From: Louis Newstrom (louisnews@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 21:22:41 MDT
From: John Leppik
> Einstein told us that the speed of light was absolute and that nothing
could go faster. I am aware of space bubbles and such which may make higher
speeds possible in particular situations, but I am hung up on the basic
case.
I don't think anyone has any theory about "space bubbles" where light can go
faster. The best we can say is that no one has proved that there aren't
any. (This is how warp drive is supposed to work on star trek. They create
a warp field in which the laws of physics are different, and faster than
light speed is possible.) We can say, that if such a field existed, it
couldn't go faster than light, even if objects within it could go faster
than light. So you'd have a faster-than-light ship that was stuck in a
slower-than-light bubble.
> If light can only travel at one absolute speed in a vacuum, how does it
know what that is?
I don't understand this question. Photons in space travel at this speed.
It doesn't "know" anything. You'll have to rephrase this question.
> If I were traveling at half the speed of light with respect to my unknown
stationary reference point, what would the absolute speed of light be for a
light pointed forward?
What we observe in the universe is that any beam of light, from any light
source, travelling at any speed and direction, as measured by any observer,
also moving at any speed and direction (whew! too many "any"'s...) always
looks like the same speed. So you and the stationary observer would both
agree on the speed of the beam.
> What is our speed here on Earth with respect to immobility?
As far as we can tell, there is no immobility. People doing experiments
like yours were trying to find out where the mobility was. What they found
is that light always measures the same velocity. No matter what tricks you
do to try to make it appear different.
I don't know if this means that there is no immobility, or simply that the
universe is designed so we can't detect it.
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