Why is the speed of light what it is.

[J77]

So basically, the permittivity of space determines how fast an electric field can propagate...

That doesn't answer the question though, it just passes it to "why is the permitivity of space what it is?"

 

[longdog]

I'm beginning to wish I'd never asked

i guess because when you get right down to the big questions, the universe is like your dad when he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.... "it just is, ok"

I'm starting to think that's as good an answer as I'm going to get

 

[spiralx]

That doesn't answer the question though, it just passes it to "why is the permitivity of space what it is?"

Doesn't that have something to do with the fine structure constant alpha? Of course, that's just shifting the goalposts again

 

[Dr_Herbz]

Fuckinell guys, it's a piece of piss. Light travels as both a wave and a particle (wave-particle duality) Do you know nothing about particle physics?
You might also want to look up Special Relativity and the speed of light relative to a point of reference. Pretty simple really but some people seem unable to grasp the principle.
Google is a great source for anyone wishing to learn a little.

 

[MysteryGuest]

The trusty Weak Anthropic Principle

In answer to the question: a model of the universe in which there is a universal maximum speed limit makes more sense than any other.

Why it's 3 * 10^8 m.s^-1 ... well, that's down to choosing the metre as 1/100,000 of the distance from the Pole to the equator, and the second as 1/(365.25*24*60*60) year, isn't it

Astrophysicists do back-of-an-envelope calculations in a system of units in which c=1. Which is sensible.

One light-nanosecond comes out as about 0.3m (a foot).

Yay for teh WAPz!


But why has anything got a value at all? What's that set-up all about then? Why is there a bit that finds out about this sort of stuff, in those terms, from a position of not previously knowing? Is it something to do with emergent properties? And if so, why are there emergent properties? And so on and so forth? Is it because of some evolutionary thingy that sometimes gets locked in the "on" position and won't switch off? ... I feel like I'm 3 years old again.

 

[MysteryGuest]

I've got Jimmy Somerville going round my head now singing that infuriating fucking "why?" song, which isn't so good tbh.

 

[ska invita]

Light is a wave, having a wavelength and frequency.

speed = frequency * wavelength

if speed was infinite, wavelength or frequency would also have to be infinite, and it wouldn't be a wave, it would be a smudge

So that is why it can't be infinite

Thats answers it for me...good question, good answer

 

[maomao]

Ye canne change the laws of physics jim.

The DHARMA Initiative can.

 

[SpookyFrank]

well, that's down to choosing the metre as 1/100,000 of the distance from the Pole to the equator

So the world has a circumference of only 400km? Fucking airlines have been overcharging me something rotten

 

[laptop]

So the world has a circumference of only 400km? Fucking airlines have been overcharging me something rotten