Not necessarily. This is somewhat counter-intuitive, but the light lags the direction of the Coulomb’s law’s attraction if a charge moves past you with a constant velocity (and has been doing so for some time). The attraction force points to the “true” direction of the charge, whereas light takes a bit to catch up.
Note that this apparent FTL effect cannot be used to transmit any information FTL, because, as soon as you try to wiggle the charge to telegraph something, this wiggling will only be sent as EM radiation (light), at light speed.
So, it’s possible for the electrical force to act from a location that never had a charge? If the charge moves at a constant speed long enough and then makes a hard turn away, the charge will act on other objects (at least briefly) as if the charge had continued straight? Does the charge also act on the object as though it had not turned, even after it had, or is the force unilateral?
Yes to the second, not sure how the third is different. That’s why, in part, Newton’s second law does not in general hold for Electromagnetism, but momentum conservation does, if you account for the momentum of the electromagnetic field itself.
That behavior is contrary to naive expectations, right? If I run really fast towards a wall but turn before I reach it, I shouldn’t hit it. It also shouldn’t smash my face in after I make the turn.
The major force involved in billiard balls bouncing off of each other is electric in nature, right?
Isn’t “the direction of the charge” where you point a telescope to look at it, even if it is moving?
Not necessarily. This is somewhat counter-intuitive, but the light lags the direction of the Coulomb’s law’s attraction if a charge moves past you with a constant velocity (and has been doing so for some time). The attraction force points to the “true” direction of the charge, whereas light takes a bit to catch up.
Note that this apparent FTL effect cannot be used to transmit any information FTL, because, as soon as you try to wiggle the charge to telegraph something, this wiggling will only be sent as EM radiation (light), at light speed.
So, it’s possible for the electrical force to act from a location that never had a charge? If the charge moves at a constant speed long enough and then makes a hard turn away, the charge will act on other objects (at least briefly) as if the charge had continued straight? Does the charge also act on the object as though it had not turned, even after it had, or is the force unilateral?
Yes to the second, not sure how the third is different. That’s why, in part, Newton’s second law does not in general hold for Electromagnetism, but momentum conservation does, if you account for the momentum of the electromagnetic field itself.
That behavior is contrary to naive expectations, right? If I run really fast towards a wall but turn before I reach it, I shouldn’t hit it. It also shouldn’t smash my face in after I make the turn.
The major force involved in billiard balls bouncing off of each other is electric in nature, right?