2007-12-13 17:15:00 · 11 answers · asked by Ali 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I'm not sure what you mean, but I can confidently say no. Nothing is faster than light in a vacuum.
The problem with comparing a computer's speed to the speed of light is that you're talking about two different things. The speed of a modern computer's processor is measured in gigahertz, despite the fact that gigahertz is a unit of frequency, not speed. Saying that a computer's processor speed is 2 GHz means that the electrical voltage switches from low to high and back again 2 billion times every second. That's called the computer's master clock speed. The higher the clock speed, the "faster" the computer will be. If I've horribly butchered that explanation, perhaps somebody better versed in computers than I am can correct me.
The speed of light (now here's something I can talk confidently about) is an actual speed, an expression of distance traveled over time. In metric units, the speed of light is approximately 300,000,000 meters per second (that's 186,000 miles per second, if you don't like SI units). It's also the ultimate speed limit of the universe. Einstein proposed that nothing with mass can reach that speed, and if you try to do so, weird things start happening. For one, your mass increases to infinity, your length along the direction of travel compresses to zero, the amount of energy required to accelerate you approaches infinity, and time slows down towards a standstill. In other words, if you WERE to travel at the speed of light (you can't), you'd have infinite mass, zero volume, infinite density, infinite kinetic energy, but you'd never be able to think about the predicament you've gotten yourself into because time would stop for you.
Fortunately for all of us, photons are massless and dimensionless, so they're not restricted by the problems we face as we approach c. Photons are also ageless...an unmolested photon will travel essentially forever without changing in the least little bit.
So, I hope that helps. Good luck to you!
2007-12-13 17:30:27 · answer #1 · answered by Lucas C 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Computers run on electricity, so in that respect yes they are as fast as light. The logic gates are made of transistors, and they are limited by their switching speed, so that is what limits the speed of a computer. A lot of engineering work goes into making them switch faster, and into processing information in parallel.
2007-12-13 17:28:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Light-speed tour may be not possible according to Einstein no thing with collection can go faster than the speed of light. The pace of light constitute is a worldwide speed limit.
2016-05-23 12:07:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
technically yes because computers run on electricity but in the case of processing this is wrong. in fact light is faster than electricity
2007-12-13 19:11:33 · answer #4 · answered by Vignesh V 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If light is as slow as Vista.....Then probably equal.
186,000 mp/ever.
2007-12-13 19:33:31 · answer #5 · answered by poncadave 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, but they are stronger than dirt.
2007-12-13 17:57:09 · answer #6 · answered by Ultraviolet Oasis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not when they're running Windows...
2007-12-13 17:32:07 · answer #7 · answered by Steve H 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
No, I can see mine.
2007-12-13 17:33:54 · answer #8 · answered by bahbdorje 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, there are not.
2007-12-13 18:46:31 · answer #9 · answered by Asker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i miss that that,,,,,,,,,,,,must have been fast,,,,,,,,
2007-12-13 17:19:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋