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Speed of Light
- Thread starter SoyLeche
- Start date
Mr Spinkles
Mr
I'd like to see another source for this. The constancy of the speed of light has been a fundamental law since the late 19th century, and if it's not constant it seems to me that it would have dramatic consequences on such well-established theories as Einstein's relativity. At the homepage of scienceblog.com, it says anyone can sign up and post their own blog for free, so...I think we should check for other sources which can confirm this.
Cynic
Well-Known Member
I just had an email forwarded to me called "Mars Spectacular", and after reading it, I immediately knew it was bunk:Mr_Spinkles said:
If you notice, this person has given all her contact info. It's a really effective and cheap way to advertise a business.
There's a lot of misinformation that circulates through the internet, and unfortunately, most people do not check the credibility of such information.
Mr Spinkles
Mr
Cynic-- I got the same email, and although it is bunk, it is true that Mars has been much closer to Earth (and therefore much brighter in the sky) this month than it has been in a long time.
It's amazing how convincing some of this stuff sounds when you're ignorant of the subject being discussed....if I hadn't just taken a physics course in which we learned why the speed of light must be constant and what evidence there is for it, and how it is the basis for so many other theories, I might have been swindled by the link in the OP.
It's amazing how convincing some of this stuff sounds when you're ignorant of the subject being discussed....if I hadn't just taken a physics course in which we learned why the speed of light must be constant and what evidence there is for it, and how it is the basis for so many other theories, I might have been swindled by the link in the OP.
Terrywoodenpic
Oldest Heretic
I have my doubts about this. I would like to see som verification.
Terry
__________________________________
Amen! Truly I say to you: Gather in my name. I am with you.
Terry
__________________________________
Amen! Truly I say to you: Gather in my name. I am with you.
Well, I have managed to find someone else who thinks it is possible, not only that but it was achieved in 2002!........
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2796
Speed of light broken with basic lab kit
10:03 16 September 2002
NewScientist.com news service
Charles Choi
Electric signals can be transmitted at least four times faster than the speed of light using only basic equipment that would be found in virtually any college science department.
Scientists have sent light signals at faster-than-light speeds over the distances of a few metres for the last two decades - but only with the aid of complicated, expensive equipment. Now physicists at Middle Tennessee State University have broken that speed limit over distances of nearly 120 metres, using off-the-shelf equipment costing just $500.
Jeremy Munday and Bill Robertson made a 120-metre-long cable by alternating six- to eight-metre-long lengths of two different kinds of coaxial cable, each with a different electrical impedance. They hooked this hybrid cable up to two signal generators, one of which broadcast a fast wave, the other a slow one. The waves interfere with each other to produce electric pulses, which can be watched using an oscilloscope.
Any pulse, whether electrical, light or sound, can be imagined as a group of tiny intermingled waves. The energy of this "group pulse" rises and falls over space, with a peak in the middle. The different electrical resistances in the hybrid cable cause the waves in the pulse's rear to reflect off each other, accelerating the pulse's peak forward.
Four billion km/h
By using the oscilloscope to trace the pulse's strength and speed, the researchers confirmed they sent the signal's peak tunnelling through the cable at more than four billion kilometres per hour.
"It really is basement science," Robertson said. The apparatus is so simple that Robertson once assembled the setup from scratch in 40 minutes.
While the peak moves faster than light speed, the total energy of the pulse does not. This means Einstein's relativity is preserved, so do not expect super-fast starships or time machines anytime soon.
Signals also get weaker and more distorted the faster they go, so in theory no useful information can get transmitted at faster-than-light speeds, though Robertson hopes his students and others can now rigorously and cheaply test those ideas.
Physicist Alain Hache at the University of Moncton in Canada adds that it may be possible to use this reflection technique to boost electrical signal speeds in computers and telecommunications grids by more than 50 per cent.
Electrical signals usually travel at about two-thirds of light speed in wires. Hache says it may be possible to send unsable electrical signals to near light speed.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2796
Speed of light broken with basic lab kit
10:03 16 September 2002
NewScientist.com news service
Charles Choi
Electric signals can be transmitted at least four times faster than the speed of light using only basic equipment that would be found in virtually any college science department.
Scientists have sent light signals at faster-than-light speeds over the distances of a few metres for the last two decades - but only with the aid of complicated, expensive equipment. Now physicists at Middle Tennessee State University have broken that speed limit over distances of nearly 120 metres, using off-the-shelf equipment costing just $500.
Jeremy Munday and Bill Robertson made a 120-metre-long cable by alternating six- to eight-metre-long lengths of two different kinds of coaxial cable, each with a different electrical impedance. They hooked this hybrid cable up to two signal generators, one of which broadcast a fast wave, the other a slow one. The waves interfere with each other to produce electric pulses, which can be watched using an oscilloscope.
Any pulse, whether electrical, light or sound, can be imagined as a group of tiny intermingled waves. The energy of this "group pulse" rises and falls over space, with a peak in the middle. The different electrical resistances in the hybrid cable cause the waves in the pulse's rear to reflect off each other, accelerating the pulse's peak forward.
Four billion km/h
By using the oscilloscope to trace the pulse's strength and speed, the researchers confirmed they sent the signal's peak tunnelling through the cable at more than four billion kilometres per hour.
"It really is basement science," Robertson said. The apparatus is so simple that Robertson once assembled the setup from scratch in 40 minutes.
While the peak moves faster than light speed, the total energy of the pulse does not. This means Einstein's relativity is preserved, so do not expect super-fast starships or time machines anytime soon.
Signals also get weaker and more distorted the faster they go, so in theory no useful information can get transmitted at faster-than-light speeds, though Robertson hopes his students and others can now rigorously and cheaply test those ideas.
Physicist Alain Hache at the University of Moncton in Canada adds that it may be possible to use this reflection technique to boost electrical signal speeds in computers and telecommunications grids by more than 50 per cent.
Electrical signals usually travel at about two-thirds of light speed in wires. Hache says it may be possible to send unsable electrical signals to near light speed.
Ryan2065
Well-Known Member
This is not making light get anywhere faster as the first thing is stating. Think of a rope traveling through space that has waves going through it. The first article states they can make the rope go faster through space, the second claims they can make the waves in the rope go faster, so there is a difference there.michel said:
Nothing fundamentally new. Just improved technology.
Constant speed of light only goes for vacuum. In any kind of medium it is slower.
For going faster it's a little bit more tricky: like michel's article says not the actual light goes so fast but only the signal. This has to do with interference.
Constant speed of light only goes for vacuum. In any kind of medium it is slower.
For going faster it's a little bit more tricky: like michel's article says not the actual light goes so fast but only the signal. This has to do with interference.
OK, well try this forum then:- http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/t-34921_speed_of_light_broken?.html
Ryan2065
Well-Known Member
From your own example...michel said:OK, well try this forum then:- http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/t-34921_speed_of_light_broken?.html