and not 600 000 000 m/s for example.
I mean given that photons are massless why isn't the speed
of light infinite ?
2007-10-02 00:49:18 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
It's this speed because we defined the metre and the second before we were able to determine the speed of light, you could just as easily define it in miles per hour or fathoms per century, the unit is completely arbitrary.
While photons are without physical mass, they are energetic, and e=mc2 which basically means that you can derive a small mass from the energy.
Infinite light speed would mean that the universe would have infinity squared energy contained within it, which is impossible as the square of infinity is infinity, which then makes e=m which in turn means that the stars would not be able to burn and the whole universe would implode if it ever got going in the first place..
Scientists have recently proven theoretically that there are multiple universes, each with their own speed of light and with their own laws of physics.. This just happens to be the one we live in.
2007-10-02 04:51:45 · answer #1 · answered by Jon P 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason why it is not infinite is because it takes times for a photon to travel from one point to another, which has been measured.
This was measured with the unit meter, but later (forgot which year), meter was then redefined using the speed of light. Quite an ironic piece of history.
2007-10-02 01:23:44 · answer #2 · answered by W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree that photons are mass-less but the energy given up between them is the the movement and governs the speed at which that energy flows thus making or limiting the speed of light to the transaction between the particulate and that is why the speed of light is
2007-10-02 10:01:04 · answer #3 · answered by Anne B 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We live in a quantum universe,it is made up of minimum size indivisible units.
the speed of light is the result of a photon moving through space.
It is an incident that takes time to occur,at each point in space the photon exists for a single time pulse.
You can slow it down and the number of time pulses it occupies will increase.
If you try to speed it up you will be trying to force to exist for a length of time that can't exist,if you divide the quantum time pulse it will go out of existence.
If the time pulse was longer the speed of light would be slower.
If you could divide the time pulse in half the speed of light would double.
2007-10-02 01:41:26 · answer #4 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The speed of light is 1/sqrt(M0E0). M0 and E0 are the permeability and permittivity, respectively, of free space (a.k.a. vacuum, hence the zero). Thus, the value of the speed of light is dependent upon the electric and magnetic "polarizability" of the vacuum (just like when it passes through any other material, where you would write 1/sqrt(ME)). You arrive at this conclusion when you use Maxwell's equations to discover the wave equation for electromagnetic fields in the vacuum.
2007-10-02 02:07:09 · answer #5 · answered by supastremph 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
id say thats one big mystery. its pretty clear why it isnt infinite though, it would still take an infinite amount of energy to make it go infinitely fast. maybe the answer to this is that the photon isnt really massles, and has the smallest possible mass (so close to 0 its crazy), therefore limiting it.
2007-10-02 00:53:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the linked fee of sunshine in a vacuum is what this is. We call it 'c'. Then got here the definition of a 2d, this is meant to be a million/3600 of an hour, itself meant to be a million/24 of an afternoon. The definition of a 2d replaced into replaced so as that it is greater reliably measured and confirmed; now this is a sort that corresponds to "9,192,631,770 sessions of the radiation equivalent to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the floor state of the cesium 133 atom". As for the metre, it replaced into initially meant to be a share of the meridian of Earth. whilst greater suitable measurement recommendations got here approximately, it replaced into subtle returned, and not is defined as being the area that the sunshine in a vacuum can pass 299792458 situations in one 2d. That fee replaced into chosen because of fact it replaced into very close to to the previous definition. basically, the metre and the 2d relies upon on the situations present on earth (its length and its spin velocity). As for god, in assessment to the 2d, the metre and the linked fee of sunshine, it can not be measured, and a lot of human beings (myself secure) doubt it exists.
2016-12-17 15:01:57 · answer #7 · answered by Erika 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's one of the great "questions" of our universe, ie why are the physical constants what they are (force of gravity, mass of a proton, speed of light, etc).
A school of thought has it that these constants are what makes our universe the way it is, and that there may be an infinitie number of other universes with different constants, which would be way different from ours.
2007-10-02 00:57:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The speed of light is what it is. The reason it is 299,792,458 m/s is due to the way we have defined the metre and the second.
2007-10-02 11:15:37 · answer #9 · answered by monsewer icks 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
its only that speed in a vacum, and i dont mean a dyson.
2007-10-02 00:55:43 · answer #10 · answered by Definately Maybe 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋