Does my shipboard computer slow down as I approach light speed?

This question about time dilation got me thinking.

The speed of an electron through copper is a whole heckofa lot slower than the speed of light, but if I understand the limits of relativity correctly, the electron can never travel faster than the speed of light anyway.

Now, let's ignore the ultra slow drift velocity (<<0.01c) and stick with signal propagation, also known as the velocity factor (~.95c). If you're not aware of the difference, consider a Newton's Cradle. The middle balls hardly move (drift velocity) but the last ball in line goes winging off into space (velocity factor).

So, if my ship is traveling at 0.95c then the "ball at the end" of my Newton's Cradle is moving at the same speed as the ship, and since I'm dealing with relativistic problems, it's standing still, right?

Which means, if I'm correct, my computer is at a standstill.

Am I correct? Will humanity need to come up with a non-EM logic board to perform course calculations for relativistic ships? Or will relativistic speeds always be limited by the computational speed required to make course corrections? (Making massively parallel computing a very desirable thing).

posted almost 7 years ago

JBH‭

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