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Talk:Speed of light: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 08:28, 13 November 2003 editRaul654 (talk | contribs)70,896 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit Revision as of 08:36, 13 November 2003 edit undoRaul654 (talk | contribs)70,896 editsNo edit summaryNext edit →
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:How is the speed of light be a solution to a vector equation? ] 08:08, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC) :How is the speed of light be a solution to a vector equation? ] 08:08, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC)
::As my electromagnetics professor explained it (and you'll have to bear with me - it's been almost 2 years), it's not that the speed is the solution, per se. It just doesn't have a solution for any other speed besides C. --] 08:28, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC) ::As my electromagnetics professor explained it (and you'll have to bear with me - it's been almost 2 years), it's not that the speed is the solution, per se. It just doesn't have a solution for any other speed besides C. --] 08:28, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC)
:::One more thing. Here is the exact derivation you are looking for: http://people.ccmr.cornell.edu/~muchomas/P214/Notes/OtherWaves/node18.html --] 08:36, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Revision as of 08:36, 13 November 2003

The following needs to be reworked to make it fit in the context of an encyclopedia article. As it is it is a bit too chatty.

=== How Fast is the Speed of light ===
I like to use the vacation analogy to give people a feel for how fast the speed of light is. It goes like this. Let’s say I wanted to take a vacation on the moon. Fortunately there is a highway called Pretend that connects the earth to the moon. The speed limit on highway Pretend is 100 mph and I can only drive 10 hours a day. I had better pack a big trailer with plenty of food and pull it behind my SUV because under these conditions it is going to take me about 250 day to get from the earth to the moon. Light can travel the same distance in one and one forth seconds or about 5 beats of the drum at one-quarter time.

As a layman, I don't understand how it's possible for something to travel faster than c but not carry information faster than c. Could someone explain this? -- User:Evercat

A very rough explanation is that the "something' that travel faster than light doesn't carry energy. -- looxix 00:43 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC)
Also, it is only in a vacuum than nothing (no information) can travel faster than light; in a medium thing can travel faster than light (see Cherenkov effect) -- looxix 00:49 Apr 19, 2003 (UTC)

"It is a solution to the wave equation"

How is the speed of light be a solution to a vector equation? Κσυπ Cyp 08:08, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC)
As my electromagnetics professor explained it (and you'll have to bear with me - it's been almost 2 years), it's not that the speed is the solution, per se. It just doesn't have a solution for any other speed besides C. --Raul654 08:28, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC)
One more thing. Here is the exact derivation you are looking for: http://people.ccmr.cornell.edu/~muchomas/P214/Notes/OtherWaves/node18.html --Raul654 08:36, 13 Nov 2003 (UTC)
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