Sunday, February 12, 2012

The doppler effect

How about running so fast you age.

You know the doppler effect? You hear it all the time. An ambulance comes toward you and it sounds high pitched, and when it passes it sounds deeper, lower pitched. When the ambulance approaches you it is moving so fast that the sound waves between you and the siren get compressed. The pitch is higher. When it drives away, the sound waves are elongated. The pitch is lower.

Here's a thought—if you ran very fast, and talked very loudly, you would sound like a child coming and an adult going.

If I could run fast enough, I could sound like I did when I was eight years old, I could sound like kid Lucas, and the moment I ran past my voice would get deeper and I would sound old, three times as old as I am now—I would sound like an old man. And that way I could grow up right before your eyes, but to me I would feel the same, only just a little tired because I'm running sixty miles an hour.

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