Is the speed of light the same in space as on earth?

Question

One problem creationist sceince has encountered is that stars are millions of light years away, and yet we can see countless numbers of them. Is it possilbe that, because the speed of light is affected by gravity, that it would go much faster in space, where there is little or no gravity? Be sure to support your answer conclusivly and logically.

Don't answer if all you are going to say is that I never had a point to begin with. All that is is dodging the question. That's the same method used by communists for "reeducation".
1. How have can we possilbly measure the speed of light in a vaccum?
2. Why does it matter what the speed is in a vaccum? If your talking about a matter vaccum, why would it make a difference?(light is not affected by matter because it isn't matter). If your refering to an energy vaccum, then how can that exhist if light is inside of it?

Answer 1

The speed of light is the same no matter what. Einstein used that in his theory of relativity which still holds today:
E = mc^2,
where:
E is energy
m is mass
and c squared is the speed of light squared.
If gravity had anything to do with it, he could not have used m (mass), because this quantity has absolutely nothing to do with gravity. If it were gravity restricted, then he would have used "weight", which is your mass being acted upon by gravity.

Light particles are a form of energy that travels so fast that gravity has absolutely no effect on them. Nor does it matter whether there's an atmosphere or the absence of air.

Look at it this way:
Light bulbs are a vacuum. Once the light leaves the bulb and spreads around your room, it's no longer in a vacuum. Does it travel faster inside the bulb than outside?
Strike a match and light a candle. Neither of these are influenced by a vacuum. Does the light from the match or candle travel slower than from a light bulb?
And finally:
Does light travel faster up in the air than down to the ground? (One way it would be fighting gravity and the other it would be going with it.)

By the way, most of the stars that we see now, have been "extinct" for so long that we can't put it in anything but general terms (millions and billions of years). The reason is that it took that long for the light to get here over that distance, even at the speed of light.

Have you ever heard the term "light-year". That is actually not an element of time, but of distance. It's the distance that a particle of light travels in one year. If the speed of light were variable and not constant, then there would not be an element of measure that is dependent on it's velocity.

Answer 2

Speed of light "c" is constant. (theory) in space or on earth, it is constant. About six years ago in an on line article found in Sky Publishing, they wrote that light had actually been clocked at faster than the speed of light. This was observed by the fact that the photons were leaving the chamab er before the light had a chance to be fully in the chamber. The speed of light is measured by "time." Time is measured byt man made devices. So the accuracy is only as good as the device. Even the cesium atom ( the basis of atomic clocks) is counted by mechanical/electronic means.

Answer 3

The speed off light in space is higher than in the atmosphere on earth. The speed of light in any medium is c/n where c is the speed in vacuum and n is the index of refraction of the material. By the way, there is plenty of gravity in space, what do you think keeps all the planets and stars in their positions? Gravity will not speed up light, it will change it's direction or stop it all together (black hole).

Answer 4

The speed of light is always constant in a vacuum no matter wherer you are, it is a physical constant. (it is slower in a non-vacuum). Light also has no mass which means that it will not be accelerated by gravity.

I believe you are referring to gravitational lensing for which we have witnessed as a result of relativity. This is a result of gravity actually bending space. Like actually travels that distance at its constant speed. The bending of light is a result of the fact that the space itself is distorted.

Thus, the speed of light is not affected by gravity. Only the direction to the OUTSIDE observer is. In the point of view of light, it is only traveling in a straight line. Relativity also involves time dilation in order to "enforce" this constant. The reason/result is quite complex but it has been observed and is needed to be accounted for in modern satellite communications.

Now, light does travel slower on earth (outside of laboratory conditions) due to the fact that we have air and other matter.

Answer 5

It relies upon on how the sunlight vanishes. If the sunlight unexpectedly switched over from count number to capability (and this experience actual befell on the different fringe of the Universe) of direction you may get waves and the Earth might return and forth. If the sunlight have been to alter right into a black hollow gravitons might return and forth and the Earth might stay the place it replace into. If the sunlight replace into to be pulled in the direction of an very super accreting black hollow it might desire to the two be pulled in and perchance via or pulled previous and enhance up being thrust into outer area, the Earth with it.

Answer 6

The speed of light has an upper limit of k, ~300,000 km/sec in a vacuum. It is slowed slightly in Earth's atmosphere and even more in denser media.

This would have no affect on the apparent age and distance to stars and galaxies.

Answer 7

The gravity on Earth slows light down a tiny bit. In space, it's faster. Near a black hole, the light would be sucked in by the immense gravity.

Answer 8

Very good question. But it's a long time since I took modern physics. Do photons travel at constant velocities? Do they travel in straight lines? Do they have yaw-control?
Have these questions ever been resolved satisfactorily?
Light may be slowed down, diverted, or reflected, by matter, or by electromagnetic forces. It is even accelerated?

Answer 9

The only real problem that creationist "science" has is that if your fundamental premise, the biblical creation as fact, is wrong then every thing that follows based on that premise is also wrong. So what exactly is the point of your question?

Answer 10

the speed of light is K in a vaccuum. otherwise not