Is There an Absolute Scale for Speed?

Abstract

Except for the speed of photons in vacuum, all speeds are relative. Could we develop an absolute scale for speed in which relative values for speed may be arbitrarily positioned and compared in absolute terms? The currently accepted definition for the meter as the distance covered by photons in vacuum during 1/299,792,458 s, and the view that the greater a material particle is accelerated towards c, the greater time dilation and length contraction will be, suggest that anything disturbing one of the four spacetime dimensions may affect the other three as well. One hypothetical experiment, one real experiment performed in the 1970s, and one experiment from a different field of science are discussed to propose that both time and velocity are only partially relative. In the first experiment, person A is standing still on the Earth’s surface, and person B is onboard a train passing by person A at the constant speed of 60 km/h (as measured by person B on the train’s speedometer). Persons A and B define two distinct inertial frames of reference, which correspond to two different spacetime conditions and which are therefore characterized by comparatively different lengths of the meter and durations of the second, as predicted by the Lorentz factor. Therefore, if person B onboard the train measures the train’s speed relative to person A as 60 km/h, a simple calculation will show that person A will perceive the train passing by at 59.99999999999981455834 km/h. If we consider the speed of photons in vacuum (c = 299,792,458 m/s) as a universal reference, and if we consider that the greater a material particle is accelerated towards c, the greater time dilation and length contraction will be, then person C, occupying an independent, distinct inertial frame of reference, will be unable to determine persons A and B’s absolute speeds, but may infer which one is moving at a speed closer to c by comparing, with his own meter and second, the durations of the second and the lengths of the meter experienced by persons A and B. The relativity of time may not be complete due to the bias that derives from the limit imposed on spacetime by c and the Lorentz factor, causing relativity to be partial. The second and third experiments further help understand this partiality.