Speed of light equal for all observers

In summary, the speed of light appears to be equal for all observers, based on the doppler shift. However, this is not something that you should "understand" the first time you learn it--it actually came as a big surprise to professional physicists.
  • #1
cider_drinker
15
0
In this paper :
Light is Heavy
the following is claimed:
"the speed of light appears to be equal for all observers"

How can this be true if astronomers rely on the doppler shift to determine if an electromagnetic source is moving away or closer to the earth?

How does this tie in with velocity = frequency * wavelength?

Is it not because the velocity 'aka speed in a straight line' changes that the wavelength, or frequency changes? hence, the velocity is changed if you are traveling toward or away from a source, resulting in a change of wavelength?

Or is it that the velocity remains constant, but the wavelength changes?
 
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  • #2
The speed of light remains constant, the wavelength and frequency appear to vary with relative motion of the source.
 
  • #3
what if the moon was one light-minute away and you had person "A" on the moon and person "B" on the earth, and person "B" shinned a laser to the moon. Person "A" woild say it took two minutes to get there because It would take the light a minute to get there and another minute to before it could be seen from earth. Now the man on the moon would see it as soon as it got to the moon. Thus person "B'" would say it took 2 minutes to get there and person "A" would say it only took a minute to get there. If both men said speed = time * distances they woild come up with diffrents speeds, this is relativity right, but I don't see where the speed of light is constant because relativity say the speed of light is to be the same for both observers.
 
  • #4
There is more to it than that. In your experiment, both A and B can agree on the times and distances perfectly (since they both can take into account the fact that one will need the light to return).

The constancy of the speed of light refers to the speed that two observers in relative motion will measure for the same light ray.

Imagine you are driving a car at, say, 35 mph, and your friend's car passes yours quite fast, say at 70 mph (with respect to the asphalt, which means he is going 35 mph with respect to you). If you both see a third car passing by at 90 mph, you and your friend will measure its speed as 55 and 20 mph, respectively. I.e., the speed of the third car will be measured differently by you two.

However, if instead of a third car, you both decided to measure the speed of a light ray passing by, you both would get the same exact result. It is not something you are supposed to "understand" the first time you learn it. It actually came as a big surprise when pofessional physicists first discovered it (by doing precise experiments), but it is the way nature works. We need to build our models from there and, when applicable, adequate our intuition to it.
 
  • #5
I see what you are saying and I agree. I use a cad program and plotted out a graph of this. What I see if the light is passing bettween the 30 and 90 mph cars and that all meet at a common referance point then keep traveling as the light travels in repect to the cars the distance is from the light and cars are changes and the distance from the cars from the referance point changes too. However if your in the 90mph car from your point of view you could say that you were stationary and then It would look as if the light did not travel as far in a give time frame and this would proprosional. If you would consider the 30 mph car as sationary then you would say that the light travel further than the 90mph would have said but it took a longer time and all this would be proprosional to each other because as the light source is tavel away from you at a set speed the light traveling back to you (that you see) is travel at the same speed as the source is traveling away from you. With all this said I still can not see how travel faster the light would cause time travel.
 

1. What is the speed of light equal for all observers?

The speed of light is a universal constant, meaning that it is the same for all observers regardless of their relative velocity or motion. It has been measured to be approximately 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum.

2. How was the speed of light determined to be constant for all observers?

The constancy of the speed of light was first observed and measured by the famous physicist Albert Einstein in his theory of special relativity. He showed that the speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of their frame of reference, and is a fundamental law of the universe.

3. Does the speed of light have any exceptions?

Based on current scientific understanding, the speed of light is considered to be an absolute limit and has no exceptions. This means that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, and it is the same for all observers.

4. Why is the constancy of the speed of light important?

The constancy of the speed of light is crucial in our understanding of the universe and how it works. It forms the basis for Einstein's theory of special relativity, which has been experimentally verified and is essential in many modern technologies such as GPS systems and particle accelerators.

5. Is there any evidence that supports the idea of the speed of light being the same for all observers?

There is a vast amount of evidence that supports the idea of the speed of light being constant for all observers. In addition to Einstein's theory of special relativity, numerous experiments and observations, such as the Michelson-Morley experiment and the observed time dilation of fast-moving particles, have consistently confirmed the constancy of the speed of light.

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