	 Earth time	  speed 	ship time   ship
distance
> __________	 __________	  _____ 	_________  
_____________
> 
>    .06 ly :	    0.34 yr	 0.34	  c	 0.34 yr     0.06 ly
>   0.25 ly :	    0.73 yr	 0.61	  c	 0.67 yr     0.20 ly
>   0.50 ly :	    1.10 yr	 0.755	  c	 0.94 yr     0.33 ly
>     1 ly :	    1.70 yr	 0.873	  c	 1.28 yr     0.49 ly
>     2 ly :	    2.79 yr	 0.9467   c	 1.71 yr     0.64 ly
>     4 ly :	    4.86 yr	 0.9814   c	 2.22 yr     0.77 ly
>    10 ly :	   10.91 yr	 0.99622  c	 2.98 yr     0.87 ly
>    25 ly :	   25.93 yr	 0.99932  c	 3.80 yr     0.92 ly
>    50 ly :	   50.94 yr	 0.99982  c	 4.44 yr     0.93 ly
>   100 ly :	  100.95 yr	 0.999947 c	 5.09 yr     0.94 ly
>  1000 ly :	 1000.95 yr	 0.999991 c	 7.27 yr     0.95 ly
> 10000 ly :	10000.98 yr	 0.999992 c	 9.46 yr     0.95 ly
>							  d -> 0.9500 ly

    Something is strange here, or maybe I just understand relativisitic
motion.  With the ship that is constantly accelerating in this example,
and using the time and distance as measured by the ship, it takes it 
1.28 years to travel 0.49 light years distiance.  Then it would take
at most twice that time, 2.56 years to travel twice that distance, 0.98
light years.  But the table above gives the distance at 2.98 years as
0.87 light years.  In fact the distance the ship travels ploted against
time seems to be assymtoptic to one light years, i.e. the distance
travelled never reaches 1 light year.  This doesn't make sense to me.

Enjoy,
Tom Granvold				<thomas.granvold@eng.sun.com>