quade 3 #1 December 14, 2007 Just curious. quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #2 December 14, 2007 In what medium? /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #3 December 14, 2007 Quote In what medium? /Marg Beat me to it. I say yes, but not under water. So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #4 December 14, 2007 Quote I say yes, but not under water. Any medium should slow it, including Bose Einstein Condensates (BECs). This fabulous -- im-ever-ho -- physicist at Harvard, Lene Hau, used BECs to stop light, reported earlier this year in Nature: "Coherent control of optical information with matter wave dynamics." Btw: her research was sponsored by the Air Force (AFOSR). There have also been some, thus far disputed claims, about moving packets of light (usually in Cesium gas) faster than light. There's also "spooktechnology" - negative index of refraction materials ... being explored for cryptographic and quantum computing applications. One leading researcher, Duke's David Smith is funded by DARPA, ONR, AFOSR, & ARO. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 0 #5 December 14, 2007 I don't believe it, nor do I have faith in it - I conclude it from the measurable evidence. Because God tells me I should. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #6 December 14, 2007 Is it frequency dependant (as well as medium) too? (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,354 #7 December 14, 2007 > Do you believe light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second? Why? Just because the so-called "consensus" says that? I think it's all a plot to destroy the US economy by getting people to invest in worthless devices like "fiber optics" and whatnot. Why, I found half a dozen real scientists to sign a petition saying the speed of light can be slower than that! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crwtom 0 #8 December 14, 2007 Quote Just curious. The correct question is Do you believe that 186280 miles equals one second? Humans distinguish between time and space only because they're slow and their brains are hyperbolically challenged. Cheers, T ******************************************************************* Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #9 December 14, 2007 QuoteIn what medium? For the purposes of this discussion, the vacuum of space (which is only more or less a vacuum but close enough for a freekin' approximation).quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Richards 0 #10 December 14, 2007 Quote Just curious. You seem like an honest guy so I will take your word on it My biggest handicap is that sometimes the hole in the front of my head operates a tad bit faster than the grey matter contained within. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #11 December 14, 2007 186,000 mph? Relative to what? My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #12 December 14, 2007 Yes, give or take 454,474 m/s (But only because the meter is defined as the distance light travels in 1/299792458 of a second, and there is a known constant conversion factor from miles to meters.)Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #13 December 14, 2007 Yes, it is a constant. The speed of light is exactly 2 pi times the speed of dark. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,362 #14 December 14, 2007 Quote Yes, it is a constant. The speed of light is exactly 2 pi times the speed of dark. No it is, and always has been, 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum, except during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, when Congress temporarily reduced it to 55,000 miles per second to save energy."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #15 December 14, 2007 Quote Quote Yes, it is a constant. The speed of light is exactly 2 pi times the speed of dark. No it is, and always has been, 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum, except during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, when Congress temporarily reduced it to 55,000 miles per second to save energy. By Congress, you mean the same pantywaists who couldn't stand up to the whiners demanding that alcohol be made illegal? It's a good thing without alcohol, it became intolerable to listen to them in a few short years. Wishy-washy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 3 #16 December 14, 2007 QuoteYes, it is a constant. The speed of light is exactly 2 pi times the speed of dark. Except during Daylight Savings Time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #17 December 14, 2007 I'm more with the school of thought that says it travels at aprox 300,000 metres/sec You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ExAFO 0 #18 December 14, 2007 Through marzipan--68 mph.Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JackC 0 #19 December 14, 2007 Quote I'm more with the school of thought that says it travels at aprox 300,000 metres/sec Hmm... so the speed of light depends on whether it's upside down or not. Interesting. You should call the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. They might give you a prize. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pirana 0 #20 December 14, 2007 QuoteIn what medium? /Marg Sylvia Browne. How fast does it travel thru Sylvia Browne?" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,611 #21 December 14, 2007 Quote 186,000 mph? Relative to what? mp SECOND, not mph.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
warpedskydiver 0 #22 December 14, 2007 Quote Quote Yes, it is a constant. The speed of light is exactly 2 pi times the speed of dark. Except during Daylight Savings Time. Or in Amish country Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #23 December 14, 2007 Quote I'm more with the school of thought that says it travels at aprox 300,000 metres/sec Seeing as the more usually accepted speed of light is 299 792 458 m/s, or almost 1000 times faster than what your school of thought says, there must be something in the ether Down Under that makes light slow down quite a bit there? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,362 #24 December 14, 2007 Quote Quote In what medium? /Marg Sylvia Browne. How fast does it travel thru Sylvia Browne? I torn here; Would the speed of light in a vacuum apply, or would it in fact be the speed of light in the most dense matter known to man?"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 289 #25 December 14, 2007 I didn't until I measured it for myself. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites