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Crusty
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why is light's speed the fastest speed?
how is it known that light's speed is the fastest speed?
how is it known that light's speed is the fastest speed?
Crusty said:why is light's speed the fastest speed?
how is it known that light's speed is the fastest speed?
dextercioby said:The Special theory of relativity postulates the existence of a speed (let that be denoted by "c") whose value is independent of any inertial reference frame it's being measured in... so we're convinced, for the moment, that "c" cannot be exceeded.Daniel.
Oxymoron said:I prefer to think of it the other way around...
First we calculate that there IS a fastest speed. THEN we say that anything that travels at this speed IS "light".
Einstein ASSUMED (hypothesized) the speed of light in vacuum was constant. It was a good assumption because Michelson & Morley kept trying and failing to measure a difference between the speed of light 1) in the direction of the Earth's motion round the sun and 2) a direction perpendicular to that motion.We raise this conjecture (the purport of which will hereafter be called the "Principle of Relativity") to the status of a postulate, and introduce another postulate, which is only apparently irreconcilable with the former, namely that light is always propagated in empty space with a definite velocity c which is independent of the state of motion of the emitting body.
"On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", 1905, reprinted by Dover.
I'll take a crack at this but I'll probably be repeating what is posted above.Crusty said:why is light's speed the fastest speed?
how is it known that light's speed is the fastest speed?
The speed of light, which is approximately 299,792,458 meters per second, is considered the fastest speed because it is the ultimate speed limit of the universe. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the speed of light is the maximum speed at which all matter and information in the universe can travel. Nothing can surpass or even reach this speed, making it the fastest speed in the known universe.
The speed of light was first accurately measured by the Danish astronomer Ole Rømer in 1676. He observed the apparent delay in the eclipses of Jupiter's moons and calculated the time it took for light to travel from Jupiter to Earth. Later, in 1849, French physicist Hippolyte Fizeau conducted an experiment using a rotating toothed wheel to measure the speed of light, which was later refined by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley in 1887. Now, the speed of light is defined as a constant value based on the International System of Units (SI).
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the speed of light is constant and is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion. This means that as an object approaches the speed of light, time dilates, and space contracts. This phenomenon is known as time dilation and length contraction, and it has been proven through numerous experiments. It also means that the faster an object moves, the slower time will pass for it and the shorter it will appear in the direction of motion.
No, it is not possible for anything to travel faster than the speed of light. This is because as an object approaches the speed of light, its mass increases infinitely, making it impossible to accelerate further. Additionally, as an object's speed increases, its energy also increases, and at the speed of light, its energy would become infinite. This would require an infinite amount of energy, which is impossible.
No, the speed of light cannot be exceeded through quantum entanglement or any other means. While quantum entanglement allows two particles to communicate with each other instantly, it does not involve the transfer of information or matter. This means that it does not violate the speed of light limit, as no physical object is actually traveling faster than the speed of light. Additionally, the principles of relativity still apply in quantum mechanics, so the speed of light remains the ultimate speed limit in the universe.