Does the speed of light have a limit and how can it be Proved?

Question

Clarification=The speed of light was measured againand again relative to Local space Only ,Using the earth as a frame of reference.Does that really prove a limit in in compressed outer space?

Isnt lightvelocity a function of space density and curvature?

Answer 1

The 'group velocity' of light can exceed c, see the Wikipedia article referenced earlier. But the front velocity of a light wave cannot. Every experiment, starting with the famous Michelson-Morley experiment, shows a constant c independent of motion or frame of reference. I'm not sure I'd say it was proved.

But see the reference for a fascinating speculation on how the speed of light may have changed around the Planck epoch, and how that variation could explain a lot of nagging problems of cosmology.

Answer 2

Ah well very simple. measure the speed of light in a vacumm at rest in your frame. move the source towards the detector at a fracton of the speed measssured before and see that the speed is the same not a simple addition. al the energy went into changing the color to a more energetic one. (Blue shift). As time and space are inextricably linked, speed of light is a bench mark for the passage of time. and time is what we use to measure speed. Its a circular reasoning but most bedrock theories are a bit circular. Painted ships on a painted ocean

Rob

Answer 3

It can not be proved like a theorem can be proved--it is a postulate. Besides, the speed of light that we are all familiar with is only a very precise average; on the scale of an atom the speed of light gets violated all the time: sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower.

Answer 4

um this has been proven for a long time now and is easily found.
for example
The speed of light in a vacuum is an important physical constant denoted by the letter c for constant or the Latin word celeritas meaning "swiftness".

In metric units, c is exactly 299,792,458 metres per second (or 1,079,252,848.8 km/h). Note that this speed is a definition, not a measurement, since the fundamental SI unit of length, the metre, has been defined since October 21, 1983 in terms of the speed of light - one metre is the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. Converted to imperial units, the speed of light is approximately 186,282.397 miles per second, or 670,616,629.384 miles per hour.

Through any transparent or translucent material medium, like glass or air, light travels more slowly than c, its speed in a vacuum; the ratio of c to this slower speed is called the refractive index of the medium. In an analogous way, the light speed is also affected by gravity. This gives rise to the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, in which large assemblies of matter can refract light from far away sources, so as to produce multiple images and similar optical distortions. The constant speed of light then belongs to those who may be in free fall, or for other reasons may disregard such effects of gravity on light.

Answer 5

Light will never end until it hits something that absorbs it...I bet that the speed of light only goes so fast... Nothing can really go past its limit, so why does light have to be an exception...

Answer 6

the constancy of the speed of light emerges as a constant in the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism.

C=299792457 m/s

Answer 7

3.0 x 10^8 m/s

Answer 8

185,000 km/sec...it's been measured experimentally time and time again.