Value of light-speed fixed; new view or dead-end?

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siarad

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The <i>value</i> for the speed of light in space was fixed a few years ago.<br />As far as I know light-speed, C, hasn't been measured outside the solar system.<br />This value is apparently now mandated for the entire Universe without proof maybe.<br />I tried a topic on C being fixed or the value constant but didn't get an answer I understood.<br />C can no longer be measured only the time it takes to travel a distance or the distance it travels in a time.<br />It does seem that if C was measured to be of a different value, in say another part of the Universe, then either time or distance has varied <i>not</i> C.<br />Hasn't this locked us into a dead-end by discounting a different value or perhaps speed of C.<br />Surely Maxwell showed C to be a product of the <i>properties</i> of space i.e. permeability & permittivity so fixing C has fixed these for all space.<br />velocity(light)^2 = 1/ (permittivity * permeability)<br />He also calculated the value of C didn't vary with with relative speed, shown later by the experiment of M & M.<br />Is our parochial view assuming all is the same everywhere stopping us taking a different view & locked us into a dead-end.
 
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vogon13

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Not sure I exactly follow, but will toss out a question and see what develops.<br /><br />How does a photon 'know' time is passing and then adjust its' speed accordingly? Also, 'along the way' this photon will pass events that create other photons. And presumably they too will all have the 'correct' velocity, what 'syncs up' all these photons? <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>
 
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yevaud

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C is fixed by two properties (Lenz's Law), known as "permittivity" and "permiability."<br /><br />Light is an E/M phenomenom. The two properties (magnetic and electrical) "fix" the rate at which light can move through space. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>
 
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Saiph

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your big issue seems to be with how we can assume what we know here, applies elsewhere.<br /><br />And to that, I ask you to predict what I'm doing without that assumption.<br /><br />Basically, you can't.<br /><br />One of the most fundamental assumptions in physics is that the laws here, apply everywhere else. You can't get around it, and it is just that, an assumption. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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siarad

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Not quite, it's fixing the value of light-speed without <i>remembering</i> the assumption, may blind us to any new finding.<br />Sure we have to fix something but remember it could be the wrong thing is what I'm saying.<br />To say that my time or measuring rod <i>have</i> changed if I get a different value could be wrong.
 
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Saiph

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That's tested all the time actually. Anything that tests SR (and there are lots of people still checking relativity) is checked for alternate explainations.<br /><br />Yes, it's something to keep an eye out for. Sure things are explained by using the framework alot. But the framework is also tested today. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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