2006-09-09 01:22:29 · 16 answers · asked by MAHENDER S 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
we have already discovered the speed of light....but we can't make a machine which can go as fast as the speed of light because any matter which goes faster then the speed of light converts into energy.
2006-09-09 01:41:36 · answer #1 · answered by jaeenikam 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I measured the speed of light myself in a physics lab 15 years ago.
We used a laser beam and a rotating mirror whose rotational rate was known. There were eight sides on the mirror and when it was stationary the light bounced off one side, reflected off a target 8 metres away, and bounced off another side to the target.
When the mirror was spun, you could see the point of light drifting away from the target, and a new point appearing from the other direction a bit later. When the second point of light was aimed at the target, the mirror was rotating1/8 of a turn exactly while the light beam traveled 16 metres.
Since the rotational speed was measured (by the device that drove it), we could figure out how much time had elapsed from the first to second reflections, and thereby calculate the speed of light.
We were within one percent of the accepted value, if I remember correctly.
2006-09-09 08:41:14 · answer #2 · answered by poorcocoboiboi 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the mid-19th century, French physicist Armand Fizeau directly measured the speed of light by sending a narrow beam of light between gear teeth in the edge of a rotating wheel. The beam then traveled a long distance to a mirror and came back to the wheel where, if the spin were fast enough, a tooth would block the light. Knowing the distance to the mirror and the speed of the wheel, Fizeau could calculate the speed of light. During the same period, the French physicist Jean Foucault made other, more accurate experiments of this sort with spinning mirrors.
Scientists needed accurate measurements of the speed of light because they were looking for the medium that light traveled in. They called the medium ether, which they believed waved to produce the light. If ether existed, then the speed of light should appear larger or smaller depending on whether the person measuring it was moving toward or away from the ether waves. However, all measurements of the speed of light in different moving reference frames gave the same value.
In 1887 American physicists Albert A. Michelson and Edward Morley performed a very sensitive experiment designed to detect the effects of ether. They constructed an interferometer with two light beams—one that pointed along the direction of Earth’s motion, and one that pointed in a direction perpendicular to Earth’s motion. The beams were reflected by mirrors at the ends of their paths and returned to a common point where they could interfere. Along the first beam, the scientists expected Earth’s motion to increase or decrease the beam’s velocity so that the number of wave cycles throughout the path would be changed slightly relative to the second beam, resulting in a characteristic interference pattern. Knowing the velocity of Earth, it was possible to predict the change in the number of cycles and the resulting interference pattern that would be observed. The Michelson-Morley apparatus was fully capable of measuring it, but the scientists did not find the expected results.
The paradox of the constancy of the speed of light created a major problem for physical theory that German-born American physicist Albert Einstein finally resolved in 1905. Einstein suggested that physical theories should not depend on the state of motion of the observer. Instead, Einstein said the speed of light had to remain constant, and all the rest of physics had to be changed to be consistent with this fact. This special theory of relativity predicted many unexpected physical consequences, all of which have since been observed in nature.
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2006-09-09 08:34:12 · answer #3 · answered by muggle_puff 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
LOL poison flute just copy pasted an entire article on light experiments completely missing the point
The answer to that is that light speed had already been confirmed and measured
2006-09-09 08:37:56 · answer #4 · answered by MyStIcTrE3 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light speed is not actually discovered - it is defined
the speed of light in a vacuum (c) is exactly 299,792,458 metres per second
this is a definition
see the wiki
2006-09-09 08:28:43 · answer #5 · answered by Orinoco 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
YES
it's already how old r u?
i learnt when i was 12 13 yrs. old.
it's already measured and
obviously approximatelly
1,079,252,848.8 km/h by Einstein
this is what the ray of light takes time to come to the Earth from the Sun...........
Pinki (India)
2006-09-09 10:22:05 · answer #6 · answered by Pinki 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey, TARD, light speed has already been discovered. Years before you were a drop on your momma's leg. LMAO. What a stupid questiong
2006-09-09 08:28:31 · answer #7 · answered by THE LONER 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the speed of light? its roughly 300 million meters per second
2006-09-09 08:28:06 · answer #8 · answered by Hans B 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
speed of light is well known and discovered back in 19th century.
2006-09-09 15:03:28 · answer #9 · answered by Srinivas Kumar 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the light speed is already well known
3x10^8 m/s
2006-09-09 08:25:44 · answer #10 · answered by hanumistee 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋