/sci/ - Science & Math

It's always constant, I think this has to do with the low mass nature of the photon, or God....

>Is there a reason why light travels as fast as it does?
IT'S THE FASTEST SPEED ALLOWABLE, AND THE SPEED ALL MASSLESS THINGS TRAVEL.
>Why that exact amount of speed?
IT'S SOME FUNCTION OF PHYSICS CONSTANTS. I'M NOT LEARNED.
>Does it speed vary? is it always constant? why?
YOU CAN SLOW LIGHT DOWN, YES, I DON'T REMEMBER IF YOU CAN SLOW THE INDIVIDUAL PHOTONS DOWN OR JUST GIVE THEM A SUPER-DENSE MEDIUM.

>>2853569
Light does not always travel in the same speed, it depends on the medium.

>>2853574
>>2853570
Really, though, light travelling through a medium can be more accurately thought of as the particles in the medium absorbing and re-emitting a photon. How well it does this affects the speed of light in the medium, and the refraction and diffusion rates.

>>2853559
Speed is relative and depends on the observers frame of reference relative to the object in motion.

>Does it speed vary?
Yes. The speed of light is constant only for inertial frames of reference, with the light traveling in vaccum.

>>2853578
Do you know anything about relativity? The most important point of it is that the speed of light is NOT relative to observers, it is ALWAYS the same no matter your reference frame.

Enough with all these shitty 'changes depending on the medium' answers. OP clearly wants to know why light travels at the speed it does in a vacuum. Why that speed?

>>2853570
>>2853569
NOPE

<span class="math"> \frac{1}{\sqrt{\varepsilon _{0}\mu _{0}}}=c [/spoiler]

This is all I will tell you.

>>2853585

LIGHT TRAVELS AT C IN A VACUUM BECAUSE C IS AS FAST AS THINGS CAN GO IN OUR UNIVERSE.

IF YOU'RE ASKING WHY C IS EQUAL TO THE NUMBER THAT IT IS, I HAVE NO IDEA.

>>2853581
THIS IS ALSO CORRECT.

>>2853585

because that's how fast things without mass go.

>>2853585
Why does the electron have the charge it does? Why do protons have the mass they do? There's no answer to this. It is how the universe is.

>>2853574

Is this true, or on the average? For instance light from the middle of the sun takes millions of years to reach the surface. The speed of light didn't change, but the constant absorption/emission of photons made the net rate of flow of luminosity less than that of light.

ITT fags who are forgetting even Einstein said there could possibly be some unforseen force yet to be discovered that could travel faster than light.

>>2853592

light travels at a constant speed through the vacuum between particles, but it takes time to be absorbed and re-emitted.

>>2853581
LMFAO. That is only true for "special relativity" and light in vaccum. Special relativity only deals with inertial frames of reference.

General relativity which works for all frames, tells us that there is no light speed limit. Light speed is frame dependent.

>>2853589

that's the electric permittivity in vacuum and the maggnetic permeability in vacuum.

why does it make c?

>>2853597
It is how the universe is.
What is "is"?

>>2853604

do the dimension check, i cba

Atheist and proud!

>>2853614

1/10

If light is only supposed to be the fast as the fastest thing, the speed limit per se, then why is it possible to multiply it by itself in einsteins equation? doesn't that mean that energy is 200% faster than light and mass combined?

>>2853610
Go ask someone else.

>>2853587

please leave /sci/

regards, the rest of us

It is because light is an electromagnetic wave. A changing electric field induces a magnetic field and vice versa. The only speed where the wave will not eventually die out or blow up to infinity is c, the speed of light.

>>2853602
>General relativity which works for all frames, tells us that there is no light speed limit. Light speed is frame dependent.

Explain this to me. LET ME UNDERSTAND.

>>2853641

If light is an electromagnetic wave, could you build something that prevents those waves from penetrating a field?

>>2853659
Like a piece of tin foil?

>>2853614

Its like saying if an object is moving 5 miles per hour and you fuse it with another object with the same speed and mass, and expecting it to movie at 10 miles per hour.

>>2853674
>>2853659

Yes. Faraday cage.

Light had no mass anything else with mass could not reach the speed of light it would reach infinite mass therefore nothings faster than photons

Entanglement is faster than the speed of light

>>2853703

So is the expansion of spacetime. Your point?

>>2853709
My point is that ur a fag

>>2853773

Wow im arguing with a twelve year old. Time to go outside.

how can something with no mass affect something with mass?
How waves fuck with matter?
What the fuck is a wave and what is it made of?

>>2853800
Relativistic impulse.

So much
>not sure if serious
in this thread.

>>2853800

You don't need rest mass to have relativistic momentum bro.