Can you describe what the world would be like if the speed of light was much slower?

Question

Right now Light travels at about c = 300,000km/s Our movement is so slow relative to this speed that the effects of Einstein's theory of relativity are not noticable. But what would the world be like if c was 1000 miles/hour instead? Ignore the fact that earth is rotating that fast and moving in space much faster, I want some ideas of what affect it would have on everyday life on earth. Have fun racking your brain on this one, lol.

I must say, no offense but I am a little disappointed in the lack of imagination here. First of all, I didn't ask this question assuming we "slowed light down" but rather forget that c was ever 300000km/s and that we are in a universe where c just happens to be 1000 mph. And I don't know why it would be hard to ignore the rotation of Earth, ok, let's say that Earth doesn't rotate or even move within space. How about that?

Answer 1

In theory, life would start much later and the universe would still be as large, Wow this is tough, here is my theory,


life would me much slower, think about it, turn on the light, it'll take like 5 sec to see the light, dont mean much in that example, but think about it in the grand way of things ( universe)!

Answer 2

The speed of light is actually the only universal constant.

Because of this (and I know this sounds boring), the speed of light cannot actually change to what we perceive it right now. The speed of light, time and distance are closely linked though relativity. If the speed of light were slower, then time would travel much faster for us as we move towards relativistic speeds. Because relativity also governs the length of objects (though perception of time and space), particles would then be a lot "closer" together.

Basically, light cannot change speed relative to what we see it. If light were to "slow down", our perception of time would "speed up". This would mean that light would then be perceived to be travelling at the same speed it is now, distances would adjust to the point where light would take the same time to travel between the distances as before and the universe would return to the same as before.

THE FOLLOWING IS NOT TRUE, but:

To satisfy what you probably were expecting from this answer (or giving an interesting answer), we would have to ignore all of the above. We would have to ignore relativity and.. basically what would actually happen.

If light was, lets say, 100mph, moving at 99MPH would mean that the world around you (as you perceive it) would be incredibly slow. To you, you'd still seem to be travelling at motorway/highway speeds though.

Everyone else would see you as moving blisteringly fast too. This is because in your reference frame the would would be moving really slow, and so even though to you it only took 10 mins for the journey, the rest of the would only moved 1 minute. So to observers, you travelled at 10x the speed you were "actually" travelling at.

And if you kept travelling at near light speeds, you'd grow bloody old in a short amount of time for everyone else.

Swinging your limbs fast may also cause weird time delay effects. They may fall off altogether.

There would be a time delay with what you see. An explosion on a hill that is miles away would only be noticed several minutes after the event.

The internet would be crap as the signals would have crap latency. In fact, computers would be dead slow.

Sound would travel faster than light. either that or sound would take minutes to reach you.

Also the earth would be travelling at faster than the speed of light. Either that or the time for the earth to move around the sun would be stupidly slow (like 100000 years).

And concorde would be the same speed as a car.

Which is just silly.

Answer 3

An interesting thought.

I don't think our perception would be any different - sounds travels at a snail's pace and we find no problem in not hearing the thunder until several seconds after the lightening strike.

I assume that even at 1000 MPH light would still be the universal constant - and the greatest speed at which cause and effect could occur.

As technology in transportation brought us closer and closer to this speed - our watches would never be on time or synchronized with anyone elses! Every traveler's watch would show a different time.

At 1000 MPH, we could travel around the world in "no time" (our time reference), while at the same time have to explain why we came back late for supper (your spouse's time reference).

The overwhelming controlling theory for this existence would undoubtedly be the Chaos Theory !!

Answer 4

Well, mainly, all phenomena that are the result of electromagnetic radiation would happen much more slowly. At 1000 miles/hour, the signal from a radio station 100 miles away would take 6 minutes to arrive. The network TV signal from New York would arrive in California about 2.5 hours later. When the generator 100 miles away started generating electricity after a shutdown, it'd take about 9 minutes to arrive at your house (electricity only travels about 2/3 of the speed of light in a wire.)

Not a brain rack at all, sorry. But, good question!

Answer 5

Life would be very much more complicated. If I was an air traffic controller and you were a pilot, we'd disagree about whether two events were simultaneous, the time and your distance from the runway. And it would be hard to ignore the Earth's rotation. The rate at which your watch ran would depend on your latitude. And the shape of the constellations would depend on your latitude. As you approach the speed of light, the stars appear to recede from ahead of you and bunch up behind. General relativity would be affected too. Time would pass faster at the top of a hill than in a valley, and you'd need to be careful not to accidentally create black holes. The last time I met my brother face to face he was two years younger than me. But we've been travelling around and living in different countries since then so who knows which of us is younger now?

Answer 6

we would not notice anything because the speed of light and mass are intimately related. particle size and our perception of distance will shrink at the same rate so, even if the speed of light would slow down, in that new universe it will still look like it is the same speed in the new meter scale.

Answer 7

first we can not talk in the phone like we do. we have to say something and wait for fe miniutes for answer. It will be more like internet chat.

Internet will slow down quiet abit.

When you switch on the light it winll not be instantanius.

etc.
Life will be slow in every aspects of life.

Answer 8

one day it will be! 1.with pollution slowing it down or would it be dark?oh damn a question with a question;science?
in newzealand scientist have slowed light down to i think 5 mph.