BF2S Forums The speed of light...

Mitch wrote:

Why does one assume the speed of light is the absolute fastest speed possible, simply because its the fastest we can see?

If the entire race of humans evolved with sonar instead of vision, would we assume the speed of sound is the fastest available? Since we would have no idea of what light is.

I thought E=mc^2 prevented it, because of the mass factor.
Unless, of course, it can generate infinite energy and have no mass.

Whether thats right or wrong (been a while since I did physics @ school ), the point is, the physical universe as we understand it, prevents it from happening. Perhaps there is an unexplained and undiscovered phenomena out there that allows it, however, until it is found...we have to assume that it is the fastest possible speed because that is all we know.

ok heres a new question, if past the even horizon, even the speed of light cannot escape, does that then mean there is a force stronger then light?
And since this force is stronger then light, wouldn't it be able to travel faster than light.


Just the thought of light not being able to escape the event horizon makes me question the power of the gravity sucking it in.

hey mitch you should try heroin i hear its awesome

Gravity has power over light now?

What the hell kind of school did you go to?

There are waves of electromagnetic radiation that are faster than light, but we can't see those portions of the EMR spectrum.
Of course there are waves faster than light.

Mitch wrote:

Why does one assume the speed of light is the absolute fastest speed possible, simply because its the fastest we can see?

I guess you could argue that we assume this because there are accepted proofs. Who knows, we might be wrong. Generally, though, the speed of light in a vacuum (free space) is assumed to be constant no matter which reference frame you are in and how fast, or which direction, that frame is travelling in.

It is generally considered that it is impossible for any information or matter to travel faster than c, because it would travel backwards in time relative to some observers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light

Mitch wrote:

If the entire race of humans evolved with sonar instead of vision, would we assume the speed of sound is the fastest available? Since we would have no idea of what light is.

Light would be travelling at the same speed, we just wouldn't be able to see it. We'd still feel heat - which is infared radiation - which is "light".

Ryan wrote:

There are waves of electromagnetic radiation that are faster than light, but we can't see those portions of the EMR spectrum.
Of course there are waves faster than light.

Name an electromagnetic wave that travels faster than the speed of light.

MrAnderson wrote:

Gravity has power over light now?

What the hell kind of school did you go to?

Black hole tbh.

FatherTed wrote:

liquidat0r wrote:

Ryan wrote:

There are waves of electromagnetic radiation that are faster than light, but we can't see those portions of the EMR spectrum.
Of course there are waves faster than light.

Name an electromagnetic wave that travels faster than the speed of light.

liquidat0r wrote:

Ryan wrote:

There are waves of electromagnetic radiation that are faster than light, but we can't see those portions of the EMR spectrum.
Of course there are waves faster than light.

Name an electromagnetic wave that travels faster than the speed of light.

I dunno, I thought there were wavelengths on the EMR spectrum that were faster than light. Visible light is only a small portion of the spectrum.

happy bday adam

EMR travels at the speed of light. Radio waves to Gamma rays and everything inbetween

Mitch makes a point though, although he may not realise, say for example there could be dimensions that we can't "see" or perceive where things can travel faster than light and shit like that

FrankieSpankie3388 wrote:

I don't think we should worry about faster than the speed of light when we get even relatively close to that speed.

Particle accelerators go 99.9% the speed of light

Last edited by bf2gammer (2009-02-26 17:14:38)