The most important one is time dilation. Time moves more slowly for an observer travelling at speeds approaching c than for a stationary observer. If you accelerate at 1 g for 4 years, that’s 4 years to you, but it’s 30 years to somebody you left behind standing still.
for one thing,
LEDs would get bluer over time.
infrared: 1927
red: 1962
green: 1968
blue: 1994
Yes I figured that, but I assume we would not actually notice this effect amongst ourselves since we are all accelerating together? We haven’t left anybody behind to compare with unless they fell over the edge or something 
I assume also that our increase in mass would only be apparent to an outside observer? As you can probably tell I find relativity a little difficult to grasp…
If one of the observers is stationary, then both observers agree on the relative velocity. And that observed velocity cannot exceed c, so no, the rocket’s velocity cannot exceed c, not to themselves or to any other observer.
Even two rockets approach a stationary observer from opposite directions, and the stationary observer observes both rockets moving toward them at 0.8 c, the two rockets both observe themselves as moving at 0.8 c toward the stationary observer. But they observe themselves moving at a speed of only 0.975 c relative to each other.
Right? The cognitive dissonance is truly amazing. “But Earth’s gravity is less the higher you go” is either ignored or discounted as part of the conspiracy. These people can tell you with a straight face that the earth disk is forever accelerating at 1 g but never hits light speed because of special relativity, but at the same time deny any of the things we have actually used to prove that special relativity is correct, such as time dilation of atomic clocks in fast-moving satellites. They can pull out quite sophisticated scientific explanations when it suits them, but stumble over the most basic (like, “a pole in the sand in Alexandria” basic) physical ideas.
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Yes, exactly. If we were all on a 1 g accelerating flat Earth disc, we wouldn’t have a stationary observer to compare to, and we wouldn’t be able to tell by any comparison to anything within our accelerating reference frame how fast we were going, which is exactly the rebuttal a Flat Earther would offer.
But if we looked at the stars, we’d know, because the light from those stars would shift frequency. Light emitted from an approaching source is higher frequency, that from a receding source is lower. We know, for example, what frequencies of light are emitted by excited hydrogen atoms that aren’t moving relative to us, so we can look at light emitted by distant excited hydrogen atoms (i.e. stars) and see that those frequencies have changed, because those stars are moving.
Probably. At which point I suppose you could ask “If the entire observable universe is accelerating at 1 g in the same direction, what is that acceleration relative to, since the entire universe is moving?” and watch some heads explode.
You are exactly correct. And don’t worry about that, because that’s the normal response: when anybody encounters results that lie outside their common experience, they are exceedingly difficult to make sense of. Quantum mechanics and relativity are really tricky to teach well, and anybody who tells you they understood them the first time they saw them is either lying or mistaken.
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So? That’s not any kookier than not believing the greenhouse effect is real, which is a position held by almost half of Americans.
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Already? Seems to me like you should BE in therapy…
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And just how does this dingleberry think that formula came to be?
[insert facepalm gif]
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Thank you, thank you, you’ve been a great audience…
“attaining a peak altitude of 1,800”
Wouldn’t he be better off just going to New York and going to the top of the new world trade center?
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That’s what Evel Knievel used in his failed attempt to jump Snake River Canyon.
Alternately, he could use strong Hydrogen Peroxide. Run it though a catalyst screen, and you get steam and O2. (James Bond rocket pack.)
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Mad Mike’s previous attempt is on YouTube:
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Goodbye gray haired kook.
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He lives in California. He can just walk up the nearest hill, ffs.
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I’d live there. It has GOT to be better than here at this point.
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