The Speed of Light, Gravity, and Why it all is what it is.

[bcrowell]

Dude Smoke This:

e = mc^2.
The fine structure constant alpha.
The Robert Dickie relationship (GM/R) = c^2
The Wienberg constant
Planck units
The black hole radius


c appears throughout physics in many different relationships - some have no direct bearing on the use of the constant in the context of light velocity

Sure, that's fine, but I don't think that has anything to do with the things you said in #46 about "the interconnectedness of all things," etc. In appropriate units, c=1. I could then say that 1 attests to the interconnectedness of all things, and I guess that would be true, too, because 1 sure does show up in a lot of equations.

 

[Passionflower]

Is it even known why light travels at the speed that it does?

You mean why does it take light to go from the Earth to the Moon about 1.26 seconds and not for instance 1 second or 2 seconds?

Nobody knows.

 

[bcrowell]

You mean why does it take light to go from the Earth to the Moon about 1.26 seconds and not for instance 1 second or 2 seconds?

Nobody knows.

I know this thread is extremely long now, so it may be time-consuming to go back through it all, but we had a long discussion of this earlier, and as argued there, I disagree with the "nobody knows" answer.

 

[yogi]

Sure, that's fine, but I don't think that has anything to do with the things you said in #46 about "the interconnectedness of all things," etc. In appropriate units, c=1. I could then say that 1 attests to the interconnectedness of all things, and I guess that would be true, too, because 1 sure does show up in a lot of equations.

You have given a good example of what is wrong with modern physics - let c = 1 and G = 1 and whatever else = 1... then try to find the physics - first you denude the factor of its units (which are often useful in finding relationships) - then compound the sin by disregarding the numerical value - so with the physics stripped and the value obliterated - you hope to find some physical meaning in these factors -

Its no wonder your blind to any significance revealed by the fact that c shows up in so many relationships - cosmological and quantum

 

[Dale]

You have given a good example of what is wrong with modern physics - let c = 1 and G = 1 and whatever else = 1... then try to find the physics - first you denude the factor of its units (which are often useful in finding relationships) - then compound the sin by disregarding the numerical value

Neither of these assertions are correct. We use units where the numerical value is 1. E.g. Years and light years, or ~feet and nanoseconds, or Planck lengths and Planck times.

Do you think that physics may only be done in SI units?

 

[ZapperZ]

This thread is done.

Zz.