Why can't you go faster than light

[Mr. Scram]

So some of you are saying that when I have a long row of people and start a Mexican wave by having everyone stand up at the same or almost the same time, the Mexican wave travels faster than light?

[apis]

Can a shadow move faster than light? It can, but you can't use that effect to send information faster than the speed of light. (That is the modern version of the law.)

[Rick Law]

Can a shadow move faster than light? It can, but you can't use that effect to send information faster than the speed of light. (That is the modern version of the law.)

You can't send information faster than light using shadow(s) ---- because any change you make to the shadow can only get to the target with the light that has the shadow - at the speed of light.

[CopperCone]

i think my physics teacher almost brought in a hose to classroom to 'demonstrate' on certain students the whole shadow/laser pointer point moving faster then light if you point away to a distant object

[rfeecs]

So this time he comes up with ways to go faster than light, kinda.  Some of them have been mentioned already in this thread.

https://youtu.be/BhG_QZl8WVY

[Dubbie]

So some of you are saying that when I have a long row of people and start a Mexican wave by having everyone stand up at the same or almost the same time, the Mexican wave travels faster than light?

And how are you going to tell the participants when it is time to stand up? 

[basinstreetdesign]

No it's not.

If you are male, have a full bladder, take a whiz outside and pee in one place, you'll get a puddle (unless you're standing over a drain or the edge of a cliff). If you point Percy at a different location, you'll get another puddle. If you wiggle your thingy back and forth then you'll see that the stream of water is actually a series of discrete droplets (single chamber choked flow atomization). If you do it fast enough then the puddle of water will seem to move fast - faster than it should. But each puddle is made by pee droplets emitted in that direction. How the first puddle came about has absolutely no relation with the second. There is no correlation. This is what's irrelevant.

Of course, in this experiment you'd have to be able to pee like a shire horse with tremendous velocity sitting on a merry-go-round and spinning at very high speed. 

(If you're not male then you are missing one of life's wondrous gifts )

Why can't a girl do it?

She can.  But her aiming apparatus is not as flexible.

Point taken, as it were.

[ruffy91]

So some of you are saying that when I have a long row of people and start a Mexican wave by having everyone stand up at the same or almost the same time, the Mexican wave travels faster than light?

And how are you going to tell the participants when it is time to stand up? 

Give them watches and tell them when to stand up. Where is the problem?

[Dubbie]

Give them watches and tell them when to stand up. Where is the problem?
[/quote]

There is none. That will teach me to comment without reading the post properly.

[Mr. Scram]

Give them watches and tell them when to stand up. Where is the problem?

Alternatively, arrange them in a semicircle and use light or sound to indicate when.