William Diffin 2010

The Universal Observation Hypothesis

'An Object observed moving away from an Observer at

a fixed velocity approaching or exceeding the speed
of light, does not appear the same as an identical
Object as seen by an Observer moving away from it
at an identical fixed velocity.'

This hypothesis seems somewhat bizarre when one considers that, according
to the Relativistic principle that there is no such thing as a privileged
frame of reference, to either observer, it would seem irrelevant whether
the object is moving away from the observer or the observer is moving away
from the object; in both cases the distance between observer and object
increases at the same rate and the visual effect should be the same for the
observer in both cases. However, due to the nature of waves, and the wave
nature of light, this may not prove to be the case at velocities
approaching or exceeding the speed of light, as may be illustrated by the
following experiments:

Consider two identical spaceships floating together in space, both with

luminous clocks mounted on top of them, each occupied by a scientist, and
both equipped with powerful telescopes with which the two scientists may
observe each other's spaceships, at least well enough to be able to
continuously read the time on each other's spaceship clocks, over distances
of up to five light-seconds (about four times the distance from the Earth
to the Moon). One spaceship plays the part of Observer, and the other
spaceship plays the part of Object, as set out in the Universal Observation
Hypothesis above. The spaceships float motionless together for five seconds
as a countdown to the experiment. Then the Object spaceship moves away from
the Observer spaceship at half of the speed of light for five seconds, and
stops. What does the observer in the Observer spaceship see?

The only best way to answer this question is to actually carry out the
experiment. However, at the time of writing, the fastest spaceships are
only capable of achieving something like one four-thousandth of the speed
of light, and only then by using the Sun's gravity. Although any optical
effects visible at half of light-speed may be visible to a much lesser but
still measurable extent at one four-thousandth of light-speed, in later
experiments the two spaceships will need to be able to travel at or faster
than light-speed. In any case spaceships are frightfully expensive, and I
am very poor. Therefore this experiment will have to be considerably scaled
down before it may be executed, by assuming a more manageable value for the
speed of light, and using a little imagination. The value of the speed of
light, like the value of the speed of a spaceship, or of the speed of
sound, or of the wind speed generated by the beating of a Chinese
butterfly's wings, is just a number, and it is no more significant or
meaningful than any other number just because it happens to be the value of
the speed of our primary means of distance perception. And just as the
sizes of the orbits of the planets may be scaled down for the purpose of
illustrating their relative movements on a blackboard, just so the speed of
light may be scaled down in order to work with it theoretically in a
classroom or laboratory. For example:

Sol •~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~· Terra

├────────93,000,000 miles───────┤

The above diagram roughly represents the relative size of the Sun and the
distance of the Earth from the Sun. In reality the Sun is about 875,000
miles in diameter, the Earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter, and the
distance between them is about 93,000,000 miles. The tilde signs (~)
represent light waves of a particular wavelength, frozen in time as they
travel to Earth in a 93,000,000 miles-long stream. Let us say that the
light is a blue component of sunlight, with a wavelength of 480 nanometres,
or 0.00000048 metres. There are thirty-one tilde signs covering 93,000,000
miles, so each tilde covers 93,000,000 ÷ 31 = 3,000,000 miles of space, or
4,800,000,000 metres. 4,800,000,000 metres will contain 4,800,000,000 ÷
0.00000048 = 10,000,000,000,000,000 individual peak and trough light waves,
that's ten thousand billion or ten billiards in long scale, or ten
quadrillion in short scale, or 1016 in scientific notation. So each tilde
represents a stream of 1016 individual vibrations in the electromagnetic
field between the Sun and the Earth, caused by Solar activity. Having
scaled down these light waves, and the distance they travel from Sun to
Earth, it is a simple matter to scale down their speed, which in reality is
of course the speed of light, roughly 186,000 miles per second. In reality
a single light wave will wiggle its way down the stream from Sun to Earth
in 93,000,000 ÷ 186,000 = 500 seconds, or about 8½ minutes. On our scale
diagram, the same journey is only 31 tilde signs across, or about 8½
centimetres. Hence the speed of light on this scale is about 1 cm per
minute. That is going to be too slow to experiment with, but I can always
choose another scale to experiment with that gives a more manageable value
for the speed of light, and which makes it possible to experiment with
speeds faster than the speed of light.

Let us then dispense with using spaceships for the purpose of this
experiment, at least for the time being, and assume a speed of light of,
say, twelve inches per second. This gives a scale of twelve inches to the
light-second, roughly 1:980,000,000. The two spaceships may then be
represented by two scientists each with stopwatches in, say, a church hall,
with one scientist sat in a normal motionless chair such as are found in
church halls, representing the Observer spaceship, and the other scientist
sat in an electric wheelchair representing the Object spaceship, that may
be set to move at either 6"/s, 12"/s, or 24"/s, representing half the speed
of light, the speed of light, or twice the speed of light respectively, as
representative speeds approaching or exceeding the speed of light as per
the Universal Observation Hypothesis. There are a number of tables set
together lengthways across the hall, with a ten-foot-long straight length
of model railway track set across them, and the immobile chair with the
Observer scientist sat in it is set at one end of the track. The model
railway track will represent the vector of the Object spaceship moving away
from the Observer spaceship in one direction, and also in the opposite
direction it will represent the trajectory of the light emitted by the
Object spaceship in the direction of the Observer spaceship. The scientist
in the electric wheelchair carries a box full of numbered clockwork trains
which all run at the identical speed of 12"/s, the representative speed of
light. These trains will represent the individual light wave forms that are
emitted by the Object spaceship clock on every second after it starts
moving away from the Observer spaceship. In reality there would be at least
another 450 million other light wave forms emitted by the Object spaceship
over the course of each second, in between the wave forms represented by
each train, but it is neither practical nor necessary to represent these
too. From overhead then, the experiment set up appears thus:

┌────────────────────┐
?│════════════════════│
└────────────────────┘
*
(? is the Observer, * is the Object, ═ is the train track)

With the experiment set up, variables may now be defined.

- 2 -
Let t be the time elapsed since the Object began moving, measured in
seconds, from t = -5 at the start of the countdown, through t = 0 when the
Object begins moving, then to t = 5 when it stops and the experiment ends.

Let c be the speed of light (roughly 186,000 miles/s, but assumed to be

12"/s for this experiment).

Let v be the velocity with which the Object moves away from the Observer,
measured in multiples of the speed of light (c).

Let tO be the time that appears to the Observer spaceship to have elapsed at
the Object spaceship, since the Object spaceship began moving, measured in
seconds (in the original experiment this value would be read through the
Observer spaceship's telescope from the luminous clock on the Object
spaceship).

Let λ be the wavelength of the light emitted by the Object spaceship clock.

Let λO be the apparent wavelength of the light emitted by the Object

spaceship clock as seen from the Observer spaceship.

Also, in the following explanation, ? represents the Observer, who sits in

a chair at one end of the model railway track and does not move, whilst *
represents the Object, who sits in an electric wheelchair and moves away
from the Observer in it.

- 3 -
Experiment №1: Object moving away from Observer at a velocity of c/2 (6"/s)

At the start of the experiment, from t = -5 to t = 0, both Object and

Observer are at the same location, counting down to 'launch'. For the
purpose of the experiment, twelve inches represent a distance of one light-
second (about four-fifths the distance of the Moon from the Earth) and so
the speed of light is assumed to be 12"/s. Since the Object spaceship (*)
is to move away from the Observer spaceship (?) at half of the speed of
light in this experiment, the electric wheelchair representing * is set to
travel at 6"/s, half of the representative speed of light of 12"/s. The
scientists synchronize their stopwatches and count down from t = -5 to t =
0.

After t = 0 then, * moves away from ? at 6"/s in his electric wheelchair,

and one second later at t = 1, he drops the first clockwork train on the
track at the point 6" along the track which he has just reached, which then
trundles merrily along the track towards ? at a constant speed of 12"/s.
This little train, Train №1, represents the light wave that would have left
the Object spaceship (*) after one second of travel, when the Object
spaceship's clock would have first read t = 1, and the train's speed of
12"/s represents the speed of light.

Half a second later after t = 1½, Train №1, moving as it is at 12"/s in the
opposite direction to *, covers the 6" that * had just travelled away from
? before dropping Train №1 on the track, in half the time that * took to
cover the same distance in the opposite direction. Train №1 then reaches
the end of the track, and tumbles off it into the lap of ?. Remember that
Train №1 represents the light wave that was emitted by the Object spaceship
(*) at t = 1, at the moment when the clock on the Object spaceship (*)
would have changed from t = 0 to instead read t = 1. What with this train
having reached the Observer spaceship (?) at t = 1½, it is apparent to ?
that had the experiment been carried out with spaceships, the time on the
Object spaceship (*) as observed from the Observer spaceship (?) through
its on-board telescope, would have appeared to be tO = 1, when t = 1½. Of
course, also during this half-second, * continues to move away from ? at
the constant speed of 6"/s, and at t = 1½ is then 9" away from ?.

At t = 2, having travelled at 6"/s for 2s, * is now 12" away from ?,

representing a distance of one light-second. At this point * drops Train №2
onto the track, which also trundles merrily away towards ? at 12"/s,
representing the light wave that would have left the Object spaceship (*)
after two seconds of travel, with the Object spaceship's clock reading t =
2, having just that instant ticked on from t = 1.

At t = 3, Train №2 has been travelling for one second at 12"/s, and has
just completed the 12" journey from the point on the track where it was
dropped, to the end of the track at ?. Train №2, released when t = 2, then
falls into the lap of ?, signalling that whilst t = 3, tO = 2. At this point
* has travelled another 6" since dropping Train №2 and is 18" away from ?.
Also at this point * drops Train №3 onto the track, which begins its run
towards ? at 12"/s.

At t = 4, Train №3 has travelled 12" towards ? from the point where it was
dropped 18" distant from ?, and is now only 6" from ?. Meanwhile * has
travelled another 6" in the opposite direction and is 24" from ? when Train
№4 is dropped onto the track.

At t = 4½, Train №3 falls off the end of the track and ? notes that whilst t
= 4½, tO = 3. * is now 27" from ?, and Train №4 dropped onto the track half

- 4 -
a second ago is running towards ? at 12"/s at a distance of 18", having
just travelled 6" towards ? in the last half-second.

At t = 5, Train №4 has travelled another 6" towards ? since t was = 4½ and

is now 12" from ?. Since dropping Train №4 when t was = 4, * has travelled
another 6" away from ? and is now 30" distant when Train №5 is dropped. At
this point * stops still.

This experiment may be readily illustrated by means of the following simple

sequence of diagrams. In these diagrams, ? represents the Observer, *
represents the Object, and numbers 1 through 5 represent trains numbers 1-5
respectively.

Key to Diagrams:

distance to objective in light-seconds (or feet)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
?╞═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*
<— model railway track —>

? = Observer * = Object 1 2 3 4 5 = Trains 1-5

- 5 -
Diagram №1: Object moving away from Observer at a velocity of c/2 (6"/s)

At t = -5 to t = 0, tO = t:

?╞═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 1:

?╞═1═╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 1½, tO = 1:

?1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 2:

?╞═══2═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 3, tO = 2:

?2═══╪═3═╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 4:

?╞═3═╪═══4═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 4½, tO = 3:

?3═══╪═4═╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 5:

?╞═══4═══╪═5═╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

As can be seen from the diagram, whilst time naturally progresses at the
same rate at both ? and *, to the Observer at ? the seconds apparently tick
by at * only once every one-and-a-half seconds, so that the time at * as
seen from ? always reads only two-thirds of the actual time elapsed, and so
seems to have slowed down whilst * is moving away from ? at half of the
speed of light. Thus for an Object moving at velocity v = c/2 away from an
Observer, where c is the speed of light, the apparent elapsed time tO at the
Object as observed by the Observer may be described as follows:

When v = c/2, tO = 2t/3 [Equation №1]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, tO is the apparent elapsed

time of motion, and t is the actual elapsed time of motion)

Another thing to consider before moving on to the next experiment, is that

the increased separation in space of the ends of each of the light wave
forms emitted by * in the direction of ? every second, brought about by the
motion of * away from ?, represents a decrease in the frequency of every

- 6 -
wave form emitted by * and observed by ?. In other words, instead of
receiving a train every second, ? receives a train only every one-and-a-
half seconds. This decrease in frequency is perceived by ? as an apparent
increase in wavelength i.e. the 450 million or so light wave forms emitted
by * every second and covering every light-second between * and ?, are
stretched by the motion of * over one and a half light-seconds thus:

Over one second with * and ? at rest separated by one light-second:

◄─motion of light
?~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~*
├──1 light-second─┤

And over one second with * moving away from ? at c/2 from one light-second
to one and a half light-seconds separation:

◄─motion of light
?~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~*─►motion of *
├─────1½ light-seconds─────┤

The tildes (~) illustrate that the rate at which the light wave forms are
emitted by *, like their velocity, c, and like the absolute passage of
time, t, is always constant, no matter what velocity or direction * is
travelling in relative to ?, at least for as long as the material nature of
* remains constant and the batteries on *'s luminous clock do not run out.
This means that the frequency with which the light wave forms are detected
at ? is decreased when * moves away from ?, representing an apparent
increase in their wavelength.

Thus it can be seen that for an Object moving at velocity v = c/2 away from
an Observer, where c is the speed of light, the apparent wavelength λO of
the light from the Object as seen by an Observer is one and a half times
its true wavelength λ. Hence:

When v = c/2, λO = 3λ/2 [Equation №2]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, λO is the apparent wavelength

observed at velocity v, and λ is the actual wavelength observed at rest)

This effect is best known as the Doppler effect, and is most famously
illustrated by the drop in pitch of the siren of an ambulance that is
moving away at speed, caused by the decreased frequency of the sound waves
produced by the siren reaching the ear, owing to the ambulance's motion
into the distance. The Doppler effect is also observable in astronomy,
where stars and galaxies moving away from the Earth all appear redder than
would be expected, on account of the decreased frequency of the light waves
they emit reaching the Earth, on account of their motion away from Earth.
(Also note that the Earth, together with the entire Local Group of galaxies
in which she resides, is also receding from everything else in the
observable universe.) The receding motion of objects apparently stretches
the wavelengths of the light they emit and makes the wavelengths appear
longer, which the eye sees as being redder. In fact this 'red shift' is
used to measure the distance of galaxies, which appears to be proportional
to their speed of recession.

- 7 -
Experiment №2: Object moving away from Observer at a velocity of c (12"/s)

This experiment is identical to the previous experiment, except that the

velocity v of the Object spaceship is increased to 12"/s, representing c,
the speed of light. Consider that the two spaceships in Experiment №1 have
met up again. Again, the spaceships float motionless together for five
seconds as a countdown to the experiment. Then the Object spaceship moves
away from the Observer spaceship again - only this time at the speed of
light - for five seconds, and stops. Now what does the observer in the
Observer spaceship see? In order to illustrate this, the scientists in the
church hall return the trains into the box carried by the scientist in the
electric wheelchair, reoccupy their starting positions, and set the
wheelchair to travel at 12"/s instead of 6"/s. They synchronize their
stopwatches and count down from t = -5 to t = 0.

At t = 0, the electric wheelchair begins to whine and the scientist sat in

it, looking a little absurd with a shabby cardboard box full of toy trains
on his lap, automatically begins to roll away from his colleague. In other
words, the Object (*) begins to move away from the Observer (?) at the
speed of 12"/s, representing the speed of light.

After one second, at t = 1, * is 12" (representing a distance of one light-

second) from ? and drops Train №1 on the track, which begins to run away
from * towards ? at 12"/s (representing the speed of light).

At t = 2, * is 24" from ? and drops Train №2 onto the track. Meanwhile, in

the previous second, Train №1 travelling at 12"/s has completed the journey
of 12" from the point it was dropped by * to ?, and reached the end of the
line. Train №1 tumbles off the end of the track into the lap of ?, who
notes that whilst t = 2, according to Train №1 tO = 1.

At t = 3, * has moved another 12" from ? and is now 36" distant, and drops
Train №3 onto the track. Meanwhile Train №2 has moved 12" in the opposite
direction, and is now only 12" from ?.

At t = 4, Train №2 completes the remaining journey of 12" and drops off the
end of the track at ?, and ? sees that whilst t = 4, tO = 2. Train №3 is 24"
away from ?, whilst * is now 48" from ?, and drops Train №4 on the track
there.

At t = 5, Train №3 still has 12" to go before reaching ?, whilst Train №4

has 36" to go. * has reached 60" distant and drops Train №5. Both
scientists have seen enough now.

Again, the experiment is illustrated by means of a sequence of diagrams:

- 8 -
Diagram №2: Object moving away from Observer at a velocity of c (12"/s)

At t = -5 to t = 0, tO = t:

?╞═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 1:

?╞═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 2, tO = 1:

?1═══╪═══2═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 3:

?╞═══2═══╪═══3═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 4, tO = 2:

?2═══╪═══3═══╪═══4═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 5:

?╞═══3═══╪═══4═══╪═══5═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

Again, as can be seen from the diagrams, whilst * is moving away at the
speed of light, to the Observer at ?, the seconds tick by at * only once
every two seconds, so that the time at * as seen from ? always reads half
of the actual time elapsed. Thus for an Object moving at velocity v = c
away from an Observer, where c is the speed of light, the apparent elapsed
time tO at the Object as observed by the Observer may be described as
follows:

When v = c, tO = t/2 [Equation №3]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, tO is the apparent elapsed

time of motion, and t is the actual elapsed time of motion)

Similarly, due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the trains arriving
at ? has also halved from one every second, to one every two seconds,
doubling the apparent wavelength of the light represented by the trains.
Thus it can be seen that for an Object moving at velocity v = c away from
an Observer, where c is the speed of light, the apparent wavelength λO of
the light from the Object as seen by an Observer is twice its true
wavelength λ. Hence:

When v = c, λO = 2λ [Equation №4]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, λO is the apparent wavelength

observed at velocity v, and λ is the actual wavelength observed at rest)

- 9 -
Experiment №3: Object moving away from Observer at a velocity of 2c (24"/s)

And so to the final experiment in this series studying objects moving away
from observers. This time, the electric wheelchair is set to travel at the
dizzy speed of 24"/s, representing twice the speed of light. The question
now is what would an observer see when watching a spaceship moving away
from him at twice the speed of light? Einstein himself never imagined
anything so fantastic. Again, there is a five-second countdown after the
scientists synchronize stopwatches and before the experiment begins. And
then:

At t = 0, the Object (*) begins to move away at 24"/s, equivalent on the

scale of the experiment to a velocity of twice the speed of light.

At t = 1, * is 24" away from ?, representing a distance of two light-

seconds, and drops Train №1 onto the track, which moves towards ? at 12"/s,
equivalent on this scale to the speed of light.

At t = 2, * is 48" away from ?, and drops Train №2. Train №1 is 12" from ?
at this time.

At t = 3, * is 72" from ?, and drops Train №3. Train №1 reaches ? at this

time, and ? notes that whilst t = 3, tO = 1. Meanwhile Train №2 has
travelled 12" in the direction of ? and is now 36" away from ?.

At t = 4, * is 96" from ?, and drops Train №4. Train №2 is now at 24" from
?, and Train №3 is at 60" distant from ?.

At t = 5, * is 120" from ? at the other end of the track, and drops Train
№5 before stopping. Train №2 is now 12" from ? and would reach ? in another
second if the experiment continued, so that when t = 6, tO = 2. The other
trains are spaced 36" apart further away from ?, with Train №3 at 48" from
?, Train №4 at 84" from ?, and Train №5 at 120" from ?.

The sequence of diagrams illustrating this experiment now follows:

- 10 -
Diagram №3: Object moving away from Observer at a velocity of 2c (24"/s)

At t = -5 to t = 0, tO = t:

?╞═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 1:

?╞═══╪═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 2:

?╞═══1═══╪═══╪═══2═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 3, tO = 1:

?1═══╪═══╪═══2═══╪═══╪═══3═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 4:

?╞═══╪═══2═══╪═══╪═══3═══╪═══╪═══4═══╪═══╡
*

At t = 5:

?╞═══2═══╪═══╪═══3═══╪═══╪═══4═══╪═══╪═══5
*

As can be seen from the diagrams, whilst * is moving away at twice the
speed of light, to the Observer at ?, the seconds tick by at * only once
every three seconds, so that the time at * as seen from ? always reads one
third of the actual time elapsed since * began moving away at twice the
speed of light, or 2c. Thus for an Object moving at velocity v = 2c away
from an Observer, where c is the speed of light, the apparent elapsed time
tO at the Object as observed by the Observer may be described as follows:

When v = 2c, tO = t/3 [Equation №5]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, tO is the apparent elapsed

time of motion, and t is the actual elapsed time of motion)

Similarly, due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the trains arriving
at ? has also decreased from one every second at rest, to one every three
seconds at twice light-speed, trebling the apparent wavelength of the light
represented by the trains. Thus it can be seen that for an Object moving at
velocity v = 2c away from an Observer, where c is the speed of light, the
apparent wavelength λO of the light from the Object as seen by an Observer
is thrice its true wavelength λ. Hence:

When v = 2c, λO = 3λ [Equation №6]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, λO is the apparent wavelength

observed at velocity v, and λ is the actual wavelength observed at rest)

- 11 -
Having completed this first round of experiments then, we have six
equations:

1. When v = c/2, tO = 2t/3

2. When v = c/2, λO = 3λ/2
3. When v = c, tO = t/2
4. When v = c, λO = 2λ
5. When v = 2c, tO = t/3
6. When v = 2c, λO = 3λ

Taking Equations №1, №3, and №5 then, dealing with time:

1. When v = c/2, tO = 2t/3

3. When v = c, tO = t/2
5. When v = 2c, tO = t/3

It can at once be seen that a relationship exists between v, tO, and t with
respect to c. This relationship is:

t
tO = ——————
(v/c)+1

This relationship can be demonstrated by substituting the values of v found

in Equations №1, №3, and №5. First with Equation №1 with v = c/2:

t t t
tO = —————————— = —————— = ——— = 2t/3
({c/2}/c)+1 (1/2)+1 (3/2)

Then Equation №3 with v = c:

t t
tO = —————— = ————— = t/2
(c/c)+1 1+1

Finally Equation №5 with v = 2c:

t t
tO = ——————— = ——————— = t/3
(2c/c)+1 (2/1)+1

Hence as the object's velocity away from the observer increases towards the
speed of light, time appears to the observer to slow down at the object.
Nothing special apparently happens after the object passes the speed of
light, the observer merely sees time continue to slow down at the object,
slowing to a stop as the object's velocity approaches infinity.

Similarly with Equations №2, №4, and №6, regarding wavelength:

2. When v = c/2, λO = 3λ/2

4. When v = c, λO = 2λ
6. When v = 2c, λO = 3λ

The relationship between v, λO, and λ with respect to c is plainly:

λO = [(v/c)+1]×λ

- 12 -
And demonstrating the relationship by substituting the values of v in
Equations №2, №4 and №6, firstly with v = c/2 in Equation №2:

λO = [(v/c)+1]×λ = [({c/2}/c)+1]×λ = [(1/2)+1]×λ = 3λ/2

Then with v = c in Equation №4:

λO = [(c/c)+1]×λ = [1+1]×λ = 2λ

And finally with v = 2c in Equation №6:

λO = [(2c/c)+1]×λ = [2+1]×λ = 3λ

Therefore as the object's velocity away from the observer increases towards
the speed of light, the wavelength of light from the object appears to the
observer to lengthen, and the object appears redder. Again, nothing special
apparently happens after the object passes the speed of light, the observer
merely sees the wavelength continue to lengthen through the infra-red into
the radio wavelengths, lengthening to infinity as the object's velocity
approaches infinity.

Having established these simple relationships between the appearance of an

object over time as it moves away from the observer at velocities
approaching or exceeding the speed of light (at least in terms of how time
appears to elapse, and of how the wavelength of emitted light appears to
lengthen) it is now time to test the Universal Observation Hypothesis by
considering the appearance of stationary objects which the observer moves
away from, and thereby discover if the simple mathematical relationships
between appearance and velocity for observers moving away from stationary
objects, are any different to those mathematical relationships already
determined for objects moving away from stationary observers.

Of course, if these experiments were being carried out by spaceships, two

experiments could be carried out at the same time, with the Observer in one
experiment doubling as the Object in another experiment simultaneously, and
vice versa. However this is not practical in the miniaturized version of
the experiment; the Object scientist is too busy dropping trains onto the
track himself to watch what the trains dropped on a second parallel track
by his colleague are doing. Hence the following three experiments are
identical to the previous experiments, except that the Object spaceship and
Observer spaceship swap chairs, or the scientists swap roles, so that the
Object (*) sits on the motionless chair dropping trains onto the end of the
track in front of him every second, whilst the Observer (?) moves away in
the electric wheelchair and times the arrival of each train as before, only
this time from the point on the track he has reached as each train passes
him.

- 13 -
Experiment №4: Observer moving away from Object at a velocity of c/2 (6"/s)

The two scientists have reversed their roles, or swapped places. Now we
consider the problem of the two spaceships, floating motionless together
for five seconds as a countdown to an experiment. After the countdown, the
Observer spaceship moves away from the stationary Object spaceship at half
of the speed of light for five seconds, the scientist inside looking back
through his telescope at the luminous clock mounted on top of the
motionless Object spaceship, and then stops. What does the observer in the
Observer spaceship see? The scientists in the church hall agree to use
their model railway set and electric wheelchair to simulate the experiment
using the scaled-down value for the speed of light of 12"/s. They
synchronize stopwatches, and after a count of five the wheelchair-bound
Observer (?) moves off at 6"/s, representing half of the speed of light,
holding onto his stopwatch, leaving the Object (*) behind sitting in his
immobile chair and ready with his box of clockwork trains.

At t = 1, ? is 6" from the stationary *, who drops the first train onto the
track at 0" from * and 6" from ?. This ridiculously innocuous little toy
train, Train №1, trundles ominously towards ? at 12"/s, representing a
light wave moving at the speed of light, ineluctably catching up with ?, as
if with something of tremendous importance to prove.

At t = 2, ? is 12" from *, and Train №1 has already caught up with him and
passes him. ? notes that, although his stopwatch says t = 2, Train №1 says
that tO = 1. ? also feels a little nervous, as he tries not to remember that
in Experiment №1 when he was sat still, and the Object * was moving away at
6"/s, tO was 1 when t was only 1½. But he pulls himself together and
continues with the experiment, telling himself that this is important.
Meanwhile * blissfully sets Train №2 running at the start of the track.

At t = 3, ? is 18" from *, and Train №1 continues on its way, forgotten for

the time being. If anybody was looking they would see that Train №1 is 24"
away from * and 6" behind ?. Meanwhile Train №2, moving as all the trains
do at 12"/s, is now 12" from *, and catching up with ? at only 6" distant
from him. * casually places Train №3 at the start of the track.

At t = 4, in the previous second ? has travelled another 6" away from * at

6"/s and is now 24" from *. Train №2, having been travelling for 2s at
12"/s in the same direction, is also at 24" along the track from *, and now
passes ? whilst ? notes that whilst t = 4, tO = 2. He is concentrating hard
and doesn't remember that in Experiment №1, t was only 3 when tO was 2.
Meanwhile Train №3 is bearing down on ? too, 12" from and directly between
* and ?. At this point * drops Train №4 at the start of the track, with
what appears to ? to be almost manic glee. 'What's really going on here?'
thinks ?.

At t = 5, ? is now 30" from *. Train №3 is 6" away from him and 24" away
from *. Train №4 is 12" further away from ? than Train №3, 18" from ? and
12" from *. Train №5 is placed at the start of the track 30" from ?, but ?
stops the experiment now and gets out of the wheelchair to collect Train
№1, now 48" from *, and indeed the other trains following after it, before
they run off the other end of the track and fall onto the floor.

The sequence of diagrams for this experiment now follows:

- 14 -
Diagram №4: Observer moving away from Object at a velocity of c/2 (6"/s)

At t = -5 to t = 0, tO = t:

*╞═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 1:

*1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 2, tO = 1:

*2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 3:

*3═══2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 4, tO = 2:

*4═══3═══2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 5:

*5═══4═══3═══2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

Without having to bother to make any calculations, it is already apparent

that the Universal Observation Hypothesis has more than an element of truth
in it. Plainly, objects observed moving away at velocities approaching the
speed of light, do not look the same as identical objects being moved away
from at identical velocities approaching the speed of light.

As can be seen from the diagrams, to the Observer at ?, the seconds tick by
at * only once every two seconds, so that the time at * as seen from ?
always reads half of the actual time elapsed, whilst ? is moving away from
* at half of the speed of light. And as has already been seen from
Experiment №1, when * is moving away from ? at half of the speed of light,
the time at * as seen from ? always reads two-thirds of the actual time
elapsed. Therefore objects moving away from observers really do appear
differently to identical objects being observed by observers moving away
from them at the same speed, at least in terms of the way time appears to
pass. Thus for an Observer moving at velocity v = c/2 away from an Object,
where c is the speed of light, the apparent elapsed time tO at the Object as
observed by the Observer may be described as follows:

When v = c/2, tO = t/2 [Equation №7]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, tO is the apparent elapsed

time of motion, and t is the actual elapsed time of motion)

As regards apparent wavelength, since trains arrive at ? every two seconds

instead of every second as they would normally do when both * and ? are at
rest, the frequency has halved and therefore the apparent wavelength must
has doubled. Thus it can be seen that for an Observer moving at velocity v

- 15 -
= c/2 away from an Object, where c is the speed of light, the apparent
wavelength λO of the light from the Object as seen by an Observer is twice
its true wavelength λ. Hence:

When v = c/2, λO = 2λ [Equation №8]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, λO is the apparent wavelength

observed at velocity v, and λ is the actual wavelength observed at rest)

As was already seen in Experiment №1, when the Object moves away from the
Observer at the identical velocity to that of the Observer away from the
Object in this Experiment №4 of half of the speed of light, the apparent
wavelength only increases by a factor of 3/2. Hence an Object moving away
from an Observer at a velocity approaching the speed of light, does not
appear as red-shifted as an identical Object being moved away from by an
Observer at an identical velocity.

- 16 -
Experiment №5: Observer moving away from Object at a velocity of c (12"/s)

Experiment №4 is now repeated with the wheelchair-bound Observer ? moving

away at 12"/s, again equivalent to the speed of light at a scale of 12" : 1
light-second. At t = 0, ? begins to move away at this speed, again
representing a spaceship moving away from another spaceship at the speed of
light.

At t = 1, ? is 12" from *, and * drops Train №1 at the start of the track,

moving at 12"/s.

At t = 2, ? is 24" from *, Train №1 is at 12" from *, and * drops Train №2

at the start of the track. All are moving at 12"/s.

By t = 5, it is plain to see that none of the trains are ever going to

reach ? unless he slows down or stops. ? is 60" from *, and the numbered
trains pursue him in vain, 12" apart from each other. Train №1 is 48" from
* and 12" from ?, Train №2 is 36" from * and 24" from ?, Train №3 is 24"
from * and 36" from ?, Train №4 is 12" from * and 48" from ?, and Train №5
is at *, 60" from ?.

If * had begun dropping trains on the track during the countdown, at t = -5

? would have seen Train №-5 go past at the same time as *, so both t and tO
would be -5. Similarly Trains №-4, №-3, №-2, and №-1 all go past ? at the
same time that they leave *, and t = tO for t = -4, t = -3, t = -2, t = -1,
and t = 0. Finally after t = 0, Train №0 (if there had been one) would have
accompanied ? all the way along the track, so that tO = 0 no matter what the
value of t once t > 0.

This experiment is illustrated here with the following sequence of

diagrams:

- 17 -
Diagram №5: Observer moving away from Object at a velocity of c (12"/s)

At t = -5 to t = 0, tO = t:

*╞═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 1, tO = 0:

*1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 2, tO = 0:

*2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 3, tO = 0:

*3═══2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 4, tO = 0:

*4═══3═══2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 5, tO = 0:

*5═══4═══3═══2═══1═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

It can be seen from the diagram that, to the Observer at ?, the seconds do
not apparently tick by at the Object (*) at all, and not only has time
apparently frozen at t = 0 at *, but * has apparently ceased to exist
altogether (the light waves from * are entirely motionless relative to ?
unless he moves his head, and as such are entirely invisible). Therefore,
for an Observer moving at velocity v = c away from an Object, where c is
the speed of light, the apparent elapsed time of motion tO at the Object as
observed by the Observer is always equal to zero:

When v = c, tO = 0 [Equation №9]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, and tO is the apparent

elapsed time of motion)

As regards apparent wavelength, since no trains ever arrive at ?, the

frequency is zero, and the apparent wavelength is the reciprocal of zero
i.e. infinity. The implications of a light wave of apparently infinite
wavelength are a headache which somebody else, a theologian perhaps, may
meditate upon. I assume that it is invisible but omnipresent; the light
beam that Einstein imagined himself riding upon as a truant schoolboy. In
any case, it can be deduced if not seen that for an Observer moving at
velocity v = c away from an Object, where c is the speed of light, the
apparent wavelength λO of the light from the Object as seen by the Observer
is always infinite. Hence:

When v = c, λO = ∞ [Equation №10]

- 18 -
(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, and λO is the apparent
wavelength observed at velocity v)

This result is radically different to the result of Experiment №2, with

Object moving away from Observer at the speed of light; the most obvious
implication of the result of Experiment №5 being that anything that an
observer moves away from at the speed of light disappears and is thereby
effectively frozen in time, and possibly in memory too. However, it was
seen in Experiment №2 that when an object moves away from an observer at
the speed of light, it remains perfectly detectable only its wavelength has
apparently doubled and time appears to have slowed down by one half.
Therefore if it is known that either an object or its observer is
motionless whilst the other is in motion, it should be possible for the
observer to discern which by the effect of the motion upon the observed
apparent passage of time at the object.

- 19 -
Experiment №6: Observer moving away from Object at a velocity of 2c (24"/s)

This final experiment is going to be really strange, thinks ? as the two

scientists set up again for the final time. This time ? will move away from
* at 24"/s, equivalent to twice the speed of light. The question the
scientists are trying to answer is this: what does the Object spaceship
look like from an Observer spaceship that is moving away from it at twice
the speed of light? The scientists count down 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... and
at t = 0, ? begins rolling away from * at 24"/s like Davros in reverse.

At t = 1, * drops Train №1 at the start of the track, running as always at

12"/s, the constant speed of light. ? is now already at 24" away from * and
sees straight away that the little train has no hope of catching him this
time either.

At t = 2, Train №1 is 12" from *, with Train №2 at the start 12" behind

him. ? is all of 48" away from *.

By t = 5, ? has reached the end of the track 120" away from *. He's out of
there. Trains №1, №2, №3, №4, №5, all follow in his wake like the last
tired marathon finishers, despite still moving at the equivalent of the
speed of light. They are all 12" apart from each other, at distances from *
of 48", 36", 24", 12", and 0" respectively.

Again, if * had begun dropping trains on the track during the countdown, at
t = -5 ? would have seen Train №-5 go past at the same time as * saw it set
off, so both t and tO would be the same. Similarly t and tO would be
identical for Trains №-4, №-3, №-2, and №-1. Finally at t = 0, ? would have
immediately left Train №0 behind, and by t = 1 would have caught up with
Train №-1 that he saw leaving * two seconds previously. At t = 2 ? would
catch up with Train №-2 that he saw leaving * three seconds previously, and
by t = 5 would have overtaken Trains №-3 and №-4, and caught up with Train
№-5. This is somewhat clearer in the following sequence og diagrams:

- 20 -
Diagram №6: Observer moving away from Object at a velocity of 2c (24"/s)

At t = -5 to t = 0, tO = t:

*0══-1══-2══-3══-4══-5═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 1, tO = -1:

*1═══0══-1══-2══-3══-4══-5═══╪═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 2, tO = -2:

*2═══1═══0══-1══-2══-3══-4══-5═══╪═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 3, tO = -3:

*3═══2═══1═══0══-1══-2══-3══-4══-5═══╪═══╡
?

At t = 4, tO = -4:

*4═══3═══2═══1═══0══-1══-2══-3══-4══-5═══╡
?

At t = 5, tO = -5:

*5═══4═══3═══2═══1═══0══-1══-2══-3══-4══-5
?

The interesting point to note here is that, whilst the Observer spaceship
(?) is looking at the Object spaceship (*) and moving at a velocity of
twice the speed of light, he sees nothing of *. Nothing. In fact, at twice
the speed of light ? will not see anything at all looking in the direction
of the Object spaceship (*), in the opposite direction to his direction of
motion, since at any speed faster than light no light from behind his
direction of motion can ever catch up with him and is always falling behind
him, and is therefore invisible. All ? sees behind him is a horrible
infinitely black void, although like blindness this is of course an optical
illusion. However, if ? takes the trouble to look ahead of himself, in the
direction of his motion at twice the speed of light, what he sees there may
possibly send him bonkers mad, because in that direction he will see a far
more interesting optical illusion. Travelling at twice the speed of light,
and looking in front of him in the direction of his motion, ? sees a mirror
image of his point of origin, of his own spaceship together with the Object
spaceship (*), somehow directly in front of him, with the entire scene
apparently receding far ahead of him in the direction of his motion at
twice the speed of light again relative to his point of origin, that is to
say at four times the speed of light! This is because whilst ? is moving at
twice the speed of light, he is overtaking from behind the light that
already left his starting point at *, light that is itself moving in the
same direction as ? but at only once the speed of light. This light is
therefore entering ?'s eye backwards at the speed of light (-2c + c = - c)
as he overtakes it, the effect being somewhat like watching a film from
behind the screen and facing the projectionist. What is more, ? sees that *
and himself are apparently moving backwards in time as well, since he is
overtaking light that left * further and further in the past, the further
away from * he travels faster than light. So as ? leaves * behind at twice

- 21 -
the speed of light, ? sees in front of him the mirror image of the two
spaceships ? and * behind him reversing their preparations for the
experiment, whilst racing ahead in exactly the wrong direction at twice the
speed of light again, and hears himself talking backwards with his
colleague on the radio. «Les passagers sont priés de ne pas regarder par
les fenêtres tout en voyageant vers leurs destinations. Ceci est le 0915
Service Temps universel coordonné pour Epsilon Indi. Appel à Tau Ceti, YZ
Ceti, EZ Aquarii, Lacaille 9352, Ross 154 et Epsilon Indi. Le prochain
arrêt sera Tau Ceti. Le bar est ouvert. Nous vous remercions de voler avec
Qantas...»

... So it can be said, for an Observer moving at velocity v = 2c away from

an Object, where c is the speed of light, that the apparent elapsed time of
motion tO at the Object as observed by the Observer in the direction of the
Observer's motion, is always equal to the negative value of the actual time
elapsed since the Observer began moving i.e. the apparent time of motion tO
away from a stationary Object at twice the speed of light, is equal to the
time of motion before the Observer began moving. Hence:

When v = 2c, tO = -t [Equation №11]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, tO is the apparent elapsed

time of motion, and t is the actual elapsed time of motion)

As regards apparent wavelength, trains arrive at ? every second moving

backwards relative to ?, from the opposite direction to which the Object
(*) is situated. This may be described mathematically by saying that for an
Observer moving at velocity v = 2c away from an Object, where c is the
speed of light, the apparent wavelength λO of the light from the Object as
seen by an Observer is always the negative value of the true wavelength λ.
Hence:

When v = 2c, λO = -λ [Equation №12]

(where v is velocity, c is the speed of light, λO is the apparent wavelength

observed at velocity v, and λ is the actual wavelength observed at rest)

Again, this result is drastically different to the result of Experiment №2,

with the Object moving away from the Observer at twice the speed of light.

Thus, from our three further experiments we have obtained six further
equations:

7. When v = c/2, tO = t/2

8. When v = c/2, λO = 2λ
9. When v = c, tO = 0
10. When v = c, λO = ∞
11. When v = 2c, tO = -t
12. When v = 2c, λO = -λ

Taking Equations №7, №9, and №11 then, dealing with time:

7. When v = c/2, tO = t/2

9. When v = c, tO = 0
11. When v = 2c, tO = -t

It can at once be seen that a relationship exists between v, tO, and t with
respect to c. This relationship is:

- 22 -
 tO = t - [(v/c) × t]

As can be demonstrated by substituting the value of v = c/2 from Equation

№7 into the deduced relationship:

tO = t - [({c/2}/c) × t] = t - [(1/2) × t] = t/2

And v = c from Equation №8:

tO = t - [(c/c) × t] = t - [1 × t] = t - t = 0

And v = 2c from Equation №9:

tO = t - [(2c/c) × t] = t – [(2/1) × t] = t - 2t = -t

Hence time at the object appears to slow down to a stop as the observer
approaches the speed of light, and at the speed of light, time at the
object appears to stop and the object appers to stop existing. Having
passed the speed of light, time at the object appears to accelerate
backwards as the observer's velocity increases further beyond the speed of
light.

Again with Equations №8, №10, and №12, regarding wavelength:

8. When v = c/2, λO = 2λ
10. When v = c, λO = ∞
12. When v = 2c, λO = -λ

This one was a little trickier to spot, but the relationship between v, λO,
and λ with respect to c is clearly:

λ
λO = ——————
1-(v/c)

Substituting the values of v used in Equations №8, №10 and №12 into the
deduced relationship by way of demonstration, beginning with v = c/2 from
Equation №8:

λ λ
λO = ——————————— = ————— = 2λ
1-({c/2}/c) (1/2)

And now v = c from Equation №10:

λ λ λ
λO = ———————— = ——— = — = ∞
1-(c/c) 1–1 0

And then v = 2c from Equation №12:

λ λ λ
λO = ———————— = ——— = —— = -λ
1-(2c/c) 1-2 -1

Hence, the apparent wavelength of an object observed by an observer moving

away from it lengthens towards infinity as the observer approaches the
speed of light. Having passed the speed of light, the wavelength then
shrinks from negative infinity towards zero as the observer's velocity

- 23 -
increases to infinity, and having passed the light barrier the direction of
the light waves is entirely reversed so that the observer can only observe
the object from the opposite direction of the object, in the same direction
as the observer's motion away from it.

Plainly, in theory at least, the Universal Observation Hypothesis is

correct. Now might be a good time to postulate some Universal Laws of
Observation.

Law Number One: 'As an object's velocity away from an observer

increases, time at the object's location appears to the observer to slow
to a stop as the object's velocity approaches infinity, according to the
formula:

t
tO = ——————
(v/c)+1

where tO is observed time, t is actual time, v is the velocity of the

object away from the observer, and c is the speed of light.'

Law Number Two: 'As an object's velocity away from an observer

increases, any wavelength of light from the object appears to the
observer to lengthen to infinity as the object's velocity approaches
infinity, according to the formula:

λO = [(v/c)+1]×λ

where λO is the observed wavelength, v is the velocity of the object away

from the observer, c is the speed of light, and λ is the actual
wavelength.'

Law Number Three: 'As an observer's velocity away from an object

increases, time at the object's location appears to the observer to slow
down to a stop as the observer's velocity passes the speed of light,
then accelerate backwards as the observer's velocity increases further
beyond the speed of light, according to the formula:

tO = t-[(v/c)×t]

where tO is observed time, t is actual time, v is the velocity of the

observer away from the object, and c is the speed of light.'

Law Number Four: 'As an observer's velocity away from an object

increases, any wavelength of light from the object appears to the
observer to lengthen to infinity as the observer approaches the speed of
light, then reverse incident direction by 180° as the observer passes
the speed of light, then shrink from negative infinity towards zero as
the observer's velocity increases beyond the speed of light to infinity,
according to the formula:

λ
λO = ——————
1-(v/c)

- 24 -
 where λO is the observed wavelength, λ is the actual wavelength, v is the
velocity of the observer away from the object, and c is the speed of
light.'

It is apparent from these experiments that whether or not an observer is

present at either a stationary point or another point moving away from it
at 'Relativistic' velocities, the way that incident light waves originating
from each point behave upon arrival at the other point is always different
at each point in a manner that is mathematically predictable. This implies
an absolute frame of reference in the Universe, a stationary backdrop of
void against which all matter and energy may measure motion, whose own
motionlessness is dictated by the speed of light relative to it, and which
is not arbitrarily superimposed as an invented abstract concept.

- 25 -