Light Question

[majornature]

Ok, I know a great deal about Einstein's equation E=mc^2... I recently learn from a classmate in college that scientist were to slow down the speed of light. By learning this, I figured if light can be slowed down, can light's speed increase beyond it's constant? So would it mean the light constant 2.99 x10^8m/s can change when it's velocity increases or decreases? If that's the case, could Einstein's equation be proven wrong?<br /><br />Knowledge Obtained Can Drive Man Mad. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[vogon13]

You would need a material with some extremely unusual properties for this to occur. <br /><br />It is usually refered to as unobtanium. It tends to be used for many purposes in sci-fi TV shows . . . <br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[nexium]

Light travels c in high vacuum, a bit slower in air, about half speed in water, glass and most other transparent solid and liquid materials. There are however a few materials where light is much slower.<br />If Einstein is proven wrong, it will likely be due to something other than the speed of light. Neil

 

[lukman]

it doesnt matter how slow is the light travel in glass, nothing else can travel in glass <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Heat can <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[search]

<font color="yellow">Ok, I know a great deal about Einstein's equation E=mc^2... I recently learn from a classmate in college that scientist were to slow down the speed of light. By learning this, I figured if light can be slowed down, can light's speed increase beyond it's constant? So would it mean the light constant 2.99 x10^8m/s can change when it's velocity increases or decreases? If that's the case, could Einstein's equation be proven wrong?</font><br /><br />The constant "c" or speed of light cannot be slow down.<br /><br />What you can do is make the photons (elementary particles that composed the light) follow a longer path (by changing the propagation medium) and then the group velocity can be slower than "c".<br /><br />Speed of light is a constant and the constant never changes.

 

[bbk1]

So do magnetic and gravitational forces.... <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[chesh]

"it doesnt matter how slow is the light travel in glass, nothing else can travel in glass." <br /><br />Particles of all sorts can traverse glass. It's true that photons of all sorts such as visible light and even x-rays can traverse specific kinds of glass, but so can cosmic rays and neutrinos can traverse virtually anything for that matter.<br /><br />the universe of events is a very interesting place, often far different from our day to day, 'common sense" beliefs. And that difference is very often the power of science.

 

[majornature]

what if the scientists slowed light down to a minimum in a vacuum? Would the light constant change then? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[chesh]

That can't be done. Labs can slow down light as it passes thru a medium, but that is simply due to multiple absorptions and re-emissions of the photons. The photons still pass from site to site at light speed.<br /><br />Light in a vacuum cannot be slowed down. It's not the nature of the universe to do that. Speculation which is contrary to widely observed and substantiated physical laws results in fantasies, which almost always are of no value.