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When we exceeed the sound barrier, we hear it. Theoretically, if we could break the light barrier, that is, exceed the speed of light, what might happen?

When something exceeds the sound barrier, what we hear is the sudden build-up and release of the high pressure shockwave as it travels by our location. Sound requires a medium in which to travel, since sound waves are really pressure waves. When you push your hand through some water and create a wave in front of your hand (a wavefront), you are creating pressure waves. In a supersonic vehicle, these pressure waves buildup and finally collapse when the vehicle exceeds the sound barrier (about 750 mph at sea level).

Light, however, does not require a medium through which to travel. It can travel in total vacuum, since it is not a pressure wave, but an electromagnetic wave. This means that light (as well as radio, x-rays, microwaves, infrared, etc.) does not create a "buildup" of anything in front of it as it travels, as something moving through air or water might do. Since there is no buildup, there is nothing that needs to be released; there is no excess pressure.

But, things would certainly happen at light speed! One thing is that your biological clock would be stopped compared to someone back on Earth. In fact, all time would stop for you. This doesn't mean you enter a dream state -- what it means is that one second of elapsed time for you would be an infinite amount of time on Earth. You would still perceive a normal flow of time. People on Earth would still perceive a normal flow of time. But those flows would be different from each other.

Your question, though was about breaking the speed of light. The problem is acceleration... In order to make an object move faster than it is currently moving, we need to apply a force to that object. The amount of force needed to accelerate an object increases with the mass (F = m*a). Now, here's the problem: at very high speeds, not only does time slow down, but mass increases! The faster an object travels, the more massive it becomes. So, if we need to apply a force to produce an acceleration on a mass, and that mass is getting bigger and bigger, well, then our force must need to get bigger and bigger, too! As we start to approach light speed, the mass becomes infinite, so in order to accelerate it past light speed, we would need an infinite force! Now, depending on your religious beliefs, you may or may not be willing to accept the notion of an infinite force... But certainly, nothing man-made can produce an infinite force, in fact nothing ever will, because it would take an infinite amount of energy, and the universe itself contains only a fixed amount of energy. Even if we were able to harness all the energy in the universe (and destroy it in the process) we still would not have an infinite force, and thus no way to exceed light speed.

Does an alignment of the planets fortell disaster, or affect human behavior?

First off, there are two types of alignments: Heliocentric, in which all the planets (apart from Pluto) align, and Geocentric, in which the five inner planets align.

Probably the best way to answer this question is with a couple of facts. The 5 inner planets have aligned many thousands of times since our solar system first formed. Within human history, the planets have aligned about 100 times or so, but it is difficult to say for certain. What we can say for certain is that we had alignments April 30, 1821, February 5, 1962, and May 17, 2000. Since these three dates have come and gone with no appocalypse... Well, I think you get my meaning.

By the way, the next alignment will be September 8, 2040. And I have a prediction to make: Some people will talk about how this new alignment is sure to be the start of the appocalypse. Other people will write books about the impending disaster, and how our government is trying to cover it all up, and they will go on talk shows and become famous for 14.9 minutes.

What about human behavior, though? Well, the usual argument is that the combined gravitational effect of the aligned planets is enough to affect tides or our minds or our ability to think rationally. Another fact: When your doctor listens to your heart, she is producing more gravitational pull on you than the aligned planets. A jetliner cruising at 30,000 feet has more of an effect on the tides than does the aligned planets. Et cetera.

Besides, we all know that it's the animals (other than humans) who are the truly environmentally attentive ones out there. They have the natural abilities to detect ground tremors, slight alterations in air pressure, sub-sonic sounds, and so on, that all are in the prelude to natural disasters. Therefore, if any living things on this planet were to be affected by the planetary alignments, it would be the elephants and parrots of the world. But since they don't freak out at planetary alignments... Neither should we.

Does moonlight fade clothes?

Moonlight is reflected sunlight, so in principle it would fade fabric just as sunlight does. In practice, however, moonlight is much less intense than sunlight, so it would take a much longer period of time to fade fabric the same amount as being in direct sunlight.

For example, a typical sunny day might have an illumination rating of 10,000 footcandles (a measure of light intensity), while a typical moon lit night has an illumination rating of just 0.01 footcandles. This means that the intensity of the sunlight is one million times that of the moonlight!

Do eggs really only stand on end during the Spring Equinox?

Well, the short answer is "No."

I think this myth got started because of several common misconceptions. First is the belief that the Earth's Gravitation is the phenomenon of masses moving toward one another. While Newton explained this using concepts of force, Einstein refined the idea as a curvature of space-time.gravitation is "in balance" during the spring Equinoxes occur in the spring and fall (vernal and autumnal equinoxes, respectively). They are positions of the Earth's orbit around the sun where we experience equal amounts of day and night.equinox. Perhaps this stems from the fact that the Earth experiences equal amounts of daylight and darkness on the equinoxes (12 hours of each, naturally). This idea of "equal amounts of things" perhaps lead someone to the (wrong) conclusion that the Earth sits at some sort of gravitational sweet spot in its orbit around the Sun on the equinox dates.

Second is the amazing nature of Selective-Intermittent Reinforcement is, basically, what keeps people playing slot machines until they go broke. Because they win once in a while, that intermittent reinforcement is enough to keep them playing (and paying), despite the fact that most of the time they loose. Selective-Intermittent Reinforcement. This concept is at the heart of many misconceptions.

Someone told someone else that eggs only do this cool thing on the Spring Equinox. Then, on the equinox, they tried it, and it worked! Then, they spend another blissful 364 days until the next equinox, and it worked again! Holy cow! What they've failed to do, of course, is test it on any other day, and thus they have mistakenly come to believe that it can only occur on the equinox.

The best proof I can offer is to have you do it yourself. Here's the easiest way: Take an uncooked egg, and hold it in your hand. Spin the egg around its long axis (the axis running from the fat end to the more pointy end) by swirling your hand around. You only need to do this for a few seconds. Now, find a flat surface, and place the fat end of the egg carefully upon it. Voila, the egg stands on its end! Provided that you try this on some day other than the Spring Equinox, you should have ample evidence to discredit the claim that eggs only stand on end during the Spring Equinox.