Why doesn't light go faster than it does?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Meatbot
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Light
AI Thread Summary
Light does not travel faster than its established speed due to the fundamental properties of permittivity and permeability, which govern electromagnetic wave propagation. Despite having no mass, light's speed is constrained by the principles of relativity, making it a special case in physics. Other forces, including gravity and nuclear interactions, also propagate at this maximum speed. The discussion emphasizes that no wave equation can define a scenario where the speed of propagation is infinite. Thus, the speed of light remains a constant limit in the universe.
Meatbot
Messages
146
Reaction score
1
If it has no mass, what stops it from going arbitrarily fast? Why doesn't it have infinite speed?
 
Science news on Phys.org
Permittivity & permeability properties determine e.m. wave speed.
 
Check out [post=1556816]this excellent post[/post] on the subject by rbj.
⚛​
 
Try writing down a wave equation where the speed of propagation is infinite :p
 
light is a special case .no mater what speed of light cannot be more than what it is.its a relativity concept.
 
nandan said:
light is a special case .no mater what speed of light cannot be more than what it is.its a relativity concept.

Actually, it's not just light - as rbj points out in the post I linked to E&M, gravity, nuclear interactions, etc. all travel at the speed of light.
⚛​
 
Thread 'A quartet of epi-illumination methods'

Thread 'A quartet of epi-illumination methods'

Well, it took almost 20 years (!!!), but I finally obtained a set of epi-phase microscope objectives (Zeiss). The principles of epi-phase contrast is nearly identical to transillumination phase contrast, but the phase ring is a 1/8 wave retarder rather than a 1/4 wave retarder (because with epi-illumination, the light passes through the ring twice). This method was popular only for a very short period of time before epi-DIC (differential interference contrast) became widely available. So...
View full post »

Thread 'Effective absorption coefficient of gold nanoparticles'

I am currently undertaking a research internship where I am modelling the heating of silicon wafers with a 515 nm femtosecond laser. In order to increase the absorption of the laser into the oxide layer on top of the wafer it was suggested we use gold nanoparticles. I was tasked with modelling the optical properties of a 5nm gold nanoparticle, in particular the absorption cross section, using COMSOL Multiphysics. My model seems to be getting correct values for the absorption coefficient and...
View full post »

Similar threads

I What travels faster: visible light in water or X-rays in liquid mercury?
Replies
6
Views
2K
Can Light Travel Faster Than the Speed of Light in Glass?
Replies
18
Views
2K
Speed of Light when not in a vacuum?
Replies
5
Views
6K
Diffraction of light and conservation of energy.
Replies
3
Views
2K
Mass, Light Speed, and the Mystery of Photons Explained
Replies
19
Views
2K
I It's still not clear to me what's the limit of light propagation
Replies
6
Views
2K
Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light
Replies
13
Views
3K
Faster than light: Instantaneous lever
Replies
14
Views
3K
I Dispersion: Why are Sine-like Functions Fundamental?
Replies
6
Views
1K
Why does the speed of light change in different media?
Replies
4
Views
4K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top