What if light could only travel at 50km/hr?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zero-G
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Light Travel
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the hypothetical scenario of light traveling at a speed of 50 km/hr, examining the implications for life, technology, and the universe. It includes speculative reasoning about the effects on relativity, transportation, and communication.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants speculate that if light traveled at 50 km/hr, life as we know it might not exist due to the proximity of matter in the universe.
  • One participant mentions a website featuring models that illustrate how light speed changes would affect visual perception of streetlamps and streetcars.
  • Concerns are raised about the safety of vehicles traveling faster than the hypothetical speed of light, suggesting that accidents would be more common.
  • Another participant suggests that relativity effects would become more pronounced, potentially making space travel impossible due to escape velocity constraints.
  • There is a claim that electronic devices would operate at drastically reduced speeds, fundamentally altering user experience and expectations of technology.
  • A later reply introduces the idea that light can already be slowed to 7 m/s or even 0 m/s under specific conditions, referencing research by Lena Hau, which challenges the premise of the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of speculative ideas about the implications of light traveling at 50 km/hr, but there is no consensus on the outcomes or validity of the scenarios presented. Some participants challenge the initial premise by introducing existing scientific findings.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes assumptions about the nature of light and its effects on various systems, which may not be universally accepted. The implications of relativity and technological impacts remain unresolved and speculative.

Zero-G
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Has anyone ever wondered how life would be different if light could only travel at 50km/hr?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Nope, definitely not something I ever thought about. :-p
 
Yes I have. Then i thoguth of something else.
 
Life probably wouldn't exist, just think of how close we would still be to all other matter in the universe...
 
There's this whole website about that, it has flash models of blinking streetlamps and moving streetcars, and what they would look like if light were different speeds.

Its good.
 
Cars traveling at 60 would be very accident prone.
 
Well, the speed limit's already 50, so they're speeding.
 
If light could only travel at 50km/hr, then this is a maximum speed and hence nothing can travel faster than it. I am guessing that the effects of relativity would become much more noticeable and space travel would be impossible because the escape velocity of the Earth would exceed the speed of light. As for computers, internet, mobile phones or anything else electronic, they'd be so slow that 'patience' would get a whole new meaning.
 
I hate to break this to you, but light can already travel at 7 m/s, or even 0 m/s! Lena Hau has done tons of work on this. The caveat, of course, is that these are all in atomic gasses that has been EM-induced to be transparent.

Why did you post this in GD? You wish to receive creative and amusing answers? The crackpot rules... er... I mean Posting Guidelines still apply even in GD.

Zz.
 
  • #10
Mk said:
Well, the speed limit's already 50, so they're speeding.

Pssh, the speed limit on motorways is 70mph here :cool:
 
  • #11
70mph if your a big fat truck, a caravan or just a big sissy girl. To anyone else its at least 90mph.
 
  • #12
Find a copy of
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Similar threads

Undergrad What can we scientifically measure directly?
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
4K
Graduate RIP Edwin F Taylor (1931-2025)
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
Undergrad Could the (SR) forbidden photon's own referential mean something?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
474
High School c^2 in Einstein‘s theory of relativity
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
Undergrad What Are the Current Events in the Universe 13 Billion Years Ago?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
High School What Medium Does Light Travel Through in Space?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
Undergrad What accelerates the light back to its constant speed?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Tracking travel between orbits in a whirlpool
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
Static electricity (like tree lightning) on my ceiling?
  • · Replies 24 ·
Replies
24
Views
6K
Undergrad Why does my ceiling glow in the dark?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
5K