Speed of light questions...?

Question

If things that reach the speed of light cease to exist, due to their size and mass becoming zero, how is it that light still exists?

Why is it that if light can reach the speed of light nothing else is allowed to?

Why is it that the speed of light is given as one speed when it clearly isnt as red/blue shift seen in stars prove?

Why is it that we, today, still refuse to beleive that experiments with light speed are, currently, impossible to do accurately enough to guage light speed correctly?

Lets get a debate going about true light theory not held down by ancient theory and hero worship!

Discuss!

Answer 1

There are two types of particle in the universe. Those with a rest mass (ie a mass when they are stationary) and those with no rest mass. Only zero rest mass particles can travel at the speed of light.

Measurements have shown that the speed of light is the same however fast you are moving. This couterintuitive result is the basis for special relativity. It is fairly straightforward to show from this measurement that accelerating a particle with non zero rest mass close to the speed of light does not simply add to its energy but increases its mass. An infinite amount of energy would be needed to accelerate a particle with non-zero rest mass to the speed of light. This effect too can be measured in a lab.

The red shift does not have its origins in changes in the speed of light at all - in fact it relies on the speed of light being the same for all wavelengths of light. It is in effect the doppler effect for light - the same thing that makes the frequency of a passing car drop as it recedes.

And it is perfectly possible - not even that difficult - to do measurements on the speed of light accurate to 8 or 9 decimal places.

Answer 2

When things reach the speed of light it's not that they don't exist, it just that the light that comes off of them is relative to the speed that they're travelling so it cancels out due to the fact that it's going so fast.

Other objects can and do reach the spead of light - as the universe is expanding, objects in the outer rim begin to lose the effect of gravity as they move further and further apart and thus move faster and faster away from each other, until the point at which they hit the speed of light and once again because it's relative we can't see it although we know it's there!!

don't know this part - perhaps it's an average??

The problem with light is that it has wave particle duality (it can act like a wave and/or a particle at the same time!) thus it difficult to experiment on it accurately (perhaps that's why it has red/blue shift too depending on it's duality?) however in Australia they are experimenting on it as we speak ina very Star Trek like style so perhaps it will be gauged pretty soon?!

And let's not debate true light theory please because it always has a tendency to develop into space and time and travel and just walks itself off a cliff after 15 minutes because it get's so complicated (a bit like the film "Revolver" really!)

Afro Peat

Answer 3

1) “Things’ that reach the speed of light do not cease to exist. Wherever did you get that idea from.

2) Massive “things’ that reach C do not find their size and mass becoming zero. A massive object that reaches C has infinite energy and hence infinite mass.

3) Light can reach C because of two factors: t is massless and it is created already travelling at C. Having no mass it requires no energy to move, and being created at C it requires no energy to accelerate. That overcomes the two major problems of massive objects moving at C.

4) Light is NOT the only object “allowed” to reach C. A great many particles are also allowed reach C, including electrons.

5) The speed of light in any given medium is a stable constant. Red and blue shift confirms this fact, it does NOT prove it isn’t correct. Whatever made you think that t does?

6) I have never met anyone, aside form yourself, who refuses to believe that experiments with light suffer from measurement error. Can you name these other people who make up the “We”, along with yourself, who believe this?

Let’s try to deal in facts and understand the evidence before we try to debate a topic.

Answer 4

Consider this. Everything in the universe is a wave. Different waves resolve to different things. A wave moving fast enough passes through things, i.e. light or X-rays, while matter is a wave that has such a low frequency it cannot move through objects, and forms the atom.

Current light speed are estimates, and estimates only. Current experiment conducted involves the detection of light over short areas, whereas star light covers millions of kilometres. In addition, the different light speed is more of a different frequency, which affects the relative speed.

Mass is the amount of something tangible, but if the wave is moving so fast it becomes "light," it can no longer be weighed. You will still be there, but not there as your atoms are moving at a frequency so fast no matter is stable enough to "materalise."

This is just one of many theories, and there is no such thing as a "true light theory."

Answer 5

First off....SIMON YOU are so full of beans it aint funny! Stick with something you know when answering like how to color in coloring books! An object reaching the speed of light theoretically does turn to pure energy. Red shift has nothing to do with the expansion of the universe. It is due to the distance the object is away from us! A good question about the colors of the light spectrum tho moon. It does show that the speed of light is not a constant. Same as dopplar effect. Sound traveling towards you is faster in frequency than when it travels away from you but this only occurs from your prospective. This implies that you have momentarily shifted in the space time continuim .I DO happen to have the "Theory of Everything" finally finished but do to the fact it isnt published yet I cant devulge it here. Its a very simple math equation that absolutely explains the so called missing matter, time, the appearance of light being a constant when it actually isnt, and all other phenomena in the universe. I would also like to state here that due to the fact that light DOES have a speed limit that it simply cannot be the ultimate speed that anything can travel! The very statement tells one this!

Here is food for thought.....I am situated precisely between two galaxies that are 2 million light years apart....one to my left, one to my right. It takes two million years for light to travel between the two galaxies but from my vantage point I now know before either of the two galaxies what has occured on both. Has my mind not just conceived what is going on between the two twice as quickly as either of the inhabitants of the two galaxies 1 million years before either galaxy can see what has happened to the other? From my vantage point, my mind momentarily is able to think faster than the speed of light!

Answer 6

1. There mass and size do not become zero. E=mc2. As the speed increases closer to speed of light, its mass must also increase for the equation to be true.

2. Light doesnt need to reach the speed of light. It is already travelling at that speed, as an electromagnetic wave, through a vacuum.

3. It is not given as one speed. 300000000 m/s through a vacuum. Red/Blue shift are due to the expainsion of the universe.

4. Thats like saying, whats the point in doing any experiments at all. The point is to develop and find out more.

Answer 7

As a consequence to the theory of special relativity, as a body accelerates towards the speed of light, the energy required to accelerate it further approaches infinite.

Red shifts and blue shifts are due to the Doppler effect, similar to the change in pitch of a siren when an ambulance or police car passes you at speed. Hubble noticed the Doppler shift of galaxies were always red, i.e. moving away from us, and that the larger the shift, the further the galaxy was away from us. This lead to the formulation of the Big Bang theory.

Answer 8

taking into account the speed of light is approximately 3x10^8 ms^-1
Light is an abnormal transverse wave, with no or negligable mass. You can't really compare it to something with mass then.
The speed of light is the speed when an electromagnetic wave (light in this instance) is travelling in a vaccuum with no resistances. This is the maximum speed anything can travel at (in theory).
Experiments with the speed of light at 3x10^8ms-1 is impossible on earth as you cannot do experiments in a vacuum.
You sound confused when talking about red/blue shift in stars. I suggest you read up on the doppler effect.

Answer 9

1. They don't lose all mass.

3. The red/blue shift in the stars is due to the universe expanding. Nothing else.

4. Because, even though what you say is not true, people are stubborn.

Answer 10

I agree on one point... we havent achieved the knowledge or understood physics enough to even have this discussion.

This discussion is like asking the stone age people to discuss on theory of relativity. What will you discuss beyond your understanding. They will just discuss what is right according to their level of understanding and level of advancement of brain they have at that time.

Only a true visionary with an open mind can accept the fact that what is todays fiction is tomorrow's fact. example: Airplane, Ship, Submarine, Bullet, Mach1 or higher, Spaceship, Light, Television, Mobile phones, Microwave, ... should I go on??? The list is too big.