Was wondering what set c to its speed ?

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The discussion centers on the speed of light, denoted as "c," and what determines its value. Participants clarify that "c" is influenced by the electrical and magnetic properties of the vacuum, as described by Maxwell's equations. There is speculation about whether string theory could provide insights into why these properties set the speed of light, with skepticism expressed about its potential to define "c" as a specific value. Additionally, one participant suggests that "c" might be a fundamental property of spacetime geometry, implying that the constants related to permeability and permittivity are effects rather than causes. The conversation highlights the complexity of understanding the fundamental nature of light's speed in physics.
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was wondering what set c to its speed ?
 
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was wondering what you really masgrgdffh ?
 
was wondering what you really masgrgdffh ?

Lol. Did you fall asleep on your keyboard before finishing that sentence? :smile:

And Bozo, c is the speed of light.
 
"was wondering what set c to its speed ?"

from what i can interpret from that badly written question, he wants to know what exactly sets a photons speed to C and not to any other velocity.
 
Gza said:
Lol. Did you fall asleep on your keyboard before finishing that sentence? :smile:

No, but I wanted to be about as coherent as Bozo.
 
The electrical and magnetic properties of the vacuum set the value of c, according to the Maxwell equations.
 
As a follow-up to what selfAdjoint wrote, is there any hope that string theory will help answer why "the electrical and magnetic properties of the vacuum set the value of c"?
 
My guess: probably not. ST will probably set out a range of possible values for c, or outline equations which will function if c is a certain value, or whatever. But I doubt it would mathematically define c to be a specific value as a matter of neccessity.

I don't think c is just set by magnetic properties of the vacuum, and so on. I think that c is a specific property set by the geometry of our particular spacetime, and that the permeability/permitivity constants are effects, rather than causes. But then again, I don't really know.
 
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