And if you do not know describe a method to do just that. May be you could also explain why the speed of the suns rays when measured in a rising sun and a setting sun are the same?
2006-11-12 10:22:56 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Why shouldn't they be the same? The distance between the Earth and the Sun doesn't change much in one day. And even if you argue that the rotation of the Earth gives is a relative speed that should be added to (or substracted from) the speed of light, you're forgetting that the speed of light is a constant. You can't add or remove anything to it. If you're on a train going at the speed of light and you turn on a flashlight, the "total relative speed" of that light won't be twice the speed of light.
As for how can this speed me mesured, there's an experiment that uses mirrors and a laser. Those flat mirrors are glued around a cylinder and they rotate. (It could also be a rotating screen with holes in it.) When the mirror is positionned right, the light comes back to the laser. Knowing the distance between the mirror and knowing the frequency of the rotation, we can calculate the speed of light by mesuring how much times it takes for the light to go to the mirror and come back. TRY FIZEAU OR FOUCAULT ON GOOGLE. He's the guy who did that.
2006-11-12 11:28:39 · answer #1 · answered by kihela 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I honestly forget which scientist it was, but it was a focused beam of light over the cogs on a spinning gear. By measuring when the cogs appeared to be motionless, in relation to the size of the gear, it was determined what the speed of light was. By using this speed later and measuring a beam at different times of day and from different directions, it was determined that there was no "lumeniferous aether". But, I don't think it was Michelson or Morley that originally determined the speed of light. Sorry, but I just don't have it in me tonight to Yahoo! or Google search for the specifics.
I believe in theoretical mathematics, it was Maxwell's Equations that FIRST showed a quanta of electromagnetic radiation, or photon as it's more commonly known, will always move at a constant speed. This speed was given the term 'c' and has been used since. It was the fact that light is always a constant no matter the motion of the source of the light photon or motion of the observer/measurer of the photon, that allowed Einstein to extrapolate upon Maxwell's equations and come up with his Special Theory of Relativity.
2006-11-12 13:11:17 · answer #2 · answered by quntmphys238 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yo dude, the sun appears to rise and fall, but what is really happening is the Earth is rotating. It does not change how far away from the Sun we are or how fast light approaches. Many different methods have been used to calculate the speed of light, with varrying degrees of success. Use a search engine and read about it.
2006-11-12 10:28:49 · answer #3 · answered by SteveA8 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋